DISSERTATIONS IN PROGRESS

Fall 2009

Ruth Kistler is concerned with problems stemming from our historical dependence in this country on a skills-based model for teaching composition, one that seeks to teach students the rules of certain discourse communities without (or before) asking them to engage substantially with meaningful ideas. She believes this approach tends to produce apathetic students who fail to grasp the significance and value of becoming fluent and contributing members of a discourse community. Ruth plans to explore alternative first year composition models that shift the instructional focus from those of style and form to the invention of ideas by asking students to grapple with substantive questions and providing them with avenues for their own participation in ongoing, scholarly and public debates on issues of significance.

Scott Gage's dissertation explores the circulation of lynching photographs and postcards in the early twentieth century. By tracking their appearance among both white supremacists and anti-lynching activists, Scott hopes to account for the role of circulation in advancing and resisting racist ideologies. His study will, therefore, demonstrate the importance of circulation for the rhetorical analysis of visual artifacts. It will also reveal racial identity as a fluid construction shaped by the assemblage of race, media, and visuality.

Tony Ricks is presently surveying the use of the term "community" in composition studies as well as in other communication-related disciplines. He believes community (i.e., camaraderie) is important in the development of a writer, and he is interested in how individual writers navigate their way into and throughout different communities successfully. But can a community also hinder the development of a writer? It would depend on the definition of "good writing" within that community and the opportunities one has to produce it. For his dissertation, Tony plans to use qualitative research methods to further understand the relationship(s) between community and composition.

Liane Robertson's dissertation investigates how learning transfer occurs in first-year composition and how specific course content potentially aids transfer. By researching the content-specific foci of several first-year composition sections, she aims to determine the learning transfer that occurs as students experience writing situations within first-year composition and in a subsequent college course requiring writing. If her research can establish whether specific content learned in first-year composition increases the transfer of knowledge about writing to a new context, Liane will recommend course content that maximizes transfer.

Kara Taczak's dissertation will focus on reflection and transfer in the first-year composition classroom. The purpose of her research is to determine how reflection can support the transfer of rhetorical knowledge and practices from one writing site to another writing site. To examine this, she will study students over the course of two semesters (Fall 2009 and Spring 2010) in a first-year composition class and other FSU classes where students are required to write, both concurrently while they are enrolled in English 1102 and in the following semester.

Leah Cassorla's dissertation will focus on the ways in which digital convergence and broadcast culture have come together to bring American Journalism back to its roots in anti-authoritarianism. She will focus how on blogs, Twitter, and social networking create the new citizen journalist, bringing about a fifth estate.

Still finalizing an area for her dissertation, Kelly Thayer is becoming increasingly interested in writing centers, WAC programs, and writing assessment. She is hoping this year of coursework will help her limit her focus. In addition to coursework, she is also working on a certificate in Program Evaluation, something she hopes will enhance her area of concentration.