Debra Journet

Debra Journet picture

Professor

Courses Taught

ENGL 105 Advanced Composition for Freshmen
Note: Credit may not be received for both 102 and 105. Open only to exceptionally qualified students who have been notified of their eligibility. Completion discharges the general education requirement for two terms of freshman composition. Extensive practice of writing and reading, with several assignments requiring research.
ENGL 300 Introduction to English Studies
Prerequisite: ENGL 102 or 105 Note: Approved for the Arts and Sciences upper-level requirement in written communication(WR). An introduction to English Studies,providing an overview of forms such as poetry, drama,and the novel,and an introduction to terminology and methods used in analyzing texts.
ENGL 302 British Literature II
Prerequisite: ENGL 102 or 105. A survey course of British writers. Historical period: 1700-1900.
ENGL 373 Women in Literature
Prerequisite: ENGL 102 or 105 or WGST 199. Note: Cross-listed with WGST 325. The literary treatment of women by both female and male authors of the Western tradition.
ENGL 402 Honors Seminar
Prerequisite: ENGL 102 or 105, membership in English Honors Program. Note: Approved for the Arts and Sciences upper-level requirement in written communication (WR). Two seminars required of all students within the departmental honors program.
ENGL 417 Contemporary British and Post-Colonial Literature
Prerequisite: ENGL 102 or 105; ENGL 300 or 310. Note: Approved for the Arts and Sciences upper-level requirement in written communication (WR). Formerly ENGL-317; credit may not be earned for this course by students with credit for ENGL-317. Study of selected works, in a variety of genres, from contemporary British literature and the literature of former colonies. Taught with attention to historical and cultural context. Historical period : post-1900.
ENGL 620 Research in Composition
Examination of the major methodologies, quantitative and qualitative, in composition research, with their underlying theoretical assumptions.
ENGL 673 Rhetoric and Textual Analysis
Selected topics in the rhetorical analysis of fictional and nonfictional texts.
ENGL 687 Seminar in Rhetorical Studies
Advanced investigations in rhetoric and composition under a variety of special topics.

Educational Background:

  • Ph.D. from McGill University

Teaching Areas:

  • Teaching interests include American poetry, modern and contemporary American literature, history and theory of the avant-garde, poetry and politics.

Research Interests:

  • Rhetoric of science.  Narrative theory.  New media genres.  Technical and scientific communication.  Science and literature. Narrative and gaming.  Multimodal Composition.  Research methodologies in rhetoric and composition. First-year composition.  Modern British literature

Professional Activities:

  • Director, 2006 Thomas R.Watson Conference in Rhetoric and Composition. "Narrative Knowledge/Narrative Action." October 5-7, 2006
  • Director, 2008 Thomas R. Watson Conference on Rhetoric and Composition: "The New Work of Composing." October 16-18, 2008

Honors & Awards:

  • Member, CCCC Executive Committee, 2011-2013. 2002.
  • Fulbright Senior Scholar.  Lucian Blaga University.  Sibiu Romania.
  • Fulbright Senior Specialist.  Lucian Blaga University.  Sibiu Romania.
  • Ohio State Visiting Scholar in Digital Media.
  • Four-time winner, NCTE Award for Excellence in Technical and Scientific Communication.
  • Senior Fulbright Scholar. Lucian Blaga University. Sibiu, Romania. Spring 2002. Fulbright Senior Specialist. Lucian Blaga University. Sibiu, Romania. Spring 2005.
  • University of Louisville Distinguished Teaching Professor.

Select Publications:

Journet,  Debra, Cheryl Ball, and Ryan Trauman, Eds. The New Work of Composing. Logan, UT: Computers and Composition Digital P/Utah State UP, 2012. Web.  http://ccdigitalpress.org/nwc/ 2012 Computers and Composition Best Book of the Year.

Journet, Debra, Beth A. Boehm, and Cynthia Britt.  (Eds).  Narrative Acts:  Rhetoric, Race and Identity, Knowledge.  Creskill, NJ:  Hampton Press.  2011,  282 pp.

“Not to the Sensual Ear:  Listening to Jensen Listening to Ratcliffe Listening to Burke.”  JAC.  Forthcoming.

“Narrative Turns in Composition Research.”  New Directions in Writing Studies Research.  Ed. Mary P.  Sheridan and Lee Ann Nickoson-Massey.  Carbondale:  Southern Illinois University Press,  2012, 13-24.

“What Constitutes a Good Story?  Narrative Knowledge in Process, Post-Process, and Post-Post-Process Composition Research.”  Beyond Postprocess.  Ed. Sidney I. Dobrin, J. A. Rice, and Michael Vastola, and Jeffrey A. Rice.  Logan:  Utah State University Press, 2011, 41-60.

“George C. Williams, Kenneth Burke, and ‘The Goal of a Fox’:  Or, Genes, Organisms, and the Agents of Natural Selection.”  Narrative.  19 (2011): 216-228.

“Across the Curriculum:  Rhetoric and Composition.”  Teaching Narrative Theory.  Ed. James Phelan, Brian McHale, and David Herman.  New York:  MLA, 2010, 61-69.  (With Beth A. Boehm)

“Literate Acts in Convergence Culture:  Lost as Transmedia Narrative.”  Rhetorics and Technologies. Ed.  Stuart Selber.  Columbia:  University of South Carolina Press, 2010, 198-218.

“The Resources of Ambiguity:  Context, Narrative, and Metaphor in Richard Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene.”  Journal of Business and Technical Communication.  24 (2010), 29-59.

 

"Narrative, Action, and Embodiment: The Stories of Myst.”Gaming Lives in the Twenty-First Century. Ed. Cynthia L. Selfe and Gail Hawisher. New York: Palgrave/Macmillan. Forthcoming.

“Learning While Doing:  Observations of a Multimodal Classroom.”  Multimodal Resources.  Ed.  Cynthia L. Selfe.  Cresskill, NJ:  Hampton Press.  Forthcoming.

“Metaphor, Ambiguity and Motive in Evolutionary Biology:  W.D. Hamilton and the ‘Gene’s Point of View.’”  Written Communication.  22 (2005), 379-420.  NCTE Award for Excellence in Technical and Scientific Communication:  Best Article Reporting Historical or Textual Research

“The Ethics of Reading:  Beloved in Romania."  Visions and Revisions:  Festschrift for Dumitru Cicoi-Pop.  Ed. Alexandra Mitrea.  Sibiu, Romania:  Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu Press, 2003:  23-43.