Young Scholars in Writing

YSW V21 Front Matter & Masthead

Fri, 15 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0700

YSW V21 Editors' Introduction

Fri, 15 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Transforming Taboo: Discursive and Generic Uptake in South Asian Mental Health Recovery Narratives

Anusha Kothari — Fri, 15 Mar 2024 09:50:26 -0700

The mental health crisis in South Asian communities is blatantly real and needs further study. However, developing a culturally relevant approach requires understanding the lived experiences of members of that culture. The mental health recovery narrative genre provides one record of these lived experiences. Although mental health rhetorical research is growing, there has been little research employing rhetoric to understand the specific ways in which the written form of mental health recovery narratives, and by extension, mental illness experiences, are culturally shaped. Thus, this paper investigates the South Asian mental health crisis by utilizing concepts from Rhetorical Genre Studies to analyze samples of the South Asian mental health recovery narrative genre from the online platform Mann Mukti. This paper interprets rhetorical patterns through the South Asian cultural context and argues that the genre transforms the personal need to be heard empathetically and uninterruptedly into a recurrent and shared social exigence.

Linguistic Inclinations in Query Letters

Karen Quick — Fri, 15 Mar 2024 10:03:32 -0700

In traditional publishing, a writer sends out query letters in order to seek representation. Though previous query letter research has examined this document’s function when submitted to editors of magazines and journals, query letters submitted to agents for novels have only received attention from within the industry rather than as an object of academic inquiry. This study uses a corpus of query letters for fiction manuscripts to explore whether or not language proficiency and linguistic components bear weight on the success of querying authors. Ultimately, these findings stand as evidence of the empirical impact of language on acquisition odds and encourage further study on the matter.

Reframing Writing, Rhetoric, and Literary Studies: A Mixed Method Approach to Interrogating Intersections

Gabby Bunko — Fri, 15 Mar 2024 10:12:16 -0700

Since the inception of literary studies in English Departments in American colleges and universities over a century ago, literature and composition have been pursued as largely separate fields of study. Many studies have looked at how they differ, but few have looked at how their similarities might benefit students. This study compares the underlying values of Writing and Literary Studies through conceptual metaphors (Lakoff and Johnson 2003). A mixed-method procedure of classroom observations, faculty and department chair interviews, student surveys, and textual analysis was employed to ascertain what conceptual metaphors are used in Writing and Literary Studies to determine where their values overlap and where they diverge as a first step in determining if those overlaps could be beneficial to students. Concurrent results of each method were used to triangulate overlap and/or divergence in values. Results show that there are 4 dominant metaphor groups that occur across both Writing and Literary Studies, with a special group emerging called “pseudo-metaphors,” which at first glance demonstrate overlap in values but differ in context, demonstrating that while there may be overlap in values, the context of those values matter. Furthermore, overlap in values suggests that complementary instruction could be of benefit to students in both fields.

Making Confident Changes: Using Metacognitive Revision as a Pedagogical Tool

Isabelle Lundin — Fri, 15 Mar 2024 10:20:52 -0700

In the field of writing studies, many scholars agree that metacognitive reflection activities can impact the quality of students’ text and have also been correlated with increased writing self-efficacy. To expand on this preexisting relationship between metacognition and writing self-efficacy, my study explored the impacts of metacognitive reflection, specifically during the revisions stage of the writing process. I used two qualitative research methods to observe the effects of this intervention: field observations of peer review sessions and thematic, deductive coding of participants’ responses to an open-ended questionnaire. I found that the metacognitive revision questionnaire encouraged participants to consider revision choices that linked their purpose for writing to their identities and to the ways they appealed to their audience. Making linkages between purpose, identity, and audience through revision choices has implications for fostering writing self-efficacy.

Is the Pen Mightier than the Laptop? Digital Natives and Their Preferred Writing Tools

Fri, 15 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0700

Students in a course on the History of Writing investigated traditional, college-aged students and their preferred writing implements. Digital Natives—people born after 1980 who grew up with technology—are assumed to prefer digital writing implements such as computers, tablets, and Smartphones. We recognize that the term “digital native” may be outdated, but we chose to include it in our research because it was a central term in the questions asked to participants. Do they really tend to use digital implements, or do they use analog instruments such as pens and pencils? To find out, the researchers designed a Qualtrics survey to ask students about their use of digital and analog writing tools. A second data source were essays on the topic “My Favorite Writing Implement,” which were analyzed on a spreadsheet, counting each instance of tools noted, ranging from digital to analog, from tablets to gel pens. Participants were enrolled in two university classes: one lower-division and one upper-division. Their majors ranged across all colleges. Through a review of the literature, the researchers found that a trend exists toward Gen-Z using analog writing tools. Some steer clear of digital altogether. David Sax notes in The Revenge of Analog that analog offers “real and tangible experiences” that are tactile.

“Proud to be Autistic”: Greta Thunberg’s Queering Rhetorical Genre in Climate Change Advocacy

Amiee Zhao — Fri, 15 Mar 2024 11:26:07 -0700

Greta Thunberg, a young, autistic climate change activist from Sweden, has generated mixed opinions about her rhetoric since her #FridaysForFuture climate movement that started in 2018. Many people have found her inspiring, leading youth around the world to protest political inaction about climate change. Many autistic people have also found power in Thunberg’s fearless identification as an autistic person. However, there are people who stand strongly against her rhetoric and her autistic identity. Michael Knowles, podcast host from the Daily News, commented that Thunberg is “mentally ill,” and former U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted that Thunberg should enhance her “Anger Management.” Previous studies have analyzed Thunberg’s rhetoric, partially explaining the controversy and power of her rhetoric. Nevertheless, they don’t pay sustained attention to the role of Thunberg’s autistic identity in choosing her rhetorical strategies. My research focuses on the role of Thunberg’s autistic identity in making her rhetoric controversial yet powerful. I base my research on the framework of genre as social action pioneered by Carolyn Miller and queering rhetoric pioneered by Remi Yergeau. I have found that by both conforming to and queering, which is exploring untraditional possibilities, expectations for the genre of epideictic political speeches, Thunberg redefines the exigence of immediate climate change action for the audience. In her political speeches, Thunberg distances herself from her immediate audience instead of creating identifications with them to create the exigence of immediate climate change action instead of submitting to political inaction. My findings also raise future research questions about how to accommodate neurodivergent students in classroom settings, how to better teach the concept of rhetorical genre, and how neurodivergent rhetors can explore more rhetorical possibilities.

Volume 21 Contributors

Fri, 15 Mar 2024 00:00:00 -0700