This paper discuses whether outrageous parodies are and should be protected under the First Amendment. After presenting a definition and a brief history of parody humor, the paper then presents a brief description of the parties to this line of legal controversies. The paper describes the rationale of a line of separate parody cases involving Miss…

This ERIC/RCS Special Collection contains 10 or more Digests (brief syntheses of the research on a specific topic in contemporary education) and FAST Bibs (Focused Access to Selected Topics--annotated bibliographies with selected entries from the ERIC database), providing up-to-date information in an accessible format. The collection focuses on…

A study explored perceived reality and developmental differences in viewing theater. Subjects, 33 second graders, 33 fourth graders, 23 sixth graders, and 23 college students viewed a production of "This Is Not a Pipe Dream," a non-representational play based on biographical facts about the early life and work of the surrealist painter…

This paper attempts to trace a line of theory development in technical communication from Dwight Stevenson's 1977 call for "instrumental effectiveness" in theoretical inquiries, based upon careful inductive research methods, to later examples of more speculative and inadequately documented theories about what constitutes the field's…

The acquisition of knowledge is concomitant to the writing process and, as such, is a key factor in composition pedagogy. Writing is not just a skill with which the student presents or analyzes knowledge, rather, writing is essential to the very existence of certain kinds of knowledge. Much of writing instruction, however, consists mainly of genre…

Writing teachers should employ a pragmatic-eclectic approach to help freshman students become acquainted with as many writing models as possible. To privilege one model over the many others is to ignore the student's need for self- and world-discovery. The composition classroom has become the current center of critical reading and thinking skills,…

This article discusses editorial "filters" in folktales, specifically the changes ("orientations") which editors deliberately impose on a tale because they want to reach a specific audience. A case in point is the tale called "Allerleirauh," in the Grimm collection, which not only is highly illustrative of editorial…

College radio is quite often viewed as the true alternative to commercial radio. However, what is alternative radio and how does college radio factor into the ideal? To further understand this concept, this paper focuses on the role of alternative programming in college radio. Areas discussed include alternative radio as a non-mainstream form of…

Currently, university composition programs are experimenting with the delivery of online writing courses, without the component of face-to-face interaction. To assess the efficacy of this delivery medium, a study compared two groups of undergraduate students in a course on argumentative writing taught by the same instructor: one group taking the…

Describes an exercise for a business writing class which provides teams of students with a simulated encounter involving extended conflict with an adversarial business person, extending over several weeks, and requiring extensive problem solving and a range of business writing. (SR)

Relates how the Jesuits made the performance of plays integral to the curriculum of their schools. Reveals Jesuit rationales: (1) theater permitted them to accomplish their mission of propagating the faith; (2) public performances served as excellent publicity for their schools; and (3) theater could educate students who participated as no other…

Analyzes two scientific journal articles from a reader-response perspective. Elaborates the rhetorical nature of scientific discourse and demonstrates that even within the constraints of the journal articles, scientists have considerable freedom to exercise choices. Explicates how writers use cues to direct readers into fictional roles. (MG)

A former college teacher's eight-year experience in the business world taught him valuable lessons about audience awareness, risk taking, honoring social and political differences, teamwork, civility within an organization, preservation of standards under duress, and humane and productive use of evaluative information. (MSE)

Offers a discussion of audience representation versus self-representation in the study of writing. Discusses hypertext, Web pages, hub pages, and links. Probes how writers represent themselves in the way they structure links in hypertext documents on their Web sites. (CR)

In the writing classroom, the instructor appears to be the mediator, recognizing the contributions of each required text and of each student, whether in class discussions or written assignments. Undergraduate college students usually regard mediating in whatever style as the instructor's task, not their own. But in the research paper assignment,…