Hosted by the Florida State University Reading-Writing Center, Summer 2016
Sample Dissertations
This dissertation develops notes towards a descriptive model of literate practice by reporting on a study of student work collected from a course on 21st Century writing and editing and analyzed using a combination of coding and deep textual analysis, both informed by a social semiotic theory of multimodality. The research questions ask how students compose across different modes and media, how students make specific rhetorical choices in various modes and media, and how student composing and their rhetorical choices might contribute to a descriptive model of student literacy as practiced in both print and digital environments.
The Tears of a Clown questions the pervasive narrative that men have begun only recently to realize the limitations society places on them as men. Scholars of masculinity contend men now are starting to see masculinity as an unattainable ideal that restricts, oppresses, and frustrates them. This questionable claim functions as a rhetorical move to create simultaneously a space for male voices in feminist discourse and to validate masculinity studies as a field of inquiry, which seemingly needs no legitimization when one considers the popularity of gender studies in the academy and the value such work can bring to our understanding of politics, history, culture, and society. My study uses an analysis of comic texts to glean information about the fluctuating ideological script of postwar American masculinities. My contention is that the comic—comedy, humor, and laughter—functions as a viable way for men to redirect and sublimate the fear, anxiety, and anger they experience as men.
This qualitative research study examined whether or not reflection facilitates transfer. While scholars have addressed the role that transfer may play in the composition classroom (e.g. Beaufort 2007), none has addressed the role of reflection as a deliberate, systematic practice to assist students in transferring knowledge and practice to other contexts. Using Schon's and Yancey's contention that reflection allows people to "theorize [their] own practices" so that they can improve their work, this research uses case study methodology to analyze the experience of six participants—3 male and 3 females—that were in enrolled in a first-year composition course designed specifically to teach for transfer.
This dissertation addresses the following question: how did the interaction of image and word contribute to the formation and preservation of a community of white supremacists I refer to as the cult of lynching? The value of investigating this question is considerable. First, it provides insight into the rhetorical tools and strategies of white supremacy. Second, it reveals new aspects of visual rhetoric, namely visual rhetoric's function as a means of securing community membership. Third, it provides insight into the potential for media to function as strategies contributing to community formation and preservation. To answer this question, I develop a theoretical framework comprised of three interrelated concepts: community, image-word impingement, and the figure of the rapist beast.
My Left Arm, Her Twin Blades: Narratives of Resistance in Black Speculative Fiction, explores contemporary (1979-2010) Black Speculative novels by four key writers in the genre, including Kindred by Octavia E. Butler, The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead, The Shadow Speaker and Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor, and Tales of Nevèrÿon (the first volume of the four-part Return to Nevèrÿonseries) by Samuel R. Delany.Using these five texts, I explore resistance to both everyday and political oppression, as well as to hegemonic racist, sexist, and homophobic ideology as a persistent theme within the field of Black Speculative Fiction. Not only are these five texts (and others in the genre) interested in resistance, they challenge and trouble our understanding of what resistance means. Central to all five is the question of resistance's potential (or lack thereof) for producing meaningful counterhegemonic change. What's more, they simultaneously pose and complicate new models for resistance and identity in the African American and Diasporic African cultural context, particularly queerness and sexuality as models for resistance.
Recommended Texts
Destination Dissertation by Sondra Foss and William Waters
Dissertations aren't walls to scale or battles to fight; they are destinations along the path to a professional career. This friendly guide helps doctoral students develop and write their dissertations, using travel as a metaphor. This time-tested method comes from the authors' successful work at the Denver-based Scholars' Retreat. Following concrete and efficient steps for completing each part of the dissertation, it includes a wealth of examples from throughout the dissertation process, such as creating the dissertation proposal and coding data. Essential for all PhD candidates!
Availabe on Amazon or at the FSU Libraries.
GradHacker, blog by Inside Higher Education
GradHacker is a collaborative blog that was born in the Michigan State University Dissertation Boot Camp, now featured on Inside Higher Education, that spans universities and programs. It is written by graduate students from a variety of universities, departments, and stages in their careers and for the entire range of graduate and professional students. This blog has lots of tips and tricks for working on your dissertation, as well as preparing for the defense, job market, and many other graduate school rites of passage. For brief, and helpful articles, give GradHacker a go!
ScholarShape offers free "Tool Kits" for taking on scholarly tasks, such as writing a dissertation or academic article. These tool kits are for a general audience, but provide some insight into the genre conventions of the dissertation, as well as guides for approaching drafting and revision. ScholarShape also provides personalized support services for a fee.
Writing Tools
Calmly Writer has been designed to help you focus on writing. As you start typing, all the distracting options disappear from the interface.
Calmly also includes "focus mode" option, which highlights only the paragraph you are editing at the time.
Pacemaker calculates a schedule that will help you finish on-time! No need to wrestle with spreadsheets or do manual calculations. Download your plan in iCal format or save your plan to your Pacemaker Account.
A free web app to take the pain out of transcribing recorded interviews.
There are six stages in the technique:
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Decide on the task to be done.
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Set the pomodoro timer (traditionally to 25 minutes).[1]
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Work on the task until the timer rings. If a distraction pops into your head, write it down, but immediately get back on task.
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After the timer rings, put a checkmark on a piece of paper.[7]
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If you have fewer than four checkmarks, take a short break (3–5 minutes), then go to step 1.
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Else (i.e. after four pomodoros) take a longer break (15–30 minutes), reset your checkmark count to zero, then go to step 1.
Type without seeing what you're writing so you can get your ideas out without self-editing them.
This web-based writer encourages you to write 750 words everyday. It tracks your progress and awards points based on your regularity.