Table of Contents: 2020

Introduction

Working with Sources

In the process of rhetorical invention, writers engage with other perspectives, “listening to” sources and seeking connections to their own ideas—and thus creating new meaning and knowledge. In this section, writers reveal how they engage in the important work of rhetorical invention by summarizing, synthesizing, and responding to others’ ideas.

Annotated Bibliography: CRISPR

Andie Bisk

Rhetorical Analysis/Proposal

Caeden Cloud

Superiority Through Inferiority: Articulations of Power in Hybrid Masculinity

Olivia Gauvin

Annotated Bibliography

Ian Riggs

Practicing Metacognition

Metacognition – reflection on your own thinking – is essential for any writer. After all, writing and research are about rhetorical choices, and we make the best choices when we are aware of how we think and learn. Whether to look back at what you’ve done and see how to improve, or to look ahead to strategize the best way to approach your work, thinking about writing starts before you begin and ends after you finish any one piece of work. The authors in this section show metacognition in action.

Semester Reflection: Fightin’ with My Head

Natalie Harder

Pen to Paper

K Mantz

Final Reflection Presentation: WRTG 102 and 103

Alex Tamari

Developing Intellectual Curiosity

In developing intellectual curiosity these essays go beyond established ideas, engaging in inquiry that brings a new understanding of existing evidence. These writers raise meaningful questions about their world, and through the discovery of insight, come to new conclusions.

A Diamond Is(n’t) Forever

Grace Barry

A Passion for Cheese

Alexandra Rainis

A Masking of Menses

Sophia Thomas

What to Do with a Magic Green Lamp

Joshua Sucec
Writer as Witness Essay Competition Winner

Critically Analyzing Texts

Perceptive readers question what they read, interrogating a work’s meanings, its claims, and the quality of its evidence. A critical analysis may draw on the writer’s personal experiences or knowledge of other works, yet the foundation of the essay is grounded in the text itself. These essays help the reader understand the merits and limits of their examined texts, and also how individual elements contribute to their power and significance.

Stonewall, S.T.A.R. and Roosevelt: Why Teaching Intersectional LGBTQ+ History is Important

Julianna Boyson

*The End of the F***ing World*’s Powerful Portrayal of Gender, Sex, and Consent

Julia Krebs

ART REVIEW: Dewing’s Poetic World

Alexandra Plummer

Blending Personal and Research

When writing academic texts or doing academic research, it is easy to forget that personal experiences are always present in various ways, whether it be their inspirational effect or the insights they generate. However, writers vary in the extent to which they allow the personal to manifest in the written products of their research. That said, bringing the personal to research, if done adeptly, is an effective way of not only making one’s work more convincing, but also boosting one’s own motivation for doing research. The pieces that follow entwine the two in engaging ways that foreground the role of the personal in serving as a springboard for research.

More Than Just an Animation

Melanie Collins Diaz

Code Switching: An Exploration of African Americans in the STEM field

Marie Hayes

The Use and Cultural Appropriation of AAVE (Black Vernacular)

Makenna Lindsay

Sex, Drugs, and Rosh Hashanah: How Broad City Makes Young Jewish Women Feel Seen

Clare Wiesen

Creating New Knowledge through Scholarship

It may sound challenging to craft original ideas so early in your academic career. Yet in this section, writers demonstrate how to engage scholarly research so thoroughly, they effectively engage the ongoing conversation. In doing so, they are able to generate new ways of thinking about their topics.