Rhetoric and Composition Commons^™

Judgement Kills: A Rhetorical Analysis Of An Anti-Racial Profiling Visual, Ty'a Oliver

Emerging Writers

Finalist for the Short Essay category of the 2018 Emerging Writers Contest. The essay is a rhetorical analysis of Moise Morancy’s photo series “It Doesn’t Matter.”

Millenials Are Killing This, This, And This -- Or Are They?, Samantha Butler

Emerging Writers

Finalist in the Short Essay category of the 2018 Emerging Writers Contest. The essay is a rhetorical analysis of Kate Taylor's article "Psychologically Scarred Millennials" and Phillip Clarke's article "Companies will only survive if they adapt quickly and stay in tune with their customers’ changing habits."

Managing Millenial Workers: A Multigenerational Approach, Katherine Beckner

Emerging Writers

First-place winner for the Short Essay category of the 2018 Emerging Writers Contest. The essay is a rhetorical analysis of “Here’s How To Deal With Millennials,” an article written by Susanne Goldstein, and “Managing Millennials: Embracing Generational Differences,” an academic journal article written by Jeannine S. Stewart, Elizabeth Goad Oliver, Karen S. Cravens, and Shigehiro Oishi.

Martin Luther King Jr. Rhetorical Analysis, Mandi Rocker

Emerging Writers

Third-place winner in the Short Essay category of the 2018 Emerging Writers Contest. The essay is a rhetorical analysis of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speech "I Have a Dream."

Sustainability And The Stage: Could Censoring In Theatre Cause A Rift In Sociability?, Tyler Grace Hunt

Emerging Writers

Finalist in the Academic Category of the 2019 Emerging Writers Contest. This essay examines issues of censorship and free speech in the production of theatre plays at the high school level.

A Girl's Guide To Nail Art, Emma Rohnstock

Senior Honors Projects

Nail art has led me to be more creative in my life and helped me find my passions of film, photography, and art. I started sharing my nail art through an online blog, but wanted to formalize my interest through a book and possibly a publication in the future. By making this book, I wanted children who read it to learn a new skill and find inspiration in each technique. Nail art has allowed me to express myself and discover my creativity, so I hope this book will allow a younger audience to do the same. I wanted to share …

Drawing Them In: Phlebotomic Pedagogy, Anne K. Johnson

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis employs a critical analysis of phlebotomy, or drawing blood, to serve as a lens through which to examine pedagogy, power, and student vulnerability in first-year composition courses. Palpable similarities exist between the teacher of composition and the drawer of blood, and this comparison reveals the normalized but troubling power dynamics housed in medical and educational institutions. Furthermore, this thesis examines the resulting dynamics produced by the institutional power imbalance in both the first-year writing classroom and the blood draw. These dynamics primarily include, but are not limited to intimacy, terror, and aggression. Through an analysis of the first-year …

'Where History Meets The Future' : A Historiographic Exploration Of Mississippi : The View From Tougaloo., Khirsten L. Echols

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

“Where History Meets the Future”: A Historiographic Exploration of Mississippi: The View from Tougaloo explores the historical narratives of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, with a special emphasis on Tougaloo College in Tougaloo, Mississippi. In particular, this dissertation examines the ways in which Tougaloo’s official history omits the voices of its student populations. It offers, then, a revisionist reading of the school’s history, constructing a narrative from the perspective of students. Based on hours of archival research and examination of the school’s student newspaper, this dissertation constructs a method that incorporates student voices into the historical narrative. The collection of …

Pens, Print, And Pixels : Gendered Writing And The Epistolary Genre In Transitional Eras., Keri Elizabeth Mathis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation proposes a retheorization of rhetorical genres, media, and modes, with a particular emphasis on how this interrelationship reinstantiates and/or subverts deeply entrenched power dynamics over time. Current scholarship often depicts genres and media in a one-to-one relationship that obscures the intricate ways rhetorical genres and media rely on one another to enable (or hinder) writers’ participation in particular discourse communities. This project primarily focuses on gendered power and analyzes letters—a traditionally feminized genre—in three distinct time periods marked by media transition. Specifically, I explore ways women employ genre and media affordances together to assume positions of greater authority …

"We're Asking You To Show Up" : Accountability As Rhetorical Practice For Queer, Feminist, And Racial Justice Allyship., Laura Tetreault

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this threatening political climate, many are asking how to advocate for social justice across axes of difference, such as in coalitional movements working for queer, feminist, and racially just futures. Rhetoric and composition scholarship, especially cultural rhetorics, has long studied the activist practices of specific communities, but cross-community allyship remains undertheorized. This dissertation responds to these public and scholarly exigencies by more deeply exploring the complexities of positionality, privilege, and oppression that accompany advocacy across differences. The project explores the rhetorical dimensions of allyship in complexly networked, contemporary digital social justice messaging, focusing on centering racial justice in queer …

Insurgent Knowledge: The Poetics And Pedagogy Of Toni Cade Bambara, June Jordan, Audre Lorde, And Adrienne Rich In The Era Of Open Admissions, Danica B. Savonick

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Insurgent Knowledge analyzes the reciprocal relations between teaching and literature in the work of Audre Lorde, June Jordan, Toni Cade Bambara, and Adrienne Rich, all of whom taught in the Search for Education, Elevation, and Knowledge (SEEK) educational opportunity program at the City University of New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Drawing on archival research and analysis of their published work, I show how feminist aesthetics have shaped U.S. education (especially student-centered pedagogical practices) and how classroom encounters with students had a lasting impact on our postwar literary landscape and theories of difference. My project demonstrates how, …

Party On, Derrida!: A Queer, Deconstructionist Look At Wayne's World, Glam, And The Losers Of Rock And Roll, Michelle A. Arp

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

What do you get when you mix a girl from Long Island, critical theory, a movie based on a Saturday Night Live sketch, David Bowie, and alternative rock of the early 2000s? A lot of losers, a lot of queerness, and plenty of room for deconstruction.

Part performance studies, part queer studies, and part memoir, this study is a cross-genre and experimental analysis of postmodern ideologies, rock and roll, and comedy. More specifically, I use Jacques Derrida’s notion of “the slash” (Of Grammatology, 1967) in relation to high and low culture via comedies, such that of Wayne’s World …

The Communal "I": Exclusion And Belonging In American Autobiography, Melissa Coss Aquino

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Communal “I” in American autobiography emerges as an aesthetic response to the pressure of using “the master’s tools” to write from a community on the margins to disclose identity in the conflicts of exclusion and belonging. In this case “the master’s tools” to refer to several distinct elements the communal “I” is tasked with navigating: the use of what we have come to identify as standard English, the form and function of European autobiography as a celebration of individual exceptionalism, and the contradictory pressures on these autobiographies to both elevate and protect the communities in question from further marginalization. …

A Fractured Conversation : The Professional, Scholarly, And Disciplinary Identities Of Two-Year College Writing Faculty., Laura Sceniak Matravers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

At a time when state-sponsored policies for tuition-free two-year college education are on the rise, this dissertation examines the place of two-year colleges within the primary discourses circulated within Composition Studies. Specifically, through its investigation of the professional practices and identities of two-year college writing faculty—who work in institutions that are often mistakenly seen as “devoid” of scholarship—this dissertation interrogates disciplinary conceptions of scholarship. This study was comprised of two modes of data collection: an examination of publication trends in prominent Composition Studies journals, and interviews with seven community college writing teachers in the Southeast. This dissertation finds that, in …

A Matter Of Value: Creative Writing Strategies And Their Transference To Composition, Brandy Dawn Clark

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Creative writing and composition seem to be taken, at least in the academic world, as separate and unequal entities. While there are many questions in the research and answers in the research as to why creativity is important, its practical application in the composition classroom is not readily discussed because there is not unanimous agreement as to if creative writing even belongs in the composition classroom. Practical application of creative writing in the composition classroom gives teachers the opportunity to see why it is important, to see why it is valuable, and to incorporate it into already meticulous class standards. …

Best Practice: Bringing The Elements Of Effective Practice To The College Writing Classroom, Jonathan Montgomery Green

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Studies of college writing students suggest that many students associate writing ability with innate talent rather than sustained, deliberate practice. As a result, these students may lack the motivation to improve their writing abilities, leading to a vicious cycle in which they come to increasingly resent writing as a curricular and extracurricular activity. This dissertation argues that the elements of effective practice as outlined by cognitive psychology are equally applicable to writing as they are to skills such as music and that convincing students of the “practice-ability” of writing may improve their motivation to improve their writing abilities.

The dissertation …

Coverings Of White In Plath's 'The Bell Jar" And "Ariel" Poems, Emma M. Kuper

The Criterion

No abstract provided.

Four Facets Of Diminishment In Cicero's Pro Caelio: Dilemma, Irony, Understatement, And Comedy, Donald Matthew Pasko

Graduate Theses and Capstone Projects (excluding DNP)

No abstract provided.

How To Be The Perfect Asian Wife!, Sophia Hill

Art and Art History Honors Projects

“How to be the Perfect Asian Wife” critiques exploitative power systems that assault female bodies of color in intersectional ways. This work explores strategies of healing and resistance through inserting one’s own narrative of flourishing rather than surviving, while reflecting violent realities. Three large drawings mimic pervasive advertisement language and presentation reflecting the oppressive strategies used to contain women of color. Created with charcoal, watercolor, and ink, these 'advertisements' contrast with an interactive rice bag filled with comics of my everyday experiences. These documentations compel viewers to reflect on their own participation in systems of power.

Understanding Trump's Improvisational Presidency, Richard Holtzman

History and Social Sciences Faculty Journal Articles

Much has been made recently of Donald Trump’s improvisational presidency. Through tweets and public comments about border security and Syria, the president appears to be making policy on-the-fly. This behavior is nothing new for Trump. As USA TODAY (April 5) reported: “From transgender troops in the military to immigration and tax cuts, Trump has a habit of winging it: announcing (or tweeting) a policy pronouncement, and leaving it to aides to fill in the details (or somehow walk it back).”

Coming Of Age In The Disciplinary Structures Of The Catholic Church: Power And Discipline In A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man And The Land Of Spices, Rebecca Beaulieu

The Criterion

Coming of age in Ireland carries with it cultural and religious expectations drawn out from the history of Nationalism and the Catholic Church in Ireland. Using Michel Foucault’s theories on punishment and discipline, this essay looks at the way the Irish Catholic Church forms identity and conflict in characters from two different stories. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce and The Land of Spices by Kate O’Brien depict the coming-of-age of two main characters struggling to create their own identity in a strict Irish Catholic Culture. Though each of the characters grow and change …

Engaging The Traumatic Past In An Apocalyptic Present, Timothy J. Jerome

The Criterion

This essay explores the necessity of confronting the underlying issues of one's history in order to heal historic wounds, despite the difficulty and immediacy of one's current struggles. I examine how Pentecostalism functions as a touchstone to the past for John Grimes and his family in James Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain, and eventually allows protagonist John to transcend the traditional forms of self-identification in order to create a new informed model of identity within the religion.

A Failure Of Femininity Within 'G.I. Jane', Maggie Weaver

Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing

This essay was wrote and edited throughout my ENG 200H course which featured the theme of women in the military. In preparation for the essay the class watched the film G.I. Jane directed by Ridley Scott. The assignment was to address and analyze one prominent theme within the film and after research and consideration I decided to examine how the film portrayed femininity. After identifying which aspects of the film I wanted to address in my paper I wrote my first draft. This original draft then underwent several edits both from my professor and the University of Dayton Write Place …

Critique Of Kathleen Parker’S 'Women Don't Belong In Military Combat', Megan M. Rice

Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing

For this project, I chose an opinion article about whether or not women should be allowed in combat positions. The author believes women should not be in the infantry, while I believe women should be given the chance if they so desire to be in a combat role. The main idea in the original article was that women are not capable of succeeding in the infantry. I countered this idea throughout my response essay by agreeing that not every woman is cut out for a combat job, but the women out there who would thrive in the infantry should be …

Love As An Active Choice, Madison M. Millhouse

Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing

For this assignment, my professor asked us to find an image and to analyze it for its accurate (or inaccurate) depiction of love based on the works we read from Eric Fromm and bell hooks. I found this three-framed image of a moving statue by Tamara Kvesitadze and thought it was a great representation of Fromm's paradox that in love "'two beings become one yet remain two" (19). From there, I began to examine the other ways the image aligned with Fromm and hooks' concepts of love and discussed with my professor the best way to organize my ideas.

Research Project: Regarding Genetic Theft, Danielle Lancia

Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing

With two months left in the semester, my class was given the project proposal: write a 5-page research paper about any form of cheating. I chose cheating in the medical field as my broad topic and then finally narrowed it down to genetic theft, which is the acquisition of someone's genes without his or her knowledge. We had until the final day of class to turn in our final draft but I wanted to get started right away because the topic really grabbed my interest. I starting researching by using online resources, and I found more information than expected. After …

Evolution, Place, And Identity: Facing Global Crisis With A New Identity As Earthly Residents, Yu Zhao

Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing

This assignment is the first assignment for my Eng 200 class and we are asked to write about "place and identity." As a psychology major, I love thinking interdisciplinarily. Therefore, I decided to talk about evolution, place, and identity.

Holmes, The Weed Keeper?, Justin Smith

Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing

I woke up out of a dream with the idea to hold a conversation with Sherlock Holmes (the theme of our class). It is easy enough to hold a fictional conversation with a fictional character discussing facts about why marijuana is a better alternative than cocaine. To make the project a little more academically focused, I also discussed how 19th- century Europeans did not understand addiction. As a process, it came only through research and free writing sessions.

The Complicated Mind Of Sherlock Holmes, Madeleine Ryan

Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing

By taking a Sherlock Holmes themed Writing Seminar II class, I was familiar with the theory of Sherlock Holmes having a mental disorder. For my final research paper, I decided to write about this theory and diagnose Holmes. I began by researching mental disorders and their symptoms. Once I had taken notes, I looked at the symptoms and compared them to Sherlock Holmes. I removed the disorders that did not relate to Holmes and narrowed the list down to Asperger’s Syndrome, Bipolar Disorder, and Savant Syndrome. Next, I found specific examples from Sherlock Holmes pieces that exhibited Holmes demonstrating the …

The Key Versatility Of Stories: Storytelling And 'Sherlock Holmes', Anna Rose Redgate

Line by Line: A Journal of Beginning Student Writing

When given the freedom to write my final essay on anything related to my course theme, Sherlock Holmes, I felt equally challenged and excited. I had found many of the topics interesting, but the one I found most interesting the Sherlock Holmes and forensic science unit. As I began my research, I realized that what was most engaging to me about the forensic science information as a communication major, was not the scientific evidence and analysis, but the stories that accompanied the real-life and fictional mysteries. This altered my course of research and forced me to ask how the role …