This opportunity will enable undergraduate students to conduct rhetorical criticism research on a rhetorical text of their choice, using a rhetorical or communication theory to discover/create meaning and examine messages within the text.  Texts can relate to current events, such as political speeches or social media pages, or may be popular culture texts, such as television shows, films, songs, play/musicals, anime, etc.  Other options for texts may include museum exhibits, monuments, memorials, websites, and advertising campaigns. 

Undergraduate students who are interested in conducting their own rhetorical criticism research projects are encouraged to contact Dr. Valerie Schrader, Associate Professor of Communication Arts & Sciences and Coordinator of the Penn State Schuylkill Honors Program at vls146@psu.edu. After discussing their project idea with Dr. Schrader, students will either honors option one of Dr. Schrader's classes or register for an independent study or research credits in order to earn course credit as they conduct their research. Dr. Schrader will work with the students to guide them as they conduct rhetorical criticism research and write their papers.

Students with exceptional research papers will be encouraged to submit their work to a state, regional, or national communication conference for possible presentation at that conference. Publication after conference presentation may also be a possibility. Each year, Dr. Schrader works with a group of students who submit their research papers to the Eastern Communication Association's James C. McCroskey and Virginia P. Richmond Undergraduate Scholars Conference, and in 2017, Penn State Schuylkill tied for Top School at the conference due to the exceptional work of these students. Students who have conducted their own rhetorical criticism research projects with Dr. Schrader's guidance have received Top Paper Awards at the Ohio Communication Association Conference, the Eastern Communication Association's James C. McCroskey and Virginia P. Richmond Undergraduate Scholars Conference, and the National Communication Association Conference.

Some of the theories/theoretical constructs most frequently used by students in these projects include: Burkean identification, relational dialectics, facework, public memory, social constructionism, social judgment theory, invitational rhetoric, cognitive dissonance, interactional theory, the Burkean dramatic pentad, and social movement leadership/tactics. Texts used for previous research projects have included: the television shows Game of Thrones and Hannibal, the films Broadcast News, The Purge: Election Year, Hotel Rwanda, Where Hands Touch, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, the musicals Phantom of the Opera, Something Rotten, Funny Girl, Ragtime, In the Heights, and Kinky Boots, Facebook pages of candidates in the 2016 and 2020 elections, political speeches by various politicians, and advertising campaigns by Coca-Cola and Mac.