English Masters Papers: Recent submissions
Now showing items 61-78 of 78
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The World isn’t Split into Good People and Death Eaters: Exploring the Ambiguities of Alchemy, Immortality, Morality, and Choice in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Series
(North Dakota State University, 2015)In this Master’s paper, I am exploring the ambiguous intersection between alchemy and immortality in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, especially where choice and morality complicate Rowling’s depiction of the means to ... -
Implications of Translation: Examining English Word Patterns in a First-Year Spanish University Textbook
(North Dakota State University, 2015)In this study, I examined Vistas, a first-year Spanish university textbook, for its use of Greco-Latinate and Anglo-Saxon words as English translations. Using David Corson’s work as a starting point, I analyzed a foreign ... -
Corvids and Canines in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire
(North Dakota State University, 2015)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 ... -
The Girl, the Film, and the Wardrobe: A Study of Texts, Tension, and Approachability in Punk Clothing and the Girl with the Dragon Tatoo
(North Dakota State University, 2014)The present study investigates how the modern re-authoring of Punk clothing styles through the character of Lisbeth Salander in Steig Larsson’s novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, its American film adaptation, and the ... -
Female Heroism and Leadership in the Anglo-Saxon Judith
(North Dakota State University, 2014)In this paper, I argue that the Anglo-Saxon Judith frames its titular character’s simultaneous adoption of sacred femininity and masculine heroic violence as the acceptable and necessary response to despair in the face ... -
Time to Play the Religion Card: Messiah Complexes in Battlestar Galactica
(North Dakota State University, 2011)In 2003, Battlestar Galactica (BSG) was re-invented from its 1978 roots to a post-apocalyptic narrative steeped in religious rhetoric and Machiavellian politics. This combination of political and religious rhetoric is ... -
Beautiful Boy Soldiers: Kaoru Shintani’s Area 88 and the Negotiation of Japanese Postwar Masculinity
(North Dakota State University, 2014)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 ... -
Inclusive Peer Review Activities in College Writing Classes: Autistic Students' Perspectives and Ways of Participating
(North Dakota State University, 2014)To date, no composition research exists involving autistic college students and peer review. The literature regarding autism suggests that autistic students are likely to experience, value, and participate in peer review ... -
Empowering Spaces: A Student Initiative in Language Acquisition
(North Dakota State University, 2014)A major concern for many international students is improving their spoken English, which requires engaged interaction with other speakers in a comfortable environment. This exploratory study analyzes a student-run language ... -
“It’s Not about Health; It’s about Sex, Pumpkin”: Reproductive Autonomy, Medicalization, and Contraceptive Rhetoric in the Wake of the War on Women
(North Dakota State University, 2013)The purpose of this study is to better understand the ways in which contemporary women describe their contraceptive needs in the wake of the war on women, primarily in the context of the Sandra Fluke and Rush Limbaugh ... -
Balancing Motherhood Experiences and Academic Science: What Makes Some Women Persist in Their Professions?
(North Dakota State University, 2013)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, ... -
Utopia, Desire, and Exigence: Re-Theorizing Utopia as Rhetorical Action
(North Dakota State University, 2013)In this paper, I seek to redefine Utopia as a literary genre. Specifically, I argue that Utopias and utopian literature should be read as socially situated actions that are interpreted through an exigence composed of the ... -
Never Just a Game: How the Interplay of Video Games and the "Real" World Complicates Boundaries in Rushdie's Luka and the Fire of Life
(North Dakota State University, 2013)The purpose of this paper is to examine the interplay of games and reality as depicted in Salman Rushdie’s Luka and the Fire of Life. The convergence of several realities is a recurrent trope in Rushdie’s novels. The trope ... -
Superheroes and Media: Commentaries about the American Media in Mark Millar and Brian Hitch's The Ultimates
(North Dakota State University, 2012)Millar and Hitch’s The Ultimates, a reboot of the Marvel Avengers published shortly after the events of 9/11, provides a critique of the role of the American media in American society and politics. By tracing instances ... -
"Who Are You and I...?": The Rhetoric of Identity in the Aloha Eagles Letters
(North Dakota State University, 2012)In 1969, four years before the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, Aloha Eagles, a Republican legislator in the North Dakota House of Representatives, proposed a House Bill 319 to legalize abortion in North Dakota. ... -
Where's the Revolution?: From "Code Year" to the Continuum of Proceduracy
(North Dakota State University, 2012)As the calendar turned over to 2012, an online learning initiative, Codecademy, declared it “Code Year”—the year “for everyone” to learn code. Within six months, this call has received much attention from the public and ... -
Heteronormative Recovery in the Bell Jar
(North Dakota State University, 2012)In Sylvia Plath’s novel The Bell Jar, Esther Greenwood struggles to form a true identity. She emulates many women as a way to see how various identities work for her. One of these identities is that of a lesbian. During ... -
Learning for Legislation and a Lifetime: Using UBD, Workshop Model, and Technology to Create 21st Century Learners
(North Dakota State University, 2011)This paper discusses the issues surrounding No Child Left Behind legislation, gives a review of research surrounding best practices, details what educators can do to satisfy the requirements of the law while still engaging ...