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Full-Text Articles in Rhetoric and Composition

Metaphoric Competence As A Means To Meta-Cognitive Awareness In First-Year Composition, David T. Dadurka Jan 2012

Metaphoric Competence As A Means To Meta-Cognitive Awareness In First-Year Composition, David T. Dadurka

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A growing body of writing research suggests college students’ and teachers’ conceptualizations of writing play an important role in learning to write and making the transition from secondary to post-secondary academic composition. First-year college writers are not blank slates; rather, they bring many assumptions and beliefs about academic writing to the first-year writing classroom from exposure to a wide range of literate practices throughout their lives. Metaphor acts as a way for scholars to trace students’ as well as their instructors’ assumptions and beliefs about writing. In this study, I contend that metaphor is a pathway to meta-cognitive awareness, mindfulness, …


Examining Gender In Pharmaceutical Rhetoric Through A Cultural Studies Lens: A Case Study On The Gardasil Vaccine, Jennifer Fickley-Baker Jan 2012

Examining Gender In Pharmaceutical Rhetoric Through A Cultural Studies Lens: A Case Study On The Gardasil Vaccine, Jennifer Fickley-Baker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

On June 8, 2006, Merck announced the debut of Gardasil, the world's first vaccine found successful in preventing human papillomavirus (HPV) infections, a sexually transmitted infection that is one of the main causes of certain cancers in men and women, including cervical, vulvar, penile and anal cancers. To promote the vaccine's release, Merck launched Gardasil's "One Less" advertising campaign that included television commercials, print ads and a consumerfocused website (www.Gardasil.com), each promoting the message that "you" could now be "one less woman" affected by cervical cancer ("One Less" campaign). The vaccine, tested and approved only for females age 9-26, was …


Transfer Within Fyc Tracing The Operalization Of Writing-Related Knowledge And Concepts In Composition, Laura Martinez Jan 2011

Transfer Within Fyc Tracing The Operalization Of Writing-Related Knowledge And Concepts In Composition, Laura Martinez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study traces the transfer of writing-related knowledge and concepts from the composition classroom into the writing assignments composed by students within the same course. Working in a first-year-composition classroom taught through a writing-about-writing curriculum, the researcher observed students as they navigated from the initial learning of concepts such as rhetorical situations, writing processes, and discourse communities, into an application of these concepts in various writing assignments, including rhetorical analyses and discourse community profiles. By analyzing a composition instructor's objectives for her assignments and observing the interaction between students and their instructor in a single composition course for the duration …


Gore's Science The Kairos Of An Inconvenient Truth And The Implications For Science Writing, Carolyn M. Glasshoff Jan 2011

Gore's Science The Kairos Of An Inconvenient Truth And The Implications For Science Writing, Carolyn M. Glasshoff

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Modern Americans are exposed to scientific and technical information on a daily basis that urges them to react as well as learn about new ideas. The popular science writing that circulates this information must be portrayed in a way that makes it easy for lay people to understand complicated ideas while at the same time remaining complex enough to convince readers that the information is reliable, accurate, and worth learning. In making decisions about how to accomplish this balancing act, science writers make decisions that influence the audience's opinion about new scientific ideas, how easily the audience will accept or …


Using Narrative To Improve Reflection In Technical Communication, Carrie Brkich Jan 2011

Using Narrative To Improve Reflection In Technical Communication, Carrie Brkich

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores why instructors should use narrative intentionally and effectively with reflection to better understand adult students' perceptions of experiential learning activities in technical communication. The frequent use of narrative in technical discourse reminds us that the tone of technical texts is often appropriately informal, personable, and reflective. A closer analysis of narratives provides instructors with valuable opportunities to learn more about the motivations for and barriers to learning for adult students and to better understand how these students situate themselves in larger social and cultural narratives. Narrative serves many purposes in technical communication. Not only does narrative add …


Crossing Literate Worlds Exploring How Students With Rich Identities As Writers Negotiate Multiple Writing Contexts, Autumn Phelps Shrum Jan 2011

Crossing Literate Worlds Exploring How Students With Rich Identities As Writers Negotiate Multiple Writing Contexts, Autumn Phelps Shrum

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the literate identities of college students who engage in various school and non-school writing practices simultaneously. In case studies of three student writers, the researcher seeks to explore how the discourse community roles, selfperceptions, negotiation of multiple writing processes and development of authority impacted the students’ identities as writers. Triangulated research methods included weekly interviews with the student participants, observation of the students in their writing classrooms and analysis of the students’ school and non-school texts over one semester. Students experienced several conflicts and synergies between contexts. Main findings indicated that writing across many academic and extra-academic …


The Rhetoric Of The Regional Image Interpreting The Visual Products Of Regional Plannning, Alissa Barber Torres Jan 2010

The Rhetoric Of The Regional Image Interpreting The Visual Products Of Regional Plannning, Alissa Barber Torres

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Rhetoric of the Regional Image: Interpreting the Visual Products of Regional Planning investigates the manner in which visual conventions and visual contexts of regional visioning scenarios affect their interpretation by urban and regional planners, who use visual communication to meet the technical and rhetorical demands of their professional practice. The research assesses Central Florida‘s ―How Shall We Grow?‖ regional land use scenario using focus groups and interviews with planning professionals, a corresponding survey of community values, and rhetorical analysis to explore the ―How Shall We Grow?‖ scenario as persuasive communication. The Rhetoric of the Regional Image proposes specific recommendations …


A Burkean Method For Analyzing Environmental Rhetoric, John Stewart Jan 2009

A Burkean Method For Analyzing Environmental Rhetoric, John Stewart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The work of Kenneth Burke provides a method of rhetorical analysis that is useful in terms of bringing features of texts to the surface that are not readily apparent, such as how they produce identification in their audiences, and in revealing rhetorical factors related to but outside the text, for example the authors' motives. Burke's work is wide-ranging and open to many interpretations, so it can be difficult to apply. This study condenses some of his more important concepts into a simplified method which has several practical applications; it focuses on how Burke's theories can be applied to analyzing environmental …


Implementing Plain Language Into Legal Documents: The Technical Communicator's Role, Peggy Bivins Jan 2008

Implementing Plain Language Into Legal Documents: The Technical Communicator's Role, Peggy Bivins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis discusses the benefits of using plain language in legal documents and the role technical communicators can play to help implement plain language. Although many definitions for plain language exist, it is best described as reader-focused communication that presents information in a manner that makes it easy for a reader to find, understand, and use the information. Plain language facilitates comprehension by using shorter, less complex sentences; active voice; and common words. All these elements aid in processing and understanding information, especially unfamiliar concepts. Laypeople, unversed in the law, frequently have difficulty understanding traditional legal writing. The complex sentences, …


From Textbooks To Safety Briefings: Helping Technical Writers Negotiate Complex Rhetorical Situations, Brian Blackburne Jan 2008

From Textbooks To Safety Briefings: Helping Technical Writers Negotiate Complex Rhetorical Situations, Brian Blackburne

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I analyze the organizational and political constraints that technical writers encounter when dealing with complex rhetorical situations, particularly within risk-management discourse. I ground my research in case studies of safety briefings that airlines provide to their passengers because these important documents have long been regarded as ineffective, yet they ve gone largely unchanged in the last 20 years. Airlines are required to produce these safety briefings, which must satisfy multiple audiences, such as corporate executives, federal safety inspectors, flight attendants, and passengers. Because space and time are limited when presenting safety information to passengers, the technical writers …


What Is College-Level Writing? - The Common Ground From Which A New Secondary Post Secondary Composition Partnership Can Be Formed, Nancy Jane Berger Jan 2007

What Is College-Level Writing? - The Common Ground From Which A New Secondary Post Secondary Composition Partnership Can Be Formed, Nancy Jane Berger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the Introduction to What is "College-Level" Writing?, editors Patrick Sullivan and Howard Tinberg state that the title asks "one of the most important questions in our profession" (xiii). However, even after 418 pages of essays written from the perspectives of high school teachers, college instructors, students, and administrators, the answer remains elusive because college-level writing does not, in fact, start in college - it starts in high school - where high school teachers believe they are instilling in their college-bound students the writing skills required by post-secondary institutions. The students, meanwhile, show up in first-year composition classes to find …


Engendering Agency: Literacies, Social Action, And Wangari Maathai S Green Belt Movement, Cassandra Marie Allen Jan 2007

Engendering Agency: Literacies, Social Action, And Wangari Maathai S Green Belt Movement, Cassandra Marie Allen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes the life and work of Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai, one of the foremost African woman rhetors of our time. Wangari Maathai--founder of Kenya's Green Belt Movement (GBM), Member of Parliament, and activist for democracy, sustainable development, and human rights--has cultivated a multidimensional literacy that has allowed her to truly understand and address the problems that post-colonial Kenyans face. Her strong solution-oriented approach has allowed her to develop and refine operation of the GBM, which began simply planting trees, to produce a worldwide organization that works for sustainable development, human rights, and environmental conservation/restoration (among many others) …


Postmodern Feminism, Hypertext, And The Rhetoric Of Cooking Websites, Heather Eaton Mcgrane Jan 2007

Postmodern Feminism, Hypertext, And The Rhetoric Of Cooking Websites, Heather Eaton Mcgrane

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the ways cookbooks and their rhetorical dimensions have been re-imagined using hypertext and Web technology. Using the tenets of postmodern feminist rhetoric and Web design theory, the study considers how commercial cooking hypertexts construct users' identities. Although hypertext is a potentially empowering technology, democratizing rhetoric and knowledge making practices, commercial hypertext often circumscribes agency formation and prohibits participation. Participatory, constructive hypertexts are difficult to design and costly to maintain. Of the three sites studied, Epicurious.com, BettyCrocker.com, and FoodNetwork.com, only Epicurious.com encourages meaningful communication between users and between users and designers. In many ways, Epicurious.com conceives of its …


Silent Outsiders: Searching For Queer Identity In Composition Readers, Travis Duncan Jan 2006

Silent Outsiders: Searching For Queer Identity In Composition Readers, Travis Duncan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study searches twenty composition readers' table of contents for the degree of inclusivity of queer people and issues. Four means of erasure are labeled as possible erasing of queer identity: presuming heteronormativity, overt homophobia, perpetuating tokenism, and pathologizing queer identity. The presence of other differences are compared to the number of times that queer identity is referenced in the table of contents. The final portion of the analysis examines the two most inclusive composition readers to understand more clearly how the readers present queer individuals and issues. In a sense, I want to explore the question of how often …


An Inquiry Into Discourse Choices As Indicators Of Gender Attitudes In A Non-Profit Conservative Christian Business, Dawn Marie Kruger Jan 2005

An Inquiry Into Discourse Choices As Indicators Of Gender Attitudes In A Non-Profit Conservative Christian Business, Dawn Marie Kruger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper is an inquiry into the discourse styles of men and women who work together in a conservative Protestant Christian business. Many conservative Protestant Christian churches teach that the Bible forbids women from holding positions of authority over men. Yet in the communications department of this particular business, women fill the top three management positions, supervising a mixed-gender staff of 15. Research has shown that men and women subconsciously use language markers that indicate personal attitudes toward the same and the opposite genders. This research project draws on that information while it analyzes the oral and electronic discourse of …


Only Screen Deep? Evaluating Aesthetics, Usability, And Satisfaction In Informational Websites, Carrie Avery Jan 2005

Only Screen Deep? Evaluating Aesthetics, Usability, And Satisfaction In Informational Websites, Carrie Avery

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the role aesthetics plays in informational websites. In commercial interfaces, aesthetics (the perceived visual appeal and appropriateness of an object) has shown to correlate positively with many aspects of usability and emotional satisfaction. This thesis examines whether aesthetics has similar positive correlations in informational websites. Heuristics or guidelines for evaluating informational websites are developed based on empirical research and practitioner expertise. Categories for heuristic evaluation include usability, credibility, visual clarity, visual richness, and emotional satisfaction. A class of graduate students browsed three academic websites, evaluated them, and critiqued the heuristics. Results indicate that aesthetics does correlate with …


Writing Center Practices In Tennessee Community Colleges, James E. Crawford Aug 1998

Writing Center Practices In Tennessee Community Colleges, James E. Crawford

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study was to develop a profile of writing centers in twelve community colleges governed by the Tennessee Board of Regents. This profile included how they were established, how they are funded and staffed, what services are provided and to whom, how training is provided for staff, and how technology is incorporated. More important than the profile itself, however, was an analysis of successful and unsuccessful practices, especially those related to governance, structure, and training of staff, as revealed through the perceptions and experiences of writing center directors. Because electronic technology has transformed the craft of writing, …