Rhetoric and Composition Commons^™

Infusing The Arts Into Science And The Sciences Into The Arts: An Argument For Interdisciplinary Steam In Higher Education Pathways, Christopher W. Thurley

The Transdisciplinary STEAM+ Journal

This article presents an argument for the integration of science into English courses in order to emphasize the usefulness of a Science, Technology, Education, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) education. The idea for this approach arose after the implementation of a divisional initiative to create learning communities with a STEM cohort of students called Student Persistence and Retention via Curricula, Cohorts, and Centralization (SPARC³). The author’s involvement in teaching a science-infused English course for this program inspired the argument that follows, which outlines why/how the sciences should learn from the humanities and why/how the humanities should learn from the sciences. The …

Wisdom After Foolishness, Clark Allen Harris

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis project is a collection of nonfiction essays. The overall theme is rooted in my experience in public schools and my community. I made numerous mistakes during my years in grade and middle school. These issues eventually led me to dropping-out in the ninth-grade. But my problems in the public school system weren’t the only area that I struggled in. I also made reckless choices in my social life. Since drugs and alcohol were common entities in my community, I developed a habit of indulging in them. In spite of these habits and dropping out of school, I overcame. …

We Are What We Ate: Southern Food And Southern Cooking, Alyssa Rogers

Theses and Dissertations

Southern cooking is fluid–ever-changing, influential, and influenced by both Southerners and non-Southerners alike. In this thesis, I explore what constitutes Southern cooking. The foods, cooking methods, and acquisition of foodstuffs and ingredients influence Southerners as cooks and the communities we live in. In the following pages, I’ve connected primary research via interviews with existing literature about Southern foods, cooking, techniques, lifestyles, and cultures. My primary research is derived from authentic interviews with real Southerners. The results from my research are not groundbreaking, but they do serve to help Southerners understand their relationship to and with Southern food and Southern cooking.

Four College-Level Writing Assignments: Text Complexity, Close Reading, And The Five-Paragraph Essay, Elizabeth Brockman, Marcy Taylor

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

No abstract provided.

Poetry Is Powerful: High School Students And Pre-Service Teachers Develop Literacy Relationships Through Poetry, Susanne L. Nobles, Amy Price Azano

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

Teaching poetry can serve as a roadblock for many English teachers who lack confidence with the genre. Likewise, high school students struggle reading poetry and creating their own poetic works. In an effort to provide an authentic learning experience for our students, we created a semester-long, collaborative poetry project between our high school and college students. This manuscript provides details about the goals, processes, and takeaways for both groups of participants. The high school students were two classes of freshman-level English students who practiced developing critical literacy skills while reading, reciting, and writing poetry. The college students were pre-service English …

Feedback In Online Writing Forums: Effects On Adolescent Writers, Heather J. S. Birch

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

Adolescents are writing online. A cursory look at the web reveals that teenagers are well-represented; in blog posts, social media updates, profile pages, comments on YouTube videos, responses to news articles, and websites about their interests, teenagers are writing (Williams 2009). In the current research study, the specific kind of adolescent writing under consideration is writing posted in a social media context designed specifically for writers. This case study focuses on six young writers who are active members of an online writing community, and who post their writing in order to receive feedback. Descriptive data collected through interviews, as well …

“It’S A Two-Way Street”: Giving Feedback In A Teacher Writing Group, Lochran C. Fallon, Anne Elrod Whitney

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

Abstract: A consistent feature of teacher writing groups is the giving and receiving of feedback on writing. While there have been several studies that have explored the effects of receiving feedback on one's own writing, there have only been a few that explored the effects of providing feedback to others can have on a teacher’s own work. Drawing on interviews with teacher-writers who work together in a writing group, we conclude that giving feedback transforms the writing lives of all participants involved in the feedback process through experiences of reciprocity, involving claiming authority within a community of writers, developing …

Developing Preservice Writing Teachers’ Professional Judgment: Design Conjectures For Supporting Equitable And Rigorous Writing Instruction, Britnie Delinger Kane

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

To meet the composition demands of the future, secondary students in the United States will need more rigorous and more equitable writing instruction. They will need opportunities to inquire into and frame authentic problems. They will need to communicate for a variety of audiences and purposes, and they will need access to a variety of linguistic and literary forms. In turn, secondary teachers will need improved preparation for teaching writing. This conceptual review outlines what intellectually rigorous and equitable writing instruction looks like, arguing that teaching writing in these ways requires that teachers deploy substantial professional judgment. I then rely …

“A Course No One Wants To Teach”: A Brief History Of The Undergraduate Writing Methods Course, Christine E. Tulley

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

In this essay, I untangle two historically embedded challenges within the undergraduate writing methods course that continually reestablish divisions between theory and pedagogy (and often English and education departments by association) for preservice teachers. The two issues are:

1. The lack of status of the undergraduate writing methods course within English departments, entrenched by the historically marginalized reputations of both rhetoric and composition and English education programs; and

2. Internal disputes within the field of rhetoric and composition over a theoretical versus pedagogical emphasis for the undergraduate writing methods course, and external debates between the fields of rhetoric and composition …

Reimagining Instructional Practices: Exploring The Identity Work Of Teachers Of Writing, Melody Zoch, Joy Myers, Claire Lambert, Amy Vetter, Colleen Fairbanks

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This article provides a cross-case analysis of three teachers who participated in a two-week professional development (PD) on the teaching of writing that addressed their own identities as writers. This is an area that is commonly overlooked and how teachers view themselves as writers may play an important role in how they help their students to think of themselves as writers, may shape the conversations they have about writing, and may influence the kinds of writing opportunities they provide. Drawing on an identity perspective, the findings illustrate how the opportunity to construct and enact writing identities shaped how the teachers …

Priestly Lineages In History And Rhetoric, James W. Watts

Religion - All Scholarship

A comparison of Cross’s reconstruction of the Oniad high priestly line with his Mushite theory lays the basis for re-evaluating historical scholarships’ interest in ancient Jewish priestly families. In the religious politics of the Second Temple period, the Aaronide priestly dynasties were the Mushite priesthood. Differentiating priestly families earlier in Israel’s history raises questions about methodology and purpose as well as evidence.

Braving Shame: The Rhetoric Of Bravery In Contemporary Women's Memoir, Debra Gayle Parker

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation interrogates the rhetoric of bravery as a culturally-infused way of hearing certain kinds of personal narratives. As a cultural rhetoric, “bravery” has deep roots in masculine militaristic ideology in which cowardice, courage, and shame are conceptually linked to a sense of duty. The memoir industry represents one environment that archives what is valued as brave writing. As rhetoric precariously at work in the memoir industry, this dissertation investigates the cultural assumptions that drive literary bravery as it is used to assess contemporary memoirs, particularly memoirs written by women. Braving Shame invokes a new brand of bravery—one that de-emphasizes …

Instattack: Instagram And Visual Ad Hominem Political Arguments, Sophia Evangeline Gourgiotis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this project is to examine the visual political ad hominem arguments used on Instagram during the 2016 presidential campaign. Using Walton’s (2007) five subtypes of ad hominem arguments, this study analyzes the “attack ads” posted on Instagram from five of the 2016 presidential candidates into each subtype. This project seeks to understand how ad hominem arguments within political rhetoric function when they are visual. This study uses Kress and van Leeuwen’s (2006) theory of modality and Rose’s (2012) compositional interpretation to analyze compositional structure of the image and parallels this analysis with ad hominem subtypes.

Findings reveal …

Supporting First-Generation Writers In The Composition Classroom: Exploring The Practices Of The Boise State University Mcnair Scholars Program, Bernice M. Olivas

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

First Generation students face disproportionate challenges in college. Their graduation rate is much lower than continuing generation students even though the majority of First-generation students perform at the same level as their continuing generation peers. Existing research suggests that First-generation students perceive their writing skills as lower than their peers’ skills and current composition research suggests that First-generation students struggle to develop an academic identity which contributes to their drop-out rate (Penrose 437-61). However, there is little research at the classroom level concerning First-generation students and their academic identity. This indicates a gap in composition research. This dissertation seeks to …

"I Had To Discard Initial Assumptions": Equipping Writing Center Tutors With Expertise In Second Language Writing, Vicki Kennell

Purdue Writing Lab/Purdue OWL Presentations

As writing center use by L2 writers increases, writing center directors face the need to help tutors work successfully with this population that has the same needs as native-English-speaking writers plus additional needs for language- and sentence-level help. Supported with data from an IRB-approved study and using examples from a case study of the Purdue Writing Lab, this presentation offers guidance on creating training to help equip tutors with L2 expertise.

Training Tutors To Work With L2 Writers: Methods & Materials, Principles & Practices, Vicki Kennell, Amy Elliot

Purdue Writing Lab/Purdue OWL Presentations

As international enrollment at universities increases, writing centers may see increased visits from second language writers looking for help with vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure as well as for help with global concerns. This workshop presentation provides information about creating a homegrown program for training tutors to work successfully with L2 writers. Included in the presentation are sample activities that illustrate some aspects directors may want to consider as they develop their own tutor training.

We’Ve Got You Covered! Using An Umbrella Approach For Research And Beam To Build Student Research Papers: How Library Instruction And English Composition Classes Lay The Foundation For Information Literacy And Research Skills, Samantha Mcneilly, Amy Locklear

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

The Library and English instructors have typically utilized traditional ‘one-shot’ sessions to introduce students in Composition classes to the library databases and other resources available to them. Typically, there is little discussion as to how to formulate research strategies other than using keywords and Boolean operators in the search boxes of the various databases. Librarians expect the English instructors to prepare their students ahead of time on how to formulate keywords that will be used during their research. While most writing instructors are familiar with how to conduct research, they may not spend much time on teaching how to conduct …

A Historiographical Look Into The Origins Of Jazz, Rachel G. Zinck

Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing

Historiography handles the way that historians' writings on a given topic has changed over time. My paper, on the origins of jazz music in the United States, takes a particular look at 8 historians, works ranging from 1946 to 2001, and evaluates their arguments. I ultimately make the case for one particular historian as having the best and most comprehensive discussion on the topic.

American Negro Minstrelsy: Good, Bad, Or Somewhere In-Between?, Emily R. Wellmann

Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing

I chose my topic for this project early in the semester and began researching it soon after that. I used eight sources for my research and wrote an annotated bibliography. This bibliography was a huge benefit to the first draft of my paper, which just included a description of the sources. That draft was peer reviewed and given notes by my professor. The final paper was turned in shortly after, including an additional introduction and conclusion. After receiving my grade from my professor I edited it before turning it in here.

The Weight Of Love, Garrett P. Steele

Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing

This project examines the graphic novel Romeo and Juliet: The War and how it relates and connects to "The University of Dayton's Mission Statement on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition" (CIT). In order to get started on the project, I looked over my notes for the CIT as well as for Romeo and Juliet and made a list of themes that I thought were interesting and that connected nicely with both works. From there, I created an outline, preparing what I wanted to say in the essay and then wrote a first draft of the essay. The first draft was incomplete …

Frank Zhang: Hipster Extraordinaire, Myra C. Tumlos, Garrett P. Steele

Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing

After the delicate deliberation of the characters of the series Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan, it was decided by both writers that Frank Zhang, son of Mars, is the ultimate hipster demigod. The structure of this essay was based on a simple argument, and carefully dissects the full series in order to really convey who Frank Zhang really is. It was additionally concluded by both writers that as complicated and intricate a character as Frank Zhang is, we wanted the audience to be able to not only imagine the illustrations of the character, but to further empathize with the …

A Simple Syllable, Zach A. Snyder

Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing

This assignment was a simple literacy narrative about some point in my life that helped develop my love for reading. I choose a point early in my life where I had a speech impediment and had trouble speaking words clearly. I got over this difficult time by reading. The only research I had to do for this paper was figure or some smaller details from my parents that I could not remember since I was so young. Other than that all the information came from the deep depths on my mind. There were 3 drafts to this paper, a rough …

The Struggle For Meaningful Education, Maura Cullen

Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing

This assignment was to create an informational synthesis essay that compared two different sources that were discussed in class, and give an example on how the topic has affected my own life. I read Walker Percy's text, "The Loss of the Creature," and carefully analyzed the meanings behind the "preformed complexes" that society pushes on people. Then I looked into Paulo Freire and Donald Macedo's excerpt, Literacy: Reading the Word and the World. This reading emphasizes the implications of literacy, and I spent most of my time trying to figure out the complex ideas that these authors are portraying. …

And The Oscar Goes To, Jennifer M. Rondinelli

Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing

For my English 100 class, my professor required us to write a comparative rhetoric paper. We were given complete control over what kind of media we wanted to be the focus of our paper and what we topic we wanted to write about. I chose to write about the movie Spotlight, the recent Academy Award winning film that followed the investigative team that uncovered the priest pedophilia scandal in Boston in 2002. I had recently viewed the film and it had an enormous impact on me as a young Catholic attending a Catholic Marianist university. I chose for media …

Innovation Adoption And Diffusion In Synchronous Tutoring Owls: A Cross-Contextual Case Study Using Diffusion Of Innovations Theory, Cynthia Marie Pengilly

English Theses & Dissertations

Synchronous online tutoring shares many attributes with face-to-face tutoring such as real-time, document collaboration, and conversational cues provided by audio and video, yet writing center professionals know seemingly little about synchronous tutoring OWLs due to the lack of formal publications about synchronous online tutoring coupled with the prevailing paradigm that seeks to transfer face-to-face tutoring practices to online synchronous tutoring, which overshadows the innovation processes taking place in synchronous OWLs. The purpose of this study was to document emergent practices in the use of two different synchronous tutoring technologies and the processes by which those practices were adopted and implemented …

Eportfolios, Google Drive, And Cognitive Process Theory, Sarah Elizabeth Carl

English Theses & Dissertations

ePortfolios have gained popularity in higher education to document learning, assessing, and career showcasing. This thesis discusses how ePortfolios can be used in first-year writing classrooms to show writing processes using Google Drive, a non-ePortfolio platform and its connection to Linda Flower and John Hayes’ cognitive process theory. The thesis shows how a professor could use Google Drive as an ePortfolio platform through assignments.

Superiority In Humor Theory, Sheila Lintott

Faculty Journal Articles

In this article, I consider the standard interpretation of the superiority theory of humor attributed to Plato, Aristotle, and Hobbes, according to which the theory allegedly places feelings of superiority at the center of humor and comic amusement. The view that feelings of superiority are at the heart of all comic amusement is wildly implausible. Therefore textual evidence for the interpretation of Plato, Aristotle, or Hobbes as offering the superiority theory as an essentialist theory of humor is worth careful consideration. Through textual analysis I argue that not one of these three philosophers defends an essentialist theory of comic amusement. …

Rhetoric And Performing Anger : Proserpina's Gift And Chaucer's Merchant's Tale., Joseph Turner

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Although scholars have historically minimized the relationship between medieval grammatical and rhetorical traditions and Chaucer's poetics, Proserpina's angry speech in the Merchant's Tale represents the intersection of medieval classroom grammar exercises, Geoffrey of Vinsauf's theory of delivery, and poetics. Proserpina's angry speech reveals that her rhetoric is calculated to subvert the masculine power structures that surround her. Such a focus on Chaucer's depiction of women's persuasive tactics helps to highlight Chaucer's deep engagement with rhetoric beginning in the 1380's. Moreover, this investigation asks for increased attention to the overlap between classroom grammatical traditions, rhetorical theory, and medieval poetics.

Future Trends In Information Literacy Instruction: Lessons Learned From 13 Libraries, Kirsten N. Dean

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

In response to fresh mandates for proof of our library’s impact on student success, we are reformulating the instruction program at the Clemson University Libraries. Rather than racing forward with shots in the dark, we conscientiously chose to set aside time for research and planning. This presentation reports on the process and results of this first stage. I will start by reporting findings and identifying trends from my interviews with instruction librarians at thirteen academic libraries—a mix of peer institutions from our regional consortium and “model” institutions whose achievements in information literacy education have been recognized by the ACRL. I …

Accessing Academe, Disabling The Curriculum: Institutional Locations Of Dis/Ability In Public Higher Education, Andrew J. Lucchesi

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The field of Disability Studies has long committed itself to the project of making American colleges and universities more accessible places for disabled faculty, staff, and students. Indeed, many of the field of early ideological roots of the discipline of Disability Studies (DS) emerged from campus-based activist movements. This influence has impacted the ways DS scholars continue to frame their intellectual labor as a progressive public good. In recent years, composition/rhetoric scholars have begun applying DS approaches to questions of pedagogical and professional access as well. These critiques have drawn attention the ways teaching practice, administrative policy, and other aspects …