Browsing Theses/Dissertations - Communication Studies by Title
Now showing items 37-56 of 80
-
Masculinity in the National Football League : gayness and desire in America's pastime.
(2017-04-11)When Michael Sam was selected in the seventh round of the 2014 NFL Draft, he instantly became the first openly-gay professional football player. This thesis takes that exigency to interrogate the rhetorical dimensions of ... -
Maternal memorable messages in understanding femininity.
(2016-02-29)The messages a mother communicates to her children play an important role in the attitudes they develop toward their own self-identity and toward their mindsets concerning femininity (Bem, 1983; Colaner & Rittenour, 2015; ... -
Memetic frameworks in the 2016 presidential election.
(2020-05-11)Memes rose to mainstream prominence as tools for political influence during the 2016 presidential election. This thesis will analyze the most prominent memes deployed during that time to evaluate their effectiveness. Using ... -
Memorable messages in anticipatory socialization : creating the professional identity.
(, 2012-08-08)Memorable messages during the anticipatory socialization stage have been understudied in the field of communication. This study examined the role of memorable messages received by individuals as they create their ... -
Metaphors in the “fight” against human trafficking under the Obama administration.
(, 2014-06-11)Human trafficking and immigration have become prominent policy issues during Barack Obama’s presidency. In this thesis, I argue that the metaphors used in the Obama administration’s human trafficking rhetoric and those ... -
Modeling a multiple, contradictory self : collective voices of (anorexic) identity from cyberspace.
(, 2011-12-19)As the primary text of the psychiatric establishment, the DSM-IV has been criticized for contributing to the stigmatization and marginalization of individuals with mental illness. The rapid rise of the internet as a ... -
More than a doctrine : the Eisenhower era in the Middle East, a study of presidential foreign policy rhetoric
(2016-04-25)Announced on January 5, 1957, Eisenhower Doctrine represented a major shift in American rhetoric and policy toward the Middle East. This study performs a unique task by analyzing the specifically rhetorical significance ... -
Mountaintop removal mining and the environmental rhetoric of the 2010 West Virginia state primary campaign.
(2011-05-12)This project analyzes the rhetoric of the 2010 West Virginia special senate primary election paying particular attention to the candidates’ discussion of mountaintop removal mining—a controversial type of mining in which ... -
My sisters , myself : influences on sorority members' body image and identities.
(2011-05-12)Sororities are a distinct organizational setting with a unique ability to influence the construction of identity and the subsequent impact on members' body image. The purpose of this study was to examine the correlation ... -
The negotiation of conflict management in long-distance and geographically close romantic relationships.
(2011-05-12)This study examines conflict management strategy use in long-distance dating relationships (LDDRs) compared to conflict management strategy use in geographically close dating relationships (GCDRs). Uncertainty Reduction ... -
New knowledge and hopeful spaces : the significance of the frontier in martian history.
(2018-04-18)The frontier has been an enduring mythical structure in American history and discourse and is often applied to rhetorics surrounding American space exploration. This project identifies shifts in the frontier myth in discourse ... -
“Our Real Family, The One We Chose” : the function of comfort in the sitcom family.
(2019-01-31)Throughout history, the sitcom has continually been used as a form of comfort for the viewer. The original sitcoms of the 1950s were filled with themes that reinforced the stability of the traditional family model after ... -
The perceived benefits of the friends with benefits relationship: a pilot study.
(2008-06-10)The friends with benefits relationship is a complex relationship embedded within the cross-sex friendship consisting of new rules of maintenance, attitudes, and definitive sexual behavior without romantic commitment. This ... -
Positive deviance in the workplace : expanding the boundaires of dissent.
(, 2013-09-16)While a strong negative bias towards deviance subsists within society and scholarship, this study provides a theoretical basis and argues for the expansion of deviance as a constructive or positive resource within ... -
The psychological and aesthetic development of "Closet memories" as a short-film production.
(, 2013-09-16)This work will contain a detailed account and analysis of the making of Closet Memories as a short-film production, including descriptions of content research and resources, concept and aesthetic development, production ... -
Public memory, tourism, and Galveston’s selective heritage : a rhetorical analysis of the Elissa.
(, 2013-09-16)This study explores the rhetorical construction of 1877 iron barque Elissa as a tourist attraction on the island of Galveston, Texas. Focusing on a localized construction of public memory, this study asks questions centered ... -
Reading disability in the law and in Presidential rhetoric : the cases of Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and George H.W. Bush.
(2017-07-31)Using the close-text methods of rhetorical criticism, this study examines the history of discursive exclusion of people with disabilities from the polity, as evinced in presidential oratory. Specifically, this project ... -
Relationship between mothers' affection and young adults' well-being.
(2016-03-07)The importance of a mother’s affectionate communication with her child is significant; thus, the mother/child dyad is central many studies that place value on the significance of a confident, self-assured mother with the ... -
Relationship quality and its association with job satisfaction, quality of life, and mental health of first-responders.
(, 2013-09-16)First-responder firefighters deal with a number of stressors as a routine part of their careers. The current study examined the association between relationship quality and the effects of stress experienced by first responder ... -
Representations of disability in contemporary film : the afterlife of the freak show.
(2019-04-24)This project is an excavation of the ways in which cinema has relied on a one-dimensional approach to its representations of disability. I argue that the way disability is represented becomes a modern instantiation of the ...