I have published in a peer-reviewed journal and my university’s literary web-zine, and I have a forthcoming publication in an online magazine. Additionally, I have had the pleasure of giving an Individual Research Presentation at CLA Scholars Day.
Skills: peer-reviewed research, argumentative writing, professional presentations, research posters, MLA9, microsoft powerpoint
SUMMARY OF PUBLICATIONS
- “Off With Her Head! An Analysis of Female Awakening Through Social Deviance in Lynn Nottage’s Las Meninas“
- Journal: Scientia et Humanitas (peer-reviewed journal through Middle Tennessee State University Honors College)
- This MLA9 article analyzes how playwright Lynn Nottage continues a Victorian literary tradition of female characters experiencing a personal awakening through socially deviant actions. This trend was catalyzed by authors like Kate Chopin (The Awakening), and Lynn Nottage utilizes this tradition to shape the plight of Queen Marie-Therese in the play Las Meninas.
- “Stay Weird! – An Interview with Bryanna Licciardi”
- Magazine: In-Process (MTSU’s literary event series and webzine)
- In this publication, I interviewed Dr. Bryanna Licciardi, a poet and university instructor at MTSU. I asked a variety of questions about her poetry, based on my reading of her collections Skin Splitting and Fish Love. I further inquired about Dr. Licciardi’s experiences as a woman within an academic and literary space, as well as her opinions on several social phenomena.
SUMMARY OF CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
- College of Liberal Arts (CLA) Scholar’s Day – “The Five-Paragraph Essay: Friend or Foe of Confidence?”
- CLA Scholar’s Day is an opportunity for students to showcase the research that they have completed over the course of the academic year.
- I gave an Individual Research Presentation of the research I conducted in Fall 2024. I researched if the five-paragraph essay, a common writing model in entry-level compositional instruction, negatively impacts underclassmen’s confidence in their writing abilities. I conducted anonymous surveys and interviews of freshmen and sophomores at MTSU to determine how this writing model assisted or hindered them in their academic progress. I concluded that the model itself is not flawed, but the method of instructing the model lacks the means to engage students effectively with their writing skills. I recommended utilizing the five-paragraph essay in conjunction with multimodal assignments (i.e., PowerPoints, visual models, etc.) to further engage students in writing and with their abilities.