Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Maryland, College Park, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 407-417).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2005. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 484-511). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Texas, Dec., 2007. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1998. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 155-162). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1998. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 155-162). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2005. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 484-511). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

The analysis of mainstream newspaper content has long been mined by communication scholars and researchers for insights into public opinion and perceptions. In recent years, scholars have been examining African-American authored periodicals to obtain similar insights. Hearkening back to the 1950s and 1960s civil rights movement in the United States, the highly-publicized killings of African-American men by police officers during the past several years have highlighted longstanding strained police-community relations. As part of its role as both a reflection of, and an advocate for, the African-American community, African-American journalistic texts contain a wealth of data about African-American public opinion about, and perceptions of, police. In years past, media content analysts would manually sift through newspapers to divine interesting police-related themes and variables worthy of study. But, with the exponential growth of digitized texts, communication scholars are experimenting with computerized text analysis tools like topic modeling software to aid them in their content analyses. This thesis considers to what degree topic modeling software can be used at the exploratory stage of designing a content analysis study to aid in uncovering themes and variables worthy of further investigation. Appendix A contains results of the manual exploratory content analysis. The list of topics generated by the topic modeling software may be found in Appendix B. / Media Studies & Production / Accompanied by one .pdf file: NLG Thesis Appendices Final.pdf

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 396-404).

Using African American newspapers, this study examines the consensual opinion of articles and editorials regarding two events associated with the space race. One event is the Soviet launch of Sputnik on October 4, 1957. The second is the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969. Space Race investigates how two scientific accomplishments achieved during the Cold War and the civil rights movement stimulated debate within the newspapers, and that ultimately centered around two questions: why the Soviets were successful in launching a satellite before the US, and what benefits could come from landing on the moon. Anti-intellectualism, inferior public schools, and a lack of commitment on the part of the US government are arguments offered for analysis by black writers in the two years studied. This topic involves the social conditions of African Americans living within the United States during an era when major civil rights objectives were achieved. Also included are considerations of how living in a "space age" contributed to thoughts about civil rights, as African Americans were now living during a period in which science fiction was becoming reality. In addition, this thesis examines how two scientific accomplishments achieved during this time affected ideas about education, science, and living conditions in the U.S. that were debated by black writers and editors, and subsequently circulated for readers to ponder and debate. This paper argues that black newspapers viewed Sputnik as constituting evidence for an inferior US public school system, contrasted with the Soviet system. Due to segregation between the races and anti-intellectual antecedents in America, black newspapers believed that African Americans were an "untapped resource" that could aid in the Cold War if their brains were utilized. The Apollo moon landing was greeted with enthusiasm because of the universal wonder at landing on the moon itself and the prowess demonstrated by the collective commitment and organization necessary to achieve such an objective by decades end. However, consistently accompanying this adulation is disappointment that domestic problems were not given the same type of funding or national commitment.