Senior Independent Study Theses from 2024
Burning Up: An Investigation into Perceptions of Messages on Social Media about Urban Heat Islands, Garrett Anderson
Department: Communication Studies; Environmental Studies
Displacement or Transformation: Which Design Strategy Is Most Desirable in Magazine Advertisements, Jennifer J. Copeland
Department: Communication Studies
Navigating Sibling Relationships in Emerging Adulthood: Exploring Negative Turning Points and Relational Maintenance Strategies, Elizabeth B. Fluharty
Department: Communication Studies
The Coach-Athlete Relationship: How Do Coaches Help the New Needs & Demands of New Age Athletes, Roman LaBrosse
Department: Communication Studies
"I Ain’t Got No Chains on Me Man. I’m Free!”: Examining Whiteness and the Depictions of Black Community in the Show Snowfall, Joshua Corey Pond
Department: Communication Studies
A Rhetorical Analysis of Chinese Netizens' Use of Artistic Expression to Advocate for Social Change in Response to the Chained Woman Case, Kennedy Shelton
Department: Communication Studies; Chinese Studies
Discovering the Most Practical Solution to Cyberbullying: A Study on Eliminating the Negative Impact of Yik Yak’s Anonymity, Kenzie Smith
Department: Communication Studies
Senior Independent Study Theses from 2023
The Reality of Child Slave Labor Today: An Analysis of Tony's Chocolonely News Messages Through the Lens of Identificational Appeals, Marina Anderson
Department: Communication Studies
The Importance of Mixed-Race Mestiza Representation On and Off Stage: An Autoethnographic Approach, Teresa Isabel Ascencio
Department: Theatre and Dance; Communication Studies
“I See Me in You”: A Focus Group Study on How Polarizing Social Media Influencers Gather and Retain Support, Harvey Briscoe
Department: Communication Studies
“I See Me in You”: A Focus Group Study on How Polarizing Social Media Influencers Gather and Retain Support, Harvey Briscoe
Department: Communication Studies
Through The Lens: Shattering Stereotypes About African American Women In Sports Through Photography, Rondon Caesar Jr.
Department: Communication Studies
Discourse and Discovery: A Study of Communication and the Formation of Group Identity Within Common Grounds, Jacob Cannon
Department: Communication Studies
Time’s Change in Depiction Over Time: A Rhetorical Analysis on Time Magazine Immigration Cover Stories, Luis Delgado
Department: Communication Studies
Environmental Activism For Sale: A Visual Analysis Of The Relationship Between Product Advertising And The Environmental Movement In 2022, Isabel C. Espinosa
Department: Communication Studies; Global Media and Digital Studies
The Madness of Women's Sports: A Critical Analysis of the Discourse Surrounding the 2021 NCAA Women's March Madness Basketball Tournament, Emily J. Gail
Department: Communication Studies
It's Because You're Always on That Damn Phone: An Analysis of the Relationship Between Nomophobia and Parent-Child Intimacy and Conflict, JG Gillard
Department: Communication Studies
Tribal Marketing: Narrative Analysis of Afrocentric Marketing Techniques for African Americans, Gregory L. Hall Jr.
Department: Communication Studies
Nike's “Equality”: How the Spread of Equality is Halted by the Delivery of Nike's Message and Their Past Controversies, Zak Nowatzke
Department: Communication Studies
Nike's Equality: How the Spread of Equality is Halted by the Delivery of Nike's Message and Their Past Controversies, Zak Nowatzke
Department: Communication Studies
Understanding Viewer’s Reactions to Sports Commentators and What They Bring to the Table During a Broadcast of a NFL Game, Noah J. Olson
Department: Communication Studies
I Lived, I Learned: Communication Theory of Resilience and Adult Children of Parents Who Have Experienced Substance Use Disorder, Douglas S. Richardson Jr
Department: Communication Studies
“Major Onions!” A Rhetorical Analysis of Famous Broadcasting Calls in American Sports, Hayden Sherry
Department: Communication Studies
The Impact of Modern Technology in Sports on Athletic Success and Team Relationships, Joe Shilts
Department: Communication Studies
The Misrepresentation of Black Male Athletes in Media, Dorion Talley
Department: Communication Studies
Face to Face: Finding Confidence in my Voice in a Technology-Centered Generation, Britta Elaine Treu
Department: Communication Studies
What is Reel Life: An Analysis of TikTok Videos and Instagram Reels Related to Eating Disorders and Mental Illness, Maud E. Utstein
Department: Communication Studies
The Lost Electorate: A Content Analysis of 2022 Democratic Senatorial Candidates' Video Commercials and Their Appeals to the White Working-Class, Kay Elizabeth Wetmore
Department: Communication Studies; Political Science
Senior Independent Study Theses from 2022
Women Of Appalachia: Common Ground, Different Matriarch, Cecelia A. Bagnoli
Department: Communication Studies
If There Is A God, He's Probably On Wall Street: A Genre Analysis Of Social Criticism In Horror And Melodrama Films, Lily G. Barnett
Department: Communication Studies
The Scars Of China’s One-Child Policy And The Birth Of A New Reality: A Feminist Rhetorical Analysis Of Chinese Netizens’ Reactions To The Three-Child Policy, Zoe B. Carter
Department: Chinese Studies; Communication Studies
“Orange Is The New Mistreatment?”: An Analysis Of Knowledge And Perceptions Of Incarcerated Women And Their Mistreatment Through (Non)Viewing Of Orange Is The New Black, Nikki M. E. Hoseus
Department: Communication Studies; Sociology and Anthropology
How Black Women Experience International Travel: A Racial Rhetorical Analysis of Stephanie Perry’s YouTube Videos, Olivia James
Department: Communication Studies
Exploring The Name, Image And Likeness Legislation Within Collegiate Athletics, Hamilton L. Johnson
Department: Communication Studies
An Examination Of The Communication Techniques, Styles, And Characteristics Of Prominent Real Estate Professionals, And The Organizational Culture Of Their Respective Firms, Ben Kuhn
Department: Communication Studies
Environmental Socialization In College: A Survey Research And Network Analysis Of Changes In Climate-Conscious Concerns And Behaviors, Bijeta Lamichhane
Department: Communication Studies; Mathematics
Business Development: An Analysis Of Time, Human, And Technology Resources To Benefit Corporations, Nga Thuy Le
Department: Communication Studies; Statistical and Data Sciences
Follow Your Arrow Wherever It Points: How Fandom Forms And How Fandom Interprets Gender Dynamics Through Kacey Musgraves, Noah Levy
Department: Communication Studies; Sociology and Anthropology
Inside Of Influencers: An Analysis And Framework Of Social Media Influencers’ Self-Branding Practices, Alison Lindsey-Noble
Department: Communication Studies
Exploring The Black Entrepreneur In America: The Relationship Between Black Business And Society, Khaylen M. Mahdi
Department: Business Economics; Communication Studies; Economics; Psychology; Sociology and Anthropology; Interdepartmental
Feelin' Groovy: A Visual Rebranding Of Radio Corporation Of America Records, Elijah Christian Miller
Department: Communication Studies
"Not Liberating Women Means The Building Of A Socialist Society Is Only Half-Way Done": A Feminist Analysis Of Ho Chi Minh'S Advocacy For The First Law On Marriage And Family In 1959 Vietnam, Hannah Nguyen
Department: Communication Studies
Postive, Negative, And Apocalyptic Climate Messages: In Affecting Attitudes And Possible Future Behaviors Toward Sharks, Truong "School" Nguyen
Department: Communication Studies; Environmental Studies
Time 4 Change: A Lyrical Analysis Of Conscious Rap Songs During The Black Lives Matter Era, KeaShaun Phillips
Department: Communication Studies
Balancing The Limits Of Black Masculinity: Navigating Online Discourse On Black Men'S Mental Health, Kai Rodgers
Department: Communication Studies
A Cause-Marketing Analysis Of The PGA, Dominic A. Stilliana
Department: Communication Studies
Identity Construction In Former Foster Care Children, Elizabeth J. Testamark
Department: Communication Studies
Learning In Virtual And In-Person Elementary Classrooms: The Effects Of Technology While Teaching/Learning And Immediacy Strategies Before, During, And After The Covid-19 Pandemic, Katie Elizabeth Thompson
Department: Communication Studies; Education
Subverting The Social Stigma Of Stepmothers. An Idealogical Analysis Of Netflix’s Original Korean Drama Mine On The Idealistic Images And Portrayal Of Step-Motherhood, Minh Tran
Department: Communication Studies
Sweeney Todd: Adaptation Across Media & Time, Jack E. Williams
Department: Communication Studies
Queer Style: Documenting Manifestations Of Queer Identity Through Fashion, Mariam Zghuladze
Department: Communication Studies; Global Media and Digital Studies
Senior Independent Study Theses from 2021
Disconnect: A Rhetorical Analysis of the Debate Over Ohio's EdChoice Program, Kennedey Bell
Department: Communication Studies
Black Outside: A Film Exploring Black People’s Relationships With Outdoor Spaces, Zoie Bills
Department: Communication Studies
"Right Away M'Lady": An Explanation of Social Class and Gender Within Women Relationships in "Downton Abbey", Maggie Brown
Department: Communication Studies
The "Shut Up and Dribble" Conundrum: A Qualitative Cyber Ethnographic Analysis of LeBron James’ and Stephen Curry’s Social Media Activism on The Black Lives Matter Movement and Low-Income Education, Chloe Lynn Burdette
Department: Communication Studies; Global Media and Digital Studies
Implicit and Explicit Messages in Advertisements on Social Media: A Quantitative Analysis of Consumer Reactions to and Perceptions of Product Endorsements on Instagram, Cassianna Marie Buzzelli
Department: Communication Studies
“Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves”: Creating a Financial Literacy Workshop for College-Aged Women on the Relationship Among Spending, Saving, and Investing, Lesley Chinery
Department: Communication Studies
The Other Is Us: A Critical Analysis of Race in Jordan Peele's Us, Danté Fair
Department: Communication Studies
The Ghosts of Grief: An Exploration of Gothic Influence in 2010s Horror Cinema, Halen Gifford
Department: Communication Studies; Film Studies
Brand Identity and Brand Alignment in Corporate Political Advertising: A Rhetorical Analysis of Penzey Spices’ Facebook Ads Opposing Donald Trump, Beau H. Greenwood
Department: Communication Studies
Who's Watching Who? Inverting the Capitalist Gaze in News Images of Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos, Laura Haley
Department: Communication Studies
Rednecks, Hillbillies, and White Trash in the Living Room: A Rhetorical Analysis of Reality Television's Construction of Appalachian Regional Identity, Bradlee Elizabeth Hartman
Department: Communication Studies
'It's Time For One of Us': A Feminist Rhetorical Analysis of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's First Term in Congress, Sarah Ives Hopkins
Department: Communication Studies
To Be and Not to Be: Successful and Motivated in the Classroom, Antuoine Hunt-Strong
Department: Communication Studies
“Yes, I Do Play Like A Girl”: Sports Media and Gendered Representation of the 2016 USA Olympic Basketball Teams, Maria Janasko
Department: Communication Studies
“We Need Your Help”: The Rhetorical Construction of the Citizen Detective in True Crime Podcast Jensen and Holes: The Murder Squad, Amelia A. Kemp
Department: Communication Studies; Sociology and Anthropology
“Kamala Harris, for the People”: A Feminist Rhetorical Analysis of Kamala Harris’s 2020 Democratic National Convention Speech, Gabija Liffick
Department: Communication Studies
Sorry, I Think You’re Muted: A Typological Content Analysis on Tele-Education, Katherine Lindelof
Department: Communication Studies
Female Rap Artists Relation to Fan Identity, Kobe Matesic
Department: Communication Studies
A Continuación, Black Lives Matter: An Ethnographic Analysis of the Latinx Community’s Perceptions of the African American community Through the Events Surrounding the Black Lives Matter Movement, Natalia E. Parra Diaz
Department: Communication Studies; Spanish
《异乡人》“Strangers”: A Visual Ethnography about Expat Teachers in China during Covi-19 Pandemic, Xinyu Pei
Department: Communication Studies; East Asian Studies
Turning Conceptions of Family ‘Upside Down’: Non-Familial Families Provide Social Support and Communal Coping as a Form of Social Support in Stranger Things, Sophia Deanna Pellar
Department: Communication Studies
"Pharmageddon": A Rhetorical Analysis of the 21st Century Anti-Vax Movement, Sarah Renaker
Department: Communication Studies
Breaking News: Sustainable Fashion is In and Fast Fashion is Out; Constructions of Sustainable Consumption in Fast Fashion Advertising, Camryn Eve Rosenstein
Department: Communication Studies
I Saw the Sign: A Content Analysis of Media Coverage of the 2017 Houston Astros Cheating Scandal, Stephen W. Spidell
Department: Communication Studies
(DSO)hhh They're an Influencer: An In-depth Analysis of the Social Media Strategies Used by Direct Selling Distributors to Personally Brand Themselves and Build Relationships, Reyka Beth VanSickle
Department: Communication Studies
Embracing Latinidad: Expressions of Latinx Culture in The United States, Victor Romario Villanueva
Department: Communication Studies
A Whole Other World to See: A Rhetorical and Visual Analysis of Autism Spectrum Disorder in Children's Literature, Kayla Way
Department: Communication Studies
Students’ Interactions in Different School Systems on the Same Campus: A Comparison Between Traditional Chinese High School Students and International Chinese High School Students, Bohao Xia
Department: Communication Studies
2020 Summer Stories: Personal Narrative, Sensemaking, and Memory During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Delaney Zuver
Department: Communication Studies
Senior Independent Study Theses from 2020
Making a Murderer : Examining Portrayals of the Police and Judicial System in the True Crime Genre, Michael Appel
Department: Communication Studies
The Spiral of Silence: A Study of the Political Climate on the College of Wooster Campus, Blair Besancon
Department: Communication Studies
“One Identity at a Time”: A Content Analysis on Race, Gender, and Family Dynamics in the 2017 Series “One Day at a Time”, Bailey N. Bradshaw
Department: Communication Studies
"First the Pain, Then the Rising": Assessing Student Knowledge of Title IX Policies and Procedures at the College of Wooster, Kaci A. Carpenter
Department: Communication Studies
The Relation of Personality and Communication Traits on Responses Against Microaggressions, Gustavo Duran
Department: Communication Studies
Commercializing Lifestyles: An Analysis of Lifestyle Brand Identities and Consumer Engagement in Post-War Mass Media, Daniel Engel
Department: Communication Studies; History
Cashing In On Kaepernick: A Visual Ideological Analysis of the Commodification of Racial Equity and Inclusion in Nike's "Equality" and "Just Do It" Advertising Campaigns, Ben Ferling
Department: Communication Studies
This Whole Period Thing is Cramping My Style: A Quantitative Study of Tampon Advertisements' Portrayal of the Female Identity, Catherine Fiorito
Department: Communication Studies
Reigniting the Flame of Purpose: Exploring the Unique Open-Ended Interactive Narrative of Dark Souls, Nicholas Godsey
Department: Communication Studies
Banksy’s New York State of Mind: A Visual Critique of Banksy’s 2018 New York Art as Social Protest by Means of Culture Jam, Megan E. Gross
Department: Communication Studies
Flipping Out: The Influence of the Flipped Classroom on the Student-Teacher Relationship, Connor Kalish
Department: Communication Studies
Indigenous Adoption Rhetoric: Neo-colonialist Practices In Adoption Advertisements In Canada And The US, Isaiah Bemidji Logan
Department: Communication Studies
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work: The Relationship between Peer Influence, Motivation, and Identity in Collegiate Student-Athletes, Grady Michael McHugh
Department: Communication Studies
Does This Grant Them Agency? An Analysis of the Female Athlete as Portrayed in ESPN's Body Issue, Aubri McKoy
Department: Communication Studies
Kiss Me Through the Phone: A Qualitative Study of Consumption and Identity Performance on Social Media Among College Students, Kacy Elizabeth Muthiora
Department: Communication Studies
Women Like Her Aren't Supposed to Run for Office: A Philosophical Unpacking of Resistance in the American Political Sphere and a Rhetorical Analysis of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Tweets, Grace O'Leary
Department: Communication Studies; Philosophy
We're All in This Together: The Relationship Between Friends and Ethnic Identity for Multi-Ethnic Individuals in Emerging Adulthood, Mia Palmejar-Takaki
Department: Communication Studies; Psychology
#Kancelkulture: An Analysis of Cancel Culture and Social Media Activism Through the Lens of Minority College Students, Korri E. Palmer
Department: Communication Studies
The Best Masculinity Can Be: Analyzing Tweets About an Ad That Has Shaped How We View Masculinity Through the Lens of Standpoint, Justin Robinson
Department: Communication Studies
You Think You Do, but You Don’t: An Investigation of Fandom and Nostalgic Media Through an Analysis of World of Warcraft Classic, David Andrew Schulz
Department: Communication Studies