English Masters Papers

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Analysis of a Facebook Freakout: Rhetoric of Agency in the Places Privacy Debate
(North Dakota State University, 2011) Bakke, Abigail Rose
New technologies often generate fear regarding privacy threats, and social networking sites like Face book have lately experienced the brunt of the criticism. Face book users, even as they post greater amounts of information online, express concern over privacy violations. This paradox suggests that the issue is more complex than the private/public dichotomy and that the rhetoric used during these protests could yield insights regarding the competing worldviews expressed in a privacy debate. My paper examines discourse by the ACLU and Face book at the time the controversial Facebook Places application came out. I use cluster criticism to show how the two rhetors position themselves, each other, Face book users, and users' friends in terms of the degree of control each ;:igent is portrayed as having. My findings suggest that appealing to users' agency will be a key persuasive strategy as concerns over social networking privacy violations increase, and I comment on how sentence structure in corporate discourse can be used to enhance or detract from users' sense of agency when using social networking sites.
Balancing Motherhood Experiences and Academic Science: What Makes Some Women Persist in Their Professions?
(North Dakota State University, 2013) Perveen, Nurjahan
Women both enter and leave science fields in numbers disproportionate to men (Long, Valian). Although many researchers have studied the reasons women leave the workplace in general, and STEM professions specifically, particularly after motherhood (Mason, Williams), there has been little work completed on why women stay in academic science once they become mothers. This paper employs two methods of interpreting published essays written by mothers who are also successful academic scientists. This research spotlights women who both wish to pursue motherhood and opted to stay in successful careers in academic science, despite what is the well-documented discrimination mothers face in the workplace (Mason, “Do Babies Matter?”). The central research question is: with what do women who are mothers associate their success in academic science in terms of resources, supports, and lifestyle? This study indicates balancing parenting and working as scientists is plausible for those who have strong personal support systems.
Beautiful Boy Soldiers: Kaoru Shintani’s Area 88 and the Negotiation of Japanese Postwar Masculinity
(North Dakota State University, 2014) Chinwongs, Luc
This paper will examine the war manga Area 88 and its recent anime adaption. Area 88 depicts a fictional middle-eastern civil war in which a Japanese protagonist finds himself fighting as an unwilling mercenary. Area 88 is set in the cold war era, which, by necessity, must grapple with Japan’s political reality. As history professor Hiromi Mizuno explains, “…considering the strong connection that scholars and activists have found between masculinity and war, on the one hand, and femininity and peace, on the other, how postwar Japan’s masculinity has been negotiated with constitutional pacifism is an interesting and under-examined question” (105). The question arises: how can a Japanese protagonist engage in war while simultaneously advocating non-violence, or as Mizuno writes, “the dilemma of reclaiming masculinity and claiming pacifism at the same time?” (110). This negotiation of two seemingly contradictory goals both visually and textually is at the heart of Area 88’s narrative.
"Better Safe Than Sorry": Social Media Responses to Emerging Covid-19 Research in the News
(North Dakota State University, 2021) Wegner, McKenna Matty
In late 2019 and early 2020, the world faced the onset of a novel virus, SARS-CoV-2, also known as COVID-19 or Coronavirus, that would ultimately impact the lives of millions around the world. The COVID-19 Pandemic brought widespread attention to both the scientific process and communication of research from researchers through media outlets to the public. This study examines public responses to emerging and changing scientific research on surface transmission of COVID-19 as it was reported in New York Times articles during three different points in the pandemic. Three articles, published in March, May, and November of 2020, offer developing information about the surface transfer of COVID-19 as it became available. This study uses qualitative and quantitative analysis to analyze public Facebook comments on each New York Times article to document how public audiences understood and responded to changing COVID-19 research over time.
Bilingual Rabbits, Bilingual Readers: Watership Down as a Case for Animal Texts in Translation
(North Dakota State University, 2019) Grider, Rachel Ann
Richard Adams’ Watership Down provides readers a unique view of a world that is and isn’t their own, a familiar space from the unfamiliar perspective of an animal. Animal narratives like these are at the core of Animal Studies, a school of thought intent on decentering the Anthropos; yet despite this goal, our explorations of these text still must contend with the fact that they are bound to a language incapable of transmitting their experience and a human-privileged system of value still based within the human frame of reference. By viewing Adams’ novel as a case study for anthropomorphized texts not as problematic human texts with animal teachers but as animal texts in translation, we can use the principles of translation studies, content analysis, and animal science to shed new light on how we depict animal culture while encouraging a learning-driven empathy for the animal experience in the human reader.
Blackness in the “Grey Area”: Representations of Virtuous Labor in Venture Smith’s Narrative
(North Dakota State University, 2019) Bergh, Rio McKade
Scholarly treatments of Venture Smith, an African man who gained freedom and went on to own land and slaves in the late eighteenth-century United States, almost exclusively consider the 1798 edition of his narrative, ignoring the later 1835 and 1897 editions. I analyze each published narrative, and argue that Smith, as represented in the narratives and other printed materials, functions as an emblematic bourgeois. His economic actions conducted within Franco Moretti’s “grey area,” when paired with his performance of ascetic labor and virtue, provide the social legitimation necessary for a bourgeois owner class. However, Smith’s status as a black man has important implications. Even though he attains nominal freedom, the construction of the narrative and its representation throughout the nineteenth century suggest a cultural imperative to envision the black body as a source of labor and production—I argue that this legacy shapes how we understand Smith, even now.
Blessed Is She: Gender Critique Through Performativity and Portrayals of the Divine in Naomi Alderman’s The Power
(North Dakota State University, 2020) Froslie, Alexandra Dawn
Naomi Alderman’s 2016 novel The Power details the events that occur after women develop the ability to produce an electrical current throughout their bodies. This new physical power allows a matriarchal power structure to take the place of a patriarchy. Judith Butler’s theories regarding pastiche and drag help conceptualize Alderman’s portrayal of gender. Alderman essentializes gender roles but switches our common conception of them—in The Power, women are authoritative and violent, and men are submissive and passive. The discussion of gender performativity transitions into a discussion of gender in religious power structures. The character Allie employs ritual performativity to gain power in a manner that mimics Jesus Christ’s performativity in the gospel stories. I discuss the importance of male religious figures in the formation of the patriarchy, and I draw on feminist theological writing to describe the impact of Allie’s theological teachings, which name God as feminine.
Breaking the Binary: Sex Power, Sentiment, and Subversive Agency in Anita Loos’ Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
(North Dakota State University, 2018) Aldrich, Krista Ann
Anita Loos’ novel, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, first appeared in a 1925 issue of Harper’s Bazar to commercial success. Often compared to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, as both depict the 1920s and were published the same year, Blondes, the novel, and Loos herself would fade into relative obscurity. What little scholarship there is reads Lorelei within a binary of “dumb blonde/gold digger. This perpetuates the patriarchal, sentimental binary construction of female characters (and women) which limits them. I aim to challenge that understanding through my work revealing that the dumb blonde/gold digger are both sentimental categories, and Lorelei’s own “Professional Lady” is something else entirely. Lorelei works to explode the categories and redefine what it means to be female. Her “Professional Lady” positioning is one that is more powerful, more knowing, and more linguistically in control of writing herself as a woman who knows the game and wins.
"Building a Class Library": Emphasizing Summary in Teaching Source Use
(North Dakota State University, 2011) Haich, Niles Andrew
The study presented here is a qualitative study evaluating four objectives for teaching source use, ones I emphasized in my Spring 2011 classes with an assignment called the "Building a Class Library Assignment." I relied on two methods for evaluation: (1) process reflection, with audio recordings of one-on-one sessions serving as my data set; and (2) product analysis, with student-written profiles serving as my data set. In analyzing the profiles, as well as the interviews, it became obvious that my students fell short in the areas I wanted them to demonstrate an understanding in. However, it also became obvious that, because of the Class Library, the message that source integration means writing summary was one all of my students retained. Also successful was the structure of the Class Library, one that provided students with a recurring context in which to practice summary, and provided me with an additional setting in which to work with students on their writing. It is for these reasons that I argue that the Class Library, and the four objectives that are emphasized in the assignment, provide one answer to the larger, pedagogical question of how to improve instruction of source use. 111
Catering to our Aging Population: Increasing the Overall Usability of Financial Information through Personalization
(North Dakota State University, 2016) Driscoll, Alison Ruth
Older adults are increasing in numbers nationwide at a higher rate than any other age group because of longer life expectancies. As a result, older populations, or those individuals aged 65 and above, have to make increasingly more difficult financial decisions. The purpose of this study was to determine attitudes regarding financial information among a sample of older adults when compared to a younger group. Findings included that older populations prefer to research financial information on their own rather than seek professional help. Thus, technical communicators must begin working closely with the financial and technology sectors to improve usability of financial information, particularly information that’s geared for older populations. Personalization of information, as well as deliberately improved readability and legibility, will have a positive effect on the usability on financial information. Finally, eye tracking should be used as a future research tool to further increase personalization of online financial information.
Christabel’s Complexity: Coleridge’s View of Science, Nature and the Supernatural
(North Dakota State University, 2016) Hagen, Holly Ann
Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s unfinished poem, “Christabel,” follows the meeting and interaction of a young maiden and a deceptive demonesque woman. This paper explores the interactions between the natural, supernatural, and artificial elements found in the characters and setting of the poem. Coleridge weaves these elements together, oftentimes connecting them to each other in complex ways, instead of simply putting them in opposition to each other. This paper uses evidence from Coleridge’s personal notebooks, essays, and letters along with this analysis of the poem to reflect his cautious acceptance of the changes brought on by the scientific and industrial revolution in the British Romantic era.
Collaborative Argumentation: Toward a More Civil Rhetoric
(North Dakota State University, 2011) Rood, Craig James
I first describe competitive and cooperative approaches to argumentation, and I claim that cooperative argumentation aligns with the rhetorical tradition yet needs to be developed further. I focus on civil rhetoric as one form of cooperative argumentation. Building off the abstract description of civility offered by Theresa Enos and Kathleen Blake Yancey, I move to the practical level. Blending a quantitative and qualitative approach, I analyze students' writing from an anthology assignment (which pairs collaboration and argumentation) to determine: What kind of civility moves does the anthology assignment foster? In my analysis, I identify six civility moves: (1) common ground, (2) counter-arguments, (3) logic, (4) nuance, (5) openness, and (6) tone. I then claim that rhetoric which includes the six civility moves-along with attention to ethos and the rhetorical situation's structure-can lead to more productive arguments and argumentation in both our classrooms and wider culture.
"Convoluted Words of French Origin": Student Conceptions of Academic Writing
(North Dakota State University, 2021) Willden, Clair
Student beliefs about academic writing convince them that academic writing should sound boring or familiar in a way that precludes innovation. Composition teachers are clearly telegraphing something to students about writing, it’s just not the message that we want to send. In a qualitative study of five student interviews about academic writing, this paper argues that the message students receive tells them that academic writing should be stilted, awkward. It should sound as “smart” as possible. It should sound like other “academic texts” they have read. Some of the goals of composition, however, are to teach that writing is something versatile, worthwhile, and something that we can pursue in recognizable forms. Students conceive of “academic writing” as its own genre whose recognizable form relies just as heavily on awkward wording, boring topics, and prescriptive but subjective instructor feedback as it does on features such as citations and credible research.
Corvids and Canines in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire
(North Dakota State University, 2015) Stewart, Ann Marie
The series, A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin has become increasingly popular among readers even during a time when fantasy novels have decreased in popularity. This rise in readership and viewership (with the television series Game of Thrones), has effectively started several discussions about the methods and choices of the author in regards to the plot, symbols, and characters. This paper will look at two characters within the novels, namely the corvids and the canines Martin uses as catalysts for furthering the plot and understanding the main characters. This paper examines the historical use of the two animals and their relationship with one another as well as how Martin uses them to engage with the reader.
Dancing through Issues of Class and Race in the Composition Classroom
(North Dakota State University, 2017) Silvernail, Margaret Elizabeth
Within the writing classroom, teachers (and students) tend to understand writing and rhetoric as a mental activity, rarely considering the body’s role in effective communication—even more rarely do they incorporate the body into everyday pedagogy. Bringing hip-hop into the writing classroom helps students see and learn how communication and rhetoric can be expressed through movements and words. It also allows students to examine issues related to race and other minorities who use hip-hop as an outlet for emotive expression and working through struggles they face on a daily basis. This pedagogy opens up deeper conversations about race, class, and the placement of identity, providing students more active practice in working with these issues. The pedagogical strategies in this paper highlight the intersections of emotion, writing, movement, and rhetoric, and also explore strategies that help students better understand the rhetorical sphere and how bodily movement works within it.
Dangerous Silences: South Asian Immigrant Women and the Threat of Domestic Violence
(North Dakota State University, 2021) Akter, Syeda Salma
Immigrant women coming from South Asian countries to countries like the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada are often shocked when they become victims of domestic violence at the hands of their sole companions in a foreign country. Because of their unfamiliarity with the new country, victimized women are often forced to endure violence for long periods of time in silence. Scholars have identified the reasons behind this silence. William A. Stacey explains that victim women do not want to speak of violence because they are thinking of their children and hoping for an end of violence one day (55). Loise I Gerdes agrees and adds that remaining silent about domestic violence is a cultural practice in some countries (118). While discussing the reasons for silence within this community of women, I will argue that silence does not end violence, rather intensifies it.
The Dangers of Power: Government Control in the Worlds of Condie’s Matched and Lowry’s The Giver
(North Dakota State University, 2020) Haley, Deborah Faith
This paper considers the topic of government control through the context of young adult dystopian literature. The novels The Giver (1993) by Lois Lowry and Matched (2011) by Ally Condie are specifically considered in their connection to governmental control over an entire society. The novels The Giver and Matched both provide views into worlds where such basic human experiences as language use and memory are controlled, so that the protagonists—Jonas (The Giver) and Cassia (Matched) –find themselves torn between trusting what they have been told all their lives by their respective societies and what they have come to understand through their own experiences apart from the controlled environment of the government. Through these novels, we are shown the complete stagnation of the human experience possible when government structures are allowed to control all aspects of life in a culture, society, or country and no one challenges their decisions.
Disruption of Gender Norms to Advance Contemporary Politics: A Radical Feminist Analysis of Efo Kodjo Mawugbe's In the Chest of a Woman
(North Dakota State University, 2021) Chrappah, Abigail
This paper deconstructs leadership and kingship politics in the Ghanaian West-African culture as it pertains to gender. It proves that what governs the concept of the throne is unequivocally masculine and simply a game. The thesis further argues the need to encourage subversively radical methods in dealing with entrenched sexism that permeate the royal system and the current political system. Through Efo Kodjo Mawugbe's play In the Chest of a Woman, the research establishes that the concept of power in the Ghanaian traditional system is rigid and, consequently, requires unorthodox deviance to challenge gender oppression. It concludes that for women in Ghana to have any substantive political transformation, radicalism must be reconceptualized and integrated into West-African feminism for activism purposes and not avoided entirely.
East Lynne’s Transatlantic Course: From British Serialization to American Theatre
(North Dakota State University, 2017) Olson, Jordan Rae
Ellen Wood’s East Lynne, a popular sensation fiction, began because of its original and insatiable British readership; however, the texts immediate and drastic reception into American theater confirms that this narrative is not simply an overly dramatic and unrealistic domestic drama. Although melodramatic, Wood’s text resonates with audiences because it is relatable in genuinely meaningful ways. The main protagonist, Lady Isabel, wrongfully leaves her family and spends the rest of her life in physical and emotional turmoil, however her endurance never ceases. Her character is psychologically compelling and easily accessible because she possesses truly human qualities and is a representation of British tradition and order. Further solidifying East Lynne’s dramatic repetition in the United States is its ability to move to new media spaces. From print to stage, stage to film, and finally, in 1980 the East Lynne Theater Company was founded and is still in production.
Empowering Native American Students: Approaches to Enhancing the Tribal College Writing Classroom
(North Dakota State University, 2018) Flute, Heather Madonna
This research aims to address the writing methods and strategies used within the Tribal College Writing classroom by providing insight into best practices to improve writing at Tribal Colleges. While elaborating on classroom environment, I expand on what is currently happening in the classroom by assessing methods that work and enhancing strategies that could be improved. An anecdotal approach is applied to the observations of Tribal College Writing instructor’s methods and strategies in their classrooms. The goal is to orient myself in the Tribal college classroom and administration environment. I hope to offer tools and knowledge from experienced authors and educators with the hope of creating a comfortable space for students to thrive and understand the importance of writing within the Tribal College classroom and beyond.

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