Rhetoric and Composition Commons^™

Roth's Graveyards, Narrative Desire, And "Professional Competition With Death", Debra Shostak

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Roth's Graveyards, Narrative Desire, and 'Professional Competition with Death'" Debra Shostak analyzes Philip Roth's 1954 short story "The Day It Snowed" and surveys a range of his books. Shostak offers a reading of Sabbath's Theater and Everyman to explore Roth's fictional forms and his conception of storytelling, elucidates how the traumatic knowledge of death at graveside initiates the psychoanalytic process of repression, repetition, remembering, and telling, and uncovers several motifs or formal strategies that appear when Roth deploys cemetery scenes: the linear plotting toward death is often embraced within circular narrative structures; the voice of the mother, …

Jewish History, Us-American Fictions, And "Soul-Battering" In Roth's "Conversion Of The Jews", Sandor Goodhart

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "Jewish History, US-American Fictions, and 'Soul-Battering' in Roth's 'Conversion of the Jews'" Sandor Goodhart discusses Philip Roth's story in which an innocent question raised in a Hebrew school discussion in the early 1950s gets wildly out of control. It leads the student into a screaming fight with his Rabbi, which propels the child into a confrontation with his mother, which in turn leads to a second violent confrontation with the Rabbi (who ends up slapping the child), and the episode culminates in a rooftop exchange over the synagogue where the boy’s thought of escape is suddenly converted …

European Literary Tradition In Roth's Kepesh Trilogy, Gustavo Sánchez-Canales

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

in his article "European Literary Tradition in Roth's Kepesh Trilogy" Gustavo Sánchez-Canales discusses the significance of European literature in Philip Roth's novels. Sánchez-Canales analyses the influence of Nikolai Gogol's "The Nose" and Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" on Roth's The Breast and in Roth's The Professor of Desire of Anton Chekhov's tales and Franz Kafka's "A Hunger Artist" and The Castle. Further, Sánchez-Canales elaborates on the impact of Thomas Mann's Death in Venice and W.B. Yeats's poem "Sailing to Byzantium" on Roth's The Dying Animal.

Reverse Anti-Semitism In The Fiction Of Bellow And Roth, Jay L. Halio

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In his article "Reverse Anti-Semitism in the Fiction of Bellow and Roth" Jay L. Halio discusses anti-Semitism in Philip Roth's fiction that what might be called reverse anti-Semitism: the active reaction by Jews who are subjected to anti-Semitism. This aspect of Roth's work is not often discussed: it is not the same as philo-Semitism, which takes a different form entirely. Since Roth was an admirer of Saul Bellow, Halio begins by considering reverse anti-Semitism in Bellow's early novel The Victim. In the novel the protagonist, Asa Leventhal, is accused by a character named Allbee of costing him his job …

Roth’S Humorous Art Of Ghost Writing, Paule Levy

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Roth's Humorous Art of Ghost Writing" Paule Lévy analyses Philip Roth's Exit Ghost, the last novel featuring Nathan Zuckerman, in which Roth reassesses his favorite alter ego's itinerary while exploring the troubled relation between writing and aging. Lévy considers Exit Ghost as an ironic sequel to The Ghost Writer and posits that in the light of Derrida's theories of writing and "hauntology" the central motifs of ghosts and "spectrality" in the novel are a means for Roth to reflect anew on the ambiguous relation between autobiography and fiction. Lévy asks whether Exit Ghost should be …

Bibliography For The Study Of Phillip Roth's Works, Gustavo Sánchez-Canales, Victoria Aarons

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

Idealism And Pragmatism In The Rhetoric Of John Boehner: A Weaverian Analysis Of Congressional Discourse, Cody Hawley

Masters Theses

American political rhetoric is characterized by a synthesis of contradictory idealistic and pragmatic elements, both of which are necessary if there is to be convincing persuasion. The way in which politicians rhetorically approach this dichotomy is significant, however, current studies on the topic are limited to presidential discourse. There is little research on this topic in other settings such the United States House of Representatives. This criticism analyzes John Boehner's congressional rhetoric in the idealistic-pragmatic dichotomy. The critical method utilized is Richard Weaver's four forms of argument-genus, similitude, consequence, and circumstance. Eight speeches of John Boehner, four from his position …

Roth's Contribution To The Narrativization Of Illness, Miriam Jaffe-Foger

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Roth's Contribution to the Narrativization of Illness" Miriam Jaffe-Foger argues that Philipp Roth's fiction represents him as an empath, a writer who prescribes for modern medicine a dose of humanity in listening to the pain of others. Using Roth's The Anatomy Lesson, The Dying Animal, and Exit Ghost as primary source material in combination with theories from medical anthropology, Jaffe-Foger suggests that Roth is an inspiration for the field of narrative medicine. Jaffe-Foger examines the art in organizing narratives to tell these stories. Jaffe-Foger also argues against misogynist views of Roth as he represents woman's …

Roth's Fiction From Nemesis To Nemesis, Emily Budick

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

In her article "Roth's Fiction from Nemesis to Nemesis" Emily Budick discusses Philip Roth's novel Nemesis as the culminating work of a career in which one nemesis or another has afflicted almost all of the author's protagonists. During the bulk of Roth's career, the hero's nemesis was generally, as in the ordinary, literary usage of the term, the protagonist's enemy, whether Judge Wapter in The Ghost Writer or the alter-Roth in The Counterlife. In Nemesis Roth restores the word nemesis to its classical meaning: Nemesis, as the goddess of revenge and cosmic balance. The nemesis in Roth's novel, therefore, …

Islamic Feminism: A Discourse Of Gender Justice And Equality, Breanna Ribeiro

Senior Theses

This paper examines Islamic feminism using structural methodology and the phenomenological approach to examine the component of Muslim feminists' activism that utilizes ijtihad and tafsir to reinterpret patriarchal rhetoric and highlight Islamic discourses that validate gender equality. These scholars and activists critically analyze Islamic theology by employing hermeneutics in order to produce Islamic exegeses that affirm social justice, gender equality, and liberation. Religion plays a critical role in building collective cultural identities; therefore, examining sacred texts' representation and prescription of gender roles and mores generates an understanding of the gender order in the community of believers, while simultaneously exposing contextual …

Assignment Design: Developing Writing Projects Using Open Access Www Tools To Increase Student Engagement And Learning, Joshua R. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

Assignment Design: Developing Writing Projects using Open Access WWW Tools to Increase Student Engagement and Learning is a thesis that began with the research question of how can first-year composition instructors use free online tech tools to create effective writing assignments, which are based on and assessed using the Writing Program Administrators' Outcome Statements (WPA OS)(1999)? To answer the question, I researched pairing effective educational technology tools with the WPA OS, in order to engage student writers and enhance learning. I developed three writing projects, included as appendices, incorporating technology tools as scaffolding tasks and containing multiple writing genres. The …

Hammered, Framed, And Raised By A Woman, Rhonda M. Conner

Theses and Dissertations

Hammered, Framed, and Raised by a Woman is a memoir of Rhonda M. Conner's life as she was building her own home. It tells how she got the inspiration, got started, hardships, milestones, and when she plans on finishing her project. She has land in the country in the small town of Jefferson, Arkansas and got tired of trying to get a house by other methods. So, she went through several floor plans that she created, bought blocks, piers, and other foundation material, and got started building her home. Her project began in 1999, and many have enjoyed the journey …

A Comparison Of Linguistic Features In The Academic Writing Of Advanced English Language Learner And English First Language University Students, Margo K. Russell

Dissertations and Theses

Writing for an academic purpose is not an easy skill to master, whether for a native English speaker (L1) or an English language learner (ELL). In order to better prepare ELL students for success in mainstream content courses at the university level, more must be known about the characteristics of student writing in the local context of an intensive English program. This information can be used to inform ELL writing instructors of which linguistic features to target so that their students produce writing that sounds appropriate for the academic written register.

Two corpora of 30 research essays each were compiled, …

Perceived Difficulty Differences In Print And Online Patient Education Materials, Michael Arlington Farnsworth

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The empirical study that is the subject of this essay extends work on readability with an explicit focus on whether readers report difficulty understanding health information in print versus on screen. The central concern of this essay, then, is not a matter of reading levels or penetrability of the text, but of how the delivery mechanism interferes with or enhances a person's reading experience through their perception of its difficulty. Though the study relies on convenience sampling with a limited number of participants, findings suggests that some first-year college students perceive online PEMs to be more difficult to read than …

Using Pedagogical And Rhetorical Strategies To Examine The Medical Ethics Of Human Egg Donation, Emiline Grace Buhler

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Oocyte retrieval, more commonly referred to as human egg donation, is an outpatient surgical procedure commonly used to obtain reproductive cells for fertility treatments. Before retrieval, donors have to complete physical and mental health screenings, and are responsible for self-injecting a three-week series of intramuscular hormones. The known side effects of human egg donation include: ovarian hyper-stimulation syndrome (OHSS), acute ovarian trauma, infection, and, in extreme cases, infertility. There are currently no empirically-validated studies regarding presence or prevalence of long-term side effects. Further, because of its unique bio-commerce framework, there are currently no federal regulations for this procedure. Increasingly, ethicists, …

Acts Of Rebellion: The Rhetoric Of Rogue Cinema, Adam Breckenridge

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this project was to articulate a definition and understanding of the emerging genre of rogue cinema through the lens of rhetorical theory. To this end, I lay out a theoretical groundwork based principally on the works of Kenneth Burke and Slavoj Zizek to build a definition and to analyze the works of four filmmakers whose work could be considered rogue: Alejandro Jodorowsky, Dusan Makavejev, Lars von Trier and Werner Herzog.

The first chapter is dedicated to articulating the theorists I use and showing how they can be used to examine rogue films. The second chapter is dedicated …

Mode, Method, And Medium: The Affordance Of Online Tutorials In The Writing Center, Erik V. Holtz

Honors Scholar Theses

While the body of literature regarding online tutorials in the writing center is growing, researchers seem hesitant to fully endorse, or even commend, online writing tutorials. This seems appropriate for work in communication theory and human-computer interaction; working across a medium may be different, but this could create new and interesting ways of tutoring. This research reports on a comparative analysis of online and in-person tutoring at three different universities, focusing on tutor self-perceptions and on affordances, a concept drawn from systems engineering, human-computer interaction and ecological psychology. Unstructured interviewing is used to create a set of preliminary affordances of …

Developing An Intentional Mentoring Model For Disciple Formation At The Mayfair Church Of Christ, Jason Bybee

Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations

This doctor of ministry thesis presents the results of a project to lead a team in the development of an intentional mentoring model for disciple formation at the Mayfair Church of Christ. This intervention involved the team members in a series of sessions during September and October 2013. Project sessions were designed to provide participants an intentional mentoring experience through exposure to four core practices: exploration of the biblical text, appreciative inquiry exercises, communal sharing, and prayer. Sessions were informed by (1) an understanding of discipleship as following behind Jesus and walking alongside our fellow sojourners, (2) the nature of …

On The Instability Of Disciplinary Style: Common And Conflicting Metaphors And Practices In Text, Talk, And Gesture, Andrea R. Olinger

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

This article explores how three writers in ecology understand and enact a disciplinary writing style. To accomplish this, it draws on theoretical approaches to style from sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology, as well as analyses of drafts of coauthored texts and video-recorded literacy history and discourse-based interviews. This study finds that metaphor and embodied actions such as gestures are valuable sites for comparing writers’ stylistic understandings and practices. The three writers expressed broad agreement when describing the qualities of good scientific writing, using similar verbal and gestural metaphors, such as Communication as Journey and entailments of the Conduit Metaphor. Yet in …

Hermes, Technical Communicator Of The Gods: The Theory, Design, And Creation Of A Persuasive Game For Technical Communication, Eric Walsh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

For my thesis, I have undertaken the creation of a persuasive game to advance a particular argument of the way that work is performed in the field of technical communication. Designed using procedural rhetoric, with an attention to aesthetics, fun, and the qualities that make games viable pedagogical tools, my game has been programmed using HTML5 and JavaScript, and made freely available online at RhetoricalGamer.com. This written document is meant to serve as a supplement to the game, providing a rationale for the use of games in education and in technical communication; a definition of procedural rhetoric and the necessary …

Long May She Reign: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Gender Expectations In Disney's Tangled And Disney/Pixar's Brave, Caitlin J. Saladino

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This project addresses messages about gender expectations in Disney princess narratives. The two films included are Tangled (2010) and Brave (2012), which feature the most recently inducted princesses to the marketed Disney Princess line (Rapunzel and Merida, respectively). Using genre as an organizing principle, I argue that Rapunzel and Merida are different from the past Disney princesses (Snow White, Cinderella, Ariel, Jasmine, etc.) because their narratives reflect new ideas about gender expectations in modern society. The central tension appearing in both films is the opposition between the image of woman as traditional, domestic, and dependent and woman as progressive, industrious, …

A Case Study Of Perceived Self-Efficacy In Writing Center Peer Tutor Training, Shaun T. White

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This explorative case study used mixed methods to examine and analyze the two following research questions using the psychological framework from Perceived Self-Efficacy Theory: 1) what variables of writing center tutor training affected the trainees’ perceived self-efficacy levels towards their work, and 2) what aspects of this training contributed to the attainment of persistence? Both questions were answered using quantitative and qualitative methods for analyses. The quantitative research revealed that the initial six week period of observation for peer tutors at the beginning of their training was highly beneficial for increasing their perceived self-efficacy levels in believing they could complete …

Transferable Writing Strategies, Individualizing Learning, Carol B. Wilson, Neena Kumar, Lauren Kirby

Arthur Vining Davis High Impact Fellows Projects

Our group’s hope is to develop a unit of writing instruction that invites a variety of specific instructional strategies, so that she can encourage individual students to meet their potential and transfer their knowledge from project to project, from class to class, and from high school to college.

Flipping Argument, Anita Rose, Susan Miles, Mckenna Sloan

Arthur Vining Davis High Impact Fellows Projects

This project utilizes the concept of “flipping the classroom” pioneered by the Kahn Academy to help students understand Aristotelian elements of argument (ethos, pathos, and logos). The four lesson plans require students to preview existing internet resources depicting practical applications of rhetorical concepts, and then invites them to utilize these concepts in the classroom. Students learn to recognize logical fallacies and types of argumentative appeals as they are used (and misused) in popular culture and in literature. The project as a whole has the additional benefit of encouraging students to identify and critically evaluate explicit and implicit arguments in a …

Teaching To The Test: De/Reconstructing The Argument, Natalie S. Grinnell, Caley Rogers, Adam Christenson

Arthur Vining Davis High Impact Fellows Projects

With the implementation of the Common Core Standards, the new Common Core test will start in Spring of 2015. This standardized test is given during the spring of a student’s junior year. Though the test is given junior year, the onus for making sure students are ready is also that of teachers working with freshmen and sophomores. Preparing students to be proficient in the skills necessary for college and potential careers is paramount; one way to ensure such preparation is creating exercises similar to that of the performance task on the sample test. The performance task focuses on assessing a …

"To The People Of New Orleans" Broadside, By John T. Monroe, April 25, 1862., John T. Monroe

Broadus R. Littlejohn, Jr. Manuscript and Ephemera Collection

In this item, a broadside about 12" x 18", Mayor of New Orleans John T. Monroe addresses the citizens of that city just prior to its capitulation in the American Civil War, April 25, 1862.

Student Engagement And Action In Classroom And Community: Place-Based Education And Social Action For The High-Achieving Student, Rachel M. Jank

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This paper briefly discusses the work done in a college-preparatory, Senior English class to combat the disengagement present in many educational institutions. This disconnect does not allow for learning retention and, therefore, does not allow for students to apply the moment of learning to life outside of the secondary classroom. The work I do is based off of Jessica Singer Early, Bruce Bigelow, Linda Christensen, and many other master teachers who work with the educational designs of Place Consciousness and Social Action within their respective classrooms. The theories of John Dewey and Paulo Freire suggest that a non-traditional style of …

Developing Perceived Writerly Self-Efficacy: A Proposed Study Of Expressive And Poetic Discourse In The Writing Center, Allison King

College of Arts and Sciences Presentations

In what ways can expressive and poetic discourse impact writerly self-efficacy during a writing center consultation? The focus of this study is on assessing the internal construct of writerly self-efficacy—to understand the connections between poetic (specifically, creative writing) /expressive writing techniques, encouraged during in-person writing consultations, and the student writer’s perceived competence development as an academic writer. Provocative revision activities inspired by creative writing technique will be specific to High-Order concerns (i.e. Limiting, Adding, Switching, and Transferring). Critical reflection will also be encouraged during each peer in-person writing consultation. A mixed-methodologies approach will be used to garner a comprehensive look …

#Definerhetoric 2014, Harlot Editors

Harlot: A Revealing Look at the Arts of Persuasion

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Letter From The Guest Editors: Putting Our Bodies On The Line: Towards A Capacious Vision Of Digital Activism, Ben Mccorkle, Jason Palmeri

Harlot: A Revealing Look at the Arts of Persuasion

This is the editors' note to accompany the special issue on digital activism.