Master of Arts / Department of Communications / William Schenck-Hamlin / Public Service Announcements are a fixture of both our media and cultural landscape. Their images and messages have inspired and defined movements and generations. The impact of PSAs is explored in this work to highlight the need to examine the impact of an emerging phenomenon of public service messaging: The Hybrid PSA. The Hybrid PSA is a message that blends and blurs the line between commercial and social causes. To explore the intricacies and impact of the Hybrid PSA, this work first works to define the “classical” PSA. Then, by observation and critique, the variance between the “classic” and the Hybrid is established. To contrast, the genre of Propaganda is explored and the possibility that the Hybrid PSA could be defined as propaganda is examined. Finally, the ethical implications of such a generic classification being established are discussed.

The language on university websites and the policies provided by Disability Services provide material for a rhetorical analysis addressing the marginalization of students with disabilities on college campuses. In this thesis, I discuss the degree to which university distributed texts marginalize students with disabilities. My discussion begins with commentary on Critical Disability Studies, the theoretical influence for this thesis. Following the discussion of theoretical modes in disability studies is a brief commentary on the history of disabilities in academic contexts. After historically contextualizing Disability Services on university campuses, I analyze the rhetoric of San Diego State University (SDSU) and the University of California San Diego's (UCSD) informational texts aimed at students with disabilities, including analysis of how and to what degree information is provided, but also the language of the written policy itself. Through my rhetorical analysis, it is clear that SDSU's values are effectively conveyed through language, whereas UCSD explicitly and implicitly separates the Office of Disability Services from disability advocacy. My aim in writing this thesis is to convey the importance of rhetorically sensitive and intentionally constructed language regarding disability and to situate language as a critical factor in creating an inclusive university environment.

This thesis explores the ways that certain artists-including Joseph Conrad, Alan Moore, Richard Attenborough, and Francis Ford Coppola-break from their inherited traditions in order to speak from an alternative perspective to western discourse. Conventional narrative formulas prescribe that meaning will be revealed in a definitive end, but all of the texts discussed reveal other avenues through which it is discerned. In Heart of Darkness, the tension between two divergent narratives enables Conrad to speak beyond his social context and imperialist limitations to demonstrate that identity is socially constructed. In Watchmen, Moore breaks from comic convention to illustrate ways meaning may be ascertained despite the lack of plot ends. The third chapter explores the ways that Attenborough and Coppola subvert technical and plot conventions to resist static constitutions of identity endemic to Hollywood film. The several texts discussed subvert the Self/Other duality by suggesting alternatives to the western narrative model. / by Adam Berzak. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

This dissertation examines the discomfort around the insult in different specialized languages, analyzing the relationship between insult, politics, and culture in the history of Colombia. When viewed as an element of discourse, the insult illuminates certain critical events and subjects in the history of the nation. The insult is understood in a wide variety of ways --as direct enunciation of offending words, as the imminent failure of communication, as the staged claim of being offended, or as verbal and performative tool for electoral purposes. This dissertation analyzes a heterogeneous corpus of political, historiographic, journalistic, religious, legal, literary, proselytizing, pamphleteering, and digital primary sources. It spans the period from the Independence crisis at the beginning of nineteenth century to the digital architecture that enables online comment sections of mass media site in the twenty-first century. Each chapter reflects on one or two specialized language that, according to certain individuals or events, develop mechanisms to relegate the insult, and, from them, strategies and tactics are detailed in terms of its exploitation, containment, control, revitalization, overflow, and even involuntary stimulus.

A sizable part is also devoted to illustrate the specificity of traumas triggered by significant others. Whereas the survivors' psychic allegiance to the initiators of traumas may hinder their process of recovery, without recovery survivors may inadvertently transmit the traumas to the next generation through their problematic modes of relating. Successful recovery thus depends on the generation of a flexible narrative, together with the fostering of some enriching relationships. / Furthermore, it is shown that both relationships and narratives are like double-edged swords that the trauma survivors can 'use' beneficially or harmfully. Besides emphasizing the efficacy of utilizing narratives to assist a person to overcome his or her relational traumas, the present work simultaneously indicates the limits of narratives, particularly when an individual constructs a depleting rather than a life-enhancing narrative. The present work argues that the presence of a caring other or a welcoming context is indispensable to the annulment of negative impacts brought about by the formation of an inflexible narrative. / Integral to this dissertation are three theoretical assumptions. First, the present work posits a model of relational self, which is in contradistinction to the established autonomous model of self. It asserts that humans' susceptibility to the influences of others is clearly manifested in relational traumas. Finally, the present work also attests to the constructed nature of human realities, maintaining that a person's feeling is predicated on how he or she construes and interprets the world. Recovery from relational traumas thus depends on a person's ability to construct an alternative interpretation of the past traumas facilitated by the act of narrating the traumatic memory. / This dissertation explores the interrelationship of relationality, traumas and narratives in contemporary writings produced by overseas writers of Chinese ethnicity. As the first book-length study to adopt such an interdisciplinary approach---blending contemporary research and theories on narrative studies, psychology and psychotherapies with literary studies---to examine this group of literary works, this dissertation intends to extend the frontier of current scholarship associated with Chinese diasporic writings, which have frequently been overwhelmed by discussions on the socio-political level. / Young Ada. / "August 2005." / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-07, Section: A, page: 2575. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 212-221). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.

ABSTRACT Treating the concept of culture as a heuristic allows us to analyze multiple contexts involving culture as continuously changing with or without exterior contact. The productions from such system have the potential to develop identities through ideological materials produced by specialized rhetoric. This paper then focuses on how figurative language and structure affect the ways in which rhetoric, ideology, and identity are formed within the context of film reviews. In particular, I analyze reviews from the films Birdman and The Revenant, both directed by Alejandro Gonzales Iñárritu, to detail how the use of metaphors influences the production of rhetoric. I use cross-cultural rhetoric and identity frames in each review as a way to identify the implications of the use of metaphors in film reviews and what this choice details about the writers and the agencies for which they work.

The purpose of this study was to describe written narratives of language disordered adolescents by comparing their written narratives via story grammar analysis with those of normal adolescents. The written narratives were obtained by administering two tasks as required assignments within the English or communications classes of the two groups. Task A was to write about a personal experience and Task B was about an imaginary experience. This study used Merritt and Liles' adaptations (1987) of Stein and Glenn's procedures (1979) for story grammar analysis to describe the content of the narratives.

This dissertation explores the rhetoric of space as it relates to academic computer writing locations--specifically, computer labs, computer classrooms, and writing centers. Using observation, surveys, interviews, and textual analysis, the author discusses seven rhetorical principles of design for these spaces, including designing for specific audiences, attention, clarity, enthymematic flexibility, identification, pathos, and shared ethos. Ultimately, applying a rhetorical gaze to these areas can help us to design more effective computer spaces in academia.

For my thesis, I have undertaken the creation of a persuasive game to advance a particular argument of the way that work is performed in the field of technical communication. Designed using procedural rhetoric, with an attention to aesthetics, fun, and the qualities that make games viable pedagogical tools, my game has been programmed using HTML5 and JavaScript, and made freely available online at RhetoricalGamer.com. This written document is meant to serve as a supplement to the game, providing a rationale for the use of games in education and in technical communication; a definition of procedural rhetoric and the necessary qualities of game design to ensure that the rhetoric operates correctly; and a detailed breakdown of the final elements and mechanics in place within my game. It is my hope that this work will serve as an exemplar for others interested in pursuing the creation of persuasive games, as a case study for the application of procedural rhetoric to education, and as a means of advancing technical communication's study of games and their relationship with such emerging technologies.

Abstract not available