Feminist Rhetoric Timeline
Feb. 13: Theory-Building Project introduced
Mar. 1: Project Proposal due
Mar. 27: Annotated Bibliography due
Apr. 5: Rough Draft conferences
Apr. 16: Final Draft due

Senior Seminar Timeline
Sep. 26: Prospectus due
Nov. 19: Draft of Project due
Dec. 9: Final Project due
Dec. 14: Oral Defense of Project

The creation of my project was a bit unconventional, in that it took place over the course of year and through not just one class, but two: Feminist Rhetorics, which I took in the spring of junior year; and the Senior Seminar for my major (Writing, Rhetoric, and Communication), which I took in the fall of my senior year. The website you see actually had its roots as a paper for a theory-building assignment for my Feminist Rhetorics class, in which we were instructed to create a theory or argument about a topic related to the course focus, with potential for doing things like applying feminst rhetorical theories or focusing on a rhetorical concept through a feminist lens (I chose the latter). After a project proposal, an annotated bibliography, and a draft conference, I ended up with an 18-page paper that examined logical fallacy theory through a feminist rhetorical lens, and that examined how fallacy theory can recreate systems of power and oppression.

But even after the class ended, I had become so passionate about the work I had done and about discovering more of the connection between logical fallacy theory and oppression that I decided I wanted to continue with my project. So, during the summer between my junior and senior years, I met with my Feminist Rhetorics professor Dr. Kerri Hauman over coffee, and
we discussed ways that I could continue the project. We discussed the possibility of simply polishing my paper to get it published or submitted to a conference, as well as the possibility of expanding on it greatly and turning it into my senior seminar project. I was intrigued by both, and then Dr. Hauman brought up the concept of turning my paper into something digital, and I knew that’s what I would do. I had always wanted to challenge myself to learn website design, so I decided to take the 18-page paper I had written and turn it into an educational website on logical fallacies and the problematic nature of fallacy theory for my senior seminar project.

Once I had decided on expanding my Feminist Rhetorics paper as my senior seminar project, the next step was for me to create my own schedule for the creation of my website. There was, of course, a class timeline for Senior Seminar, but since each students’ project is so unique, we were required to make our own in addition to the class one. In my initial schedule, I had planned for only about a week of researching how to build a Wix site and some trial and error with that, but I grossly underestimated how long it would take with my lack of experience. I had thought that using a user-friendly website like Wix would make it easy, but it took me about a month after submitting my Prospectus to get a solid grasp on using Wix, figuring out how to visualize and design the website I wanted, and actually creating the bare bones of the website. My next step in my schedule was to “code” my former paper by highlighting all the material from the paper that I wanted on my website, and figuring out which page to place everything on. Then, I inputted that information, doing additional research and expanding the information from my paper where needed, and ensured that all information was laid out in a way that was visually appealing. The last part of the creation of my website consisted of adding new material to my website, with the key goal of making it as available and understandable to the general public as possible. This included researching and writing 5 blog posts; storyboarding, shooting, and editing two videos; and brainstorming and creating non-necessary visual elements such as graphics from Canva. Once the website itself was complete, the actual end of my project was an oral defense in front of a panel of two professors and a Transylvania University alum.