Rhetoric and Composition Commons^™

Richard Edes Harrison And The Cartographic Perspective Of Modern Internationalism, Timothy Barney

Rhetoric and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

Air-age globalism was a discursive phenomenon throughout the development of World War II that accounted for the rapid “shrinking” of the world through air technologies and the internationalization of American interests. Cartography became air-age globalism’s primary popular expression, and journalistic cartographers such as Richard Edes Harrison at Fortune magazine introduced new mapping projections and perspectives in response to these global changes. This essay argues that Harrison’s mapping innovations mediate a geopolitical shift in America toward a modern, image-based internationalism. Through recastings of “vision” and “strategy,” Harrison’s work offers an opportunity to assess the rhetorical tensions between idealism and realism in …

Standing By: Police Paralysis, Race, And The 1964 Philadelphia Riot, Nicole Maurantonio

Rhetoric and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

Although considerable scholarship has explored the riots of the 1960s as the culmination of tensions simmering throughout the tumultuous decade, this article examines Philadelphia’s 1964 riot and the ways that local newspapers attempted to frame the violence. By urging Philadelphians to view the riot as the outcome of an ineffectual police department, which was ill-equipped to confront black “hoodlums,” journalists privileged frames of police paralysis and marginalization. The circulation of these two frames alone, however, cannot explain the eventual demise of the city’s Police Advisory Board. This study argues that the imagery of police standing idly by while the streets …

Imaging Philadelphia: Edmund Bacon And The Future Of The City (Book Review), Nicole Maurantonio

Rhetoric and Communication Studies Faculty Publications

Time capsules are artifacts that at face value appear antithetical to the enterprise of history. Capturing frozen moments in time, time capsules flatten the dynamic and contingent nature of the past. Yet, as the contributors to Imagining Philadelphia: Edmund Bacon and the Future of the City argue, the artifact is simply an entry point opening up larger questions of the complex relationships between past, present, and future. In this case, the “time capsule” is a single text, famed city planner Edmund Bacon’s 1959 essay, “Philadelphia in the Year 2009.” When read with the benefit of twenty-first- century hindsight, Bacon’s essay, …

Negotiating The Ideological Boundaries Of "The Four Freedoms": An Analysis Of African American Rhetoric From World War Ii, Jansen Blake Werner

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This project explores how African Americans continued the quest for civil rights during WWII. In order to do so, however, one must acknowledge that black spokespersons responded to competing discourses--particularly, the discourses of U.S. officials such as President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In an era where propaganda pervaded the public sphere, the sheer force of the white majority in the U.S. was politically and socially overwhelming. Thus, non-dominant groups, such as African Americans, were forced to react from a restricted discursive space. In this regard, my analysis cuts two-fold. First, I examine how President Roosevelt galvanized support for his "Four Freedoms" …

El Uso De Las Funciones De Las Citas En La Estructura Retórica De Las Introducciones De Memorias De Máster Escritas En Español Por Estudiantes Nativos Españoles Y No Nativos Filipinos, David Sánchez-Jiménez

Publications and Research

This article analyzes the correlation between the use of functions of citations and the organizational structure of the Introduction section of a corpus of sixteen (16) master´s theses written in Spanish in the field of Applied Linguistics by native and non-native writers. The quantitative and qualitative analysis in this study arises from the model proposed by Carbonell- Olivares et al. (2009) which aims to define the organization of the Introduction section of the doctoral thesis in Spanish and the classification of the functions of citations made by Sánchez Jiménez (2011). The research results show that there is a direct relationship …

Pltl In The Developmental Writing Classsroom, Aaron Barlow, A. E. Dreyfuss, Jennifer Sears, Amelise Bonhomme, Rennee Clarke, Sungsoo Moon, Jodi-Ann Young, Lori Younge

Publications and Research

Writing placement exam preparation can be broken down into small tasks overseen by Peer Leaders, following (though not precisely) patterns set out by Fred Keller in “Good-bye Teacher” in 1968. The mechanical aspect of writing, however, is never enough for the production of essays that communicate, something that requires audience and a desire to “speak.” Students in developmental classrooms often have problems beyond the writing itself: they may be test shy and may not be prepared to take on even college entry tasks without careful direction. Working with Peer Leaders, the developmental program can address the problems of mechanics and …

Listening For The Squeaky Wheel: Designing Distance Writing Program Assessment, Virginia M. Tucker

English Faculty Publications

Distance writing programs still struggle with assessment strategies that can evaluate student writing as well as their ability to communicate about that writing with peers at a distance. This article uses Kim, Smith and Maeng's 2008 distance education program assessment scheme to evaluate a single distance writing program at Old Dominion University. The program's specific assessment needs include the ability to determine how well students are developing expert insider prose and working together as a virtual community. Kim, Smith and Maeng's assessment scheme was applied to six courses within the writing program, revealing that programmatic assessment weaknesses included providing varied …

Life As Contagion : Sheppard Lee And Arthur Gordon Pym's Viral Travel Logs, Lucy Turner

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This research looks at Robert Montgomery Bird's novel Sheppard Lee, Written by Himself and Edgar Allan Poe's only work of long fiction, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. Posing the narrators as viral agents within their respective plots, the research draws from contemporary antebellum sources as well as earlier, and more modern ones, ranging from Descartes to Agamben and Esposito. Following the viral model, the role of the protagonists is mapped in an effort to expose how their infectious actions lead to greater implications such as how they function as the virus, how they infect those around them, …

The Bridge, Volume 9, 2012, Bridgewater State University

the bridge

Volume 9 Staff

Kate Camerlin, Editor-in-Chief
Catherine McFarland, Editor-in-Chief
Colleen Barber
Christopher Boudrow
Ryan DiPetta
Taylor Lynch
Kristen Lyons
Michael Malpiedi
Anthony Rotella
Amanda Rae Rouillard
Joshua Savory
Sarah Springer

Melanie Joy McNaughton, Faculty Advisor
John Mulrooney, Faculty Advisor

Lost In Translation, Christine Peterson '16

Outstanding Gateway Papers

The ramifications of Proposition 227, legislation that threatened to eliminate bilingual education passed by California in 1998, sparked a nationwide debate about the validity of education that non-English speaking students were receiving in a bilingual classroom versus that of an English-only classroom. While there was a deluge of arguments regarding the efficiency of English comprehension in the two classroom environments, what many commentators on the issue overlooked was the difference in the retention of the students’ identities.

Down A Dusty Haitian Road, Lydia Rudd '16

Outstanding Gateway Papers

No abstract provided.

Engaging And Enacting Writing In First-Year Composition: Re-Imagining Student Self-Efficacy In Writing, Mary L. Tripp

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

According to educational theory, learning to write necessitates self-belief that one is capable of performing required tasks. This belief is called self-efficacy, a component of human agency. Students who enter First-Year Composition (FYC), are often unaware of the writing challenges that lie ahead, and many educational psychologists posit that self-efficacy beliefs are the most important factor in meeting these writing challenges. While socio-cognitive theory shapes views of self-efficacy in education literature, to date, measures of self-efficacy in writing have focused only on the individual cognitive beliefs as they influence writing performance outcomes. However, current research in writing studies as well …

What Is Talmud? The Art Of Disagreement, David Metzger

English Faculty Publications

Review of What is Talmud? The Art of Disagreement, by Sergey Dolgopolski. New York: Fordham University Press, 2009.

Facebook And Its Users: Using Grounded Theory To Understand Perceived Interactivity As A Constraint In The Rhetorical Situation, Katie Lee Retzinger Pruitt

English Theses & Dissertations

The general term interactivity has been used in a variety of disciplines to describe phenomena that occur in website interfaces; however, definitions and explanations about what constitutes interactivity and how it functions do not consider the specific ways in which interactivity can function and be perceived by users in specific rhetorical situations. In this study, I address the problems with the literature about general interactivity in writing studies and in other disciplines such as computer science, advertising, marketing, and communication studies by distinguishing between two types of interactivity—functional and perceived. I situate the different types of interactivity rhetorically, which can …

Process Writing Instruction In Practice; When Revising Looks Like Editing, Emily Isaacs

Department of Writing Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

To better understand the short-term effectiveness of process-writing methodologies, a three-week qualitative study of a ninth grade integrated, untracked English class in an economically and racially diverse suburban-urban community in New Jersey was conducted. During the three week period of study focused on studying and writing a paper related to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, students were engaged in drafting, peer and expert reader review, as well as instructor feedback and guided revision practices. After blind review of first and last drafts by three independent readers, revised student drafts were deemed either "somewhat stronger" or "stronger than first drafts. Evidence …

Use Of Wikis In Second/Foreign Language Classes: A Literature Review, Mimi Li

English Faculty Research

Wikis, as emerging Web 2.0 tools, have been increasingly implemented in language classrooms. To explore the current state of research and inform future studies, this article reviews the past research on the use of wikis in second/foreign language classes. Using Google Scholar and the ERIC database, the researcher examines twenty-one empirical studies published in fourteen peer-reviewed journals from 2008 to 2011. Specifically, the researcher takes a holistic review of this body of literature, including theoretical frameworks, research goals, contexts and participants, tasks and wiki applications, and research methods and instruments. The researcher identifies four main research themes investigated in the …

Interrogating The Spaces Of Personal Photography : Women, Identity, And The Cultural Formation Of Photographic Practice, Christine Garceau

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Personal photographs permeate our lives from the moment we are born as they define who we are within our familial group and local communities. Archived in family albums or framed on living room walls, they continue on after our death as mnemonic artifacts referencing our gendered, raced, and ethnic identities. This dissertation examines salient instances of what women “do” with personal photographs, not only as authors and subjects but also as collectors, archivists, and family and cultural historians. This project seeks to contribute to more productive, complex discourse about how women form relationships and engage with the conventions and practices …

Exigencies For Engaging Undergraduates In Rhetorical Problem Solving : Insights From Engineering Managers And A3 Report Analyses, Jean Straw Declerck

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Undergraduate education has a historical tradition of preparing students to meet the problem-solving challenges they will encounter in work, civic, and personal contexts. This thesis research was conducted to study the role of rhetoric in engineering problem solving and decision making and to pose pedagogical strategies for preparing undergraduate students for workplace problem solving. Exploratory interviews with engineering managers as well as the heuristic analyses of engineering A3 project planning reports suggest that Aristotelian rhetorical principles are critical to the engineer's success: Engineers must ascertain the rhetorical situation surrounding engineering problems; apply and adapt invention heuristics to conduct inquiry; draw …

Bibliography Of Central European Women's Holocaust Life Writing In English, Louise O. Vasvári

CLCWeb Library

No abstract provided.

Placing Birds On A Dynamic Evolutionary Map: Using Digital Tools To Update The Evolutionary Metaphor Of The "Tree Of Life", Sonia Stephens

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation describes and presents a new type of interactive visualization for communicating about evolutionary biology, the dynamic evolutionary map. This web-based tool utilizes a novel map-based metaphor to visualize evolution, rather than the traditional "tree of life." The dissertation begins with an analysis of the conceptual affordances of the traditional tree of life as the dominant metaphor for evolution. Next, theories from digital media, visualization, and cognitive science research are synthesized to support the assertion that digital media tools can extend the types of visual metaphors we use in science communication in order to overcome conceptual limitations of traditional …

Prudence And Decorum And The Invention Of American Democracy: An Examination Of The Ratification Debates For The Federal Constitution In 1787-88, Robert Bryan Brito

Wayne State University Dissertations

Abstract

This dissertation examines the ratification debates for the federal constitution in 1787-88. The goal of this project has been to examine the use of the rhetorical strategies of prudence and decorum as they are employed within the debates in Massachusetts, Virginia and New York.

In Massachusetts, classical notions of representation are challenged by the use of binding instructions given to delegates sent to the ratification debates. In addition, Massachusetts federalists had to overcome objections to the proposed constitution based on the system of representation, as well as the absence of a Bill of Rights. Federalists Challenged these views, and …

Flickering Cities: Multimedia City Fabrics And The Changing Nature Of Citizenship, Andrew Geddes Engel

Wayne State University Dissertations

How do the multiple media in cities today cause us to rethink the constructions and locations of our artifacts and their effects on us? In this dissertation, I argue that city artifacts, and by extension cities themselves, exist as multiple iterations scattered across the whole range of the media spectrum. The new persuasive potential of these iterations in their different media necessitate a turn to “post-urban” city fabrics, and these new fabrics are expansion and re-expression of the urban in unexpected media. Therefore, we must work to acknowledge and take advantage of the ways cities “flicker” as their artifacts are …

Reading Between The Numbers: The Colonial Rhetorics Of Fantasy Football And The Illusion Of Control, Robert Kyle Kellam

Wayne State University Dissertations

In this project, I build on existing research in the critical intersection of media, sport, gaming and race to explore how fantasy football, an entertainment byproduct of the National Football League (NFL), rearticulates and recontexualizes the colonial ideology already prolific in the NFL and other products of American media culture. I investigate how fantasy football may represent an innocuous, yet exigent place to study the commodification and consumption of bodies in our contemporary media landscape because of the way that the increasingly popular game operates in a capitalistic logic, where NFL players are almost exclusively valued for their statistical production …

Bibliography For The Study Of Text And Image In Modern European Culture, Natasha Grigorian

CLCWeb Library

No abstract provided.

The Many Pedagogies Of Memoir: A Study Of The Promise Of Teaching Memoir In College Composition, Melissa Lee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the promise and problems of memoir in the pedagogy and practices of teaching memoir in college composition. I interviewed three University of Central Florida instructors who value memoir in composition, and who at the time of this study, were mandated to teach memoir in their composition courses. The interviews focus on three main points of interest: (1) the instructors’ motivations behind their teaching of memoir, (2) how these instructors see memoir functioning in their classes, and (3) what these instructors hope their students will gain in the process of writing the memoir essay. By analyzing these interviews, …

Writing For Change And Changing Writing: Service Learning, First-Year Composition And Writing About Writing, Vanessa Rae Bormann

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Through a piloted model of curriculum designed for ENC 1101 this teacher-research study investigated how service-learning can shape the experiences of both teachers and students in the first-year composition classroom. The research aimed to determine the ways in which enhancement occurred for students and teachers through evaluation of student coursework, a post-semester student focus group and a faculty interview. Focusing on the impacts of this curriculum on a part-time teacher, this study also aimed to bring to light some of the challenges inherent in service-learning within FYC, while offering ways to mediate those challenges in both course design and departmental …

The Undergraduate 2012, Saint Mary's College Of California

The Undergraduate Spectrum

No abstract provided.

Source Credibility And How New Churchgoers Choose A Church, Stephanie Araujo

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

The church as a faith community seeks to expand interpersonal and ethical communication by inviting new members. However, much of the effort to successfully communicate with non-attenders has fallen on deaf ears as the church in the United States has seen stagnant growth over the last few decades. This study considers the various tactics employed by the faith community to overcome this malaise and attract new people by asking how new churchgoers choose a church. Using source credibility as the theoretical basis, this study attempts to show that most churchgoers choose a faith community based on the pastor’s source credibility; …

President Barack Obama's Speech In Cairo: A Metaphor Analysis, George Ebimobowei Oti

Communication & Leadership Dissertations and Theses

This study investigates the metaphors embedded in President Barack Obama’s speech in Cairo, delivered on June 4, 2009. Mr.Obama delivered his speech at a time when the dissonance between the Muslim world and the West expanded. The rhetor’s motive was to arrest the increasingly compounded atmosphere of rapprochements between the two worlds. The study employed two philosophical foundations, Burkean identification- consubstantiation and Buber’s I-thou personality theory. The two philosophies promote the notion of humankind’s sharing of a bond. The study categorizes the deployment of metaphors into archetypal and transcendent metaphors; the results show that both types of metaphors serve a …

Spectrum 2012, Saint Mary's College Of California

The Undergraduate Spectrum

No abstract provided.