Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons^™

Identifying Youth Appeals In Alcohol Alternative Social Media Content Through Framing, Melina Oneal

West Chester University Master’s Theses

Proposed regulations for alcohol advertising prevent beverage companies from targeting people under the legal drinking age. However, similar regulations for alcohol alternative beverages are less explored, which could allow alcohol alternative products to create awareness for alcoholic beverages among youth. Alcohol alternatives beverages, including no-alcohol and low-alcohol products, are increasing in popularity and can function as compliments to alcoholic products to decrease the total alcohol volume consumed or as substitutes for alcoholic products. Framing theory can be operationalized through the Content Appealing to Youth Index, an index of content elements found in research literature to be appealing to youth, to …

Inoculant To Influence: Cultivating Critical Citizenship By Foregrounding Ontology Through Kenneth Burke And Walter Fisher’S Rhetorical Frameworks, Mark Griffin

English Department Theses

Scholars interested in exploring the potency of the writing modality of critical pedagogy for molding students into proactive citizens will find the integration of Kenneth Burke’s Dramatism and Walter Fisher’s Narrative Paradigm instrumental, offering tools essential for cultivating a rhetorical awareness adept at navigating narratives in the 21st century. Synthesizing Burke’s rhetorical dialectic between the nature of reality and our understanding of it with Fisher’s concept that the human condition is a narrative condition yields insights into the critical writing process. This integration fosters a rhetorical awareness, serving as an inoculant to influence, countering the prevailing persuasive elements within today’s …

Presidential Rhetoric And Media's Contribution To The Subjective Nature Of Truth In American Democracy, Bianca Miccolis

English Honors Theses

This thesis examines the role of media on the subjectivity of truth in presidential rhetoric and its ethical implications. In my three case studies, I find that there is some form of deception by each president in their chosen form of media. I analyze Roosevelt’s use of the radio, which he uses to hide his disability and gain more executive power to combat the Great Depression. I examine Reagan’s use of television and how he fabricates an intimate relationship with the American people to enact tax reform. Finally, I investigate Trump’s use of Twitter to deflect negative publicity as he …

User Experience As A Rhetorical Medium: User At The Intersection Of Audience, Reader And Actor, Áine Doyle

English Honors Theses

The goal of this project is to demonstrate how digital interfaces are bodies of visual language that can be “close-read” and interpreted critically, just like any other traditional text; digital user interfaces, like poetry and novels, have form and content that complement and shape the meaning and interpretation of the other. It is meant to encourage academic discussions about digital interfaces to go beyond whether social media is “good” or “bad” to how digital interfaces are structured, why they are structured the way they are, and what effects these structures have on the way they communicate information and content to …

Why Study Language? Discussing Language And Its Influence On Gender Discrimination, Katelyn Eisenmann

Honors Projects

An applied research project, with the culminating piece being a panel discussion that focused on the ways in which language use and structure contribute to attitudes and perceptions of gender within our society, and the politics that surround concepts of gender.

Esl Students' Language Anxiety In In-Class Oral Presentations, Yusi Chen

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This case study aims to explore connections between ESL students’ speaking-in-class anxiety and their presentation performance, factors causing oral anxiety during presentations, and strategies to regulate L2 students’ speaking anxiety in presentations. Findings of this research contribute to the investigation of speaking-in-class anxiety from non-English major L2 students. Three Chinese ESL students enrolled in the INTO program at Marshall University individually gave two presentations in speaking classes. Triangulated data sources were collected to delve into three research questions. The results suggest that L2 students’ anxiety forms mental blocks during presentations, but it has less influence on their presentation performance. Based …

Use Of Rhetoric In 1960'S Protest Music: A Case Study Of Bob Dylan's Music, Colleen Wilkowski

Honors Program Theses

The purpose of this study is to analyze the use of rhetoric in protest music of the 1960s, using Bob Dylan’s music as a case study. The 1960s was a time of revolution and social change in the United States. Throughout this time, protest music served as an outlet for musicians to voice their support for this change. By conducting a rhetorical analysis, this study assesses the ways in which the tools of classical rhetoric can be applied to the music of this time. The analysis focuses on the rhetorical functions of this music in the context of the protest …

Handling And Preventing Journalistic Fraud: Janet Cooke, Stephen Glass, Jayson Blair, Kenneth Munson

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Fraud is a growing concern in the news business, especially in recent years where numerous journalism scandals rock its foundation. This paper examines the most prominent cases: Stephen Glass, the reporter for The New Republic newsmagazine who completely or partially fabricated 27 stories in the late ‘90s; Jayson Blair, the New York Times reporter who was found to have plagiarized or made up his supposedly on-thescene reporting in 2003; and Janet Cooke, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1981 for her Washington Post story about a child heroin addict who, in actuality, did not exist. This paper will examine flaws …

An Analysis Of The Elements Of Style In The University Sermons Of John Henry Newman, George Robert Cripe

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Syntax, word usage, and paragraph development form the substance of the analysis of the Apologia. The use of subordination, repetition, and antithesis in sentence construction; the choice of words to produce rhythm and prove mood, as well as the implied metaphor; and careful blending of these elements into an organic unity which reflect not only the personality of the man, but his very thought process; these are the common elements identified by critics of the Apologia. To what extent these elements exist in the prose of the university sermons, and what other elements of style are identifiable in these sermons …

A Comparative Analysis Of The Characters Of Two Dramatic King Lears : Shakespeare And Bottomley, Doyne Joseph Mraz

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

It has been the purpose of this study to make a comparative analysis of the most significant characters in two selections of dramatic literature: Gordon Bottomley’s King Lear’s Wife and William Shakespeare’s King Lear. The significant characters are Goneril and Regan, the “evil influence” in both plays; the two Lears, the “neutral influence” in both plays; and Hygd and Cordelia in King Lear’s Wife and King Lear, respectively. Hygd and Cordelia are the “honorable influence” in the stories.

It has been the further purpose of this thesis to delete from both plays all subplots which do not directly pertain to …