English Ph.D. Dissertations

Title

New at Barnes and Noble: An Argument for More Public Based Scholarship in Rhetoric and Composition Studies

Date of Award

2015

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Department

English/Rhetoric and Writing

First Advisor

Kristine Blair (Advisor)

Second Advisor

Cynthia Bertelsen (Other)

Third Advisor

Gary Heba (Committee Member)

Fourth Advisor

Lee Nickoson (Committee Member)

Abstract

Scholars such as Ernest Boyer and Kathleen Fitzpatrick have been proponents of the expansiok8n of academic work beyond the "ivy walls of academia" as a method of expanding and sharing knowledge with a wider audience. Using their ideas as a baseline, my dissertation is an argument for academics (specifically in the field of English) to add works and writings meant for public consumption as an acceptable means of work that counts as scholarship to the already existing tenure and promotion guidelines used by most universities by answering the question, "Why should scholars in English studies be able to publish outside academic circles?" I have examined current scholarship, the methods in which current scholars already write for the public and how writers from inside and outside academia approach similar subjects to help answer this question.

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