March 2023

Eileen Dunleavy, Spring 2007 In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Mark Antony pleads with his “Friends, Romans (and) countrymen” to lend him their ears in an effort to exonerate Caesar from false charges laid against him. The three main conspirators in Caesar’s murder, Brutus, Casca and Cassius portrayed Caesar as an ambitious tyrant to the Roman… Read more Eileen Dunleavy, “The Art of Swaying a Hostile Crowd: Marc Antony’s Funeral Oration of Julius Caesar,” 2nd Place ENL 257

Sloan Piva, Fall 2011 Throughout history, those critical of rhetoric have dismissed it as a craft of empty talk.  Perhaps most famously, Plato condemned rhetorical discourse as “foul” and “ugly” within his 4th-century dialogue entitled Gorgias.  Centuries later, John Locke advanced such negative critiques of the practice, claiming that accepting rhetors is the same as… Read more Sloan Piva, “The Many Definitions and Great Functions of Rhetoric: A Poetic and Pragmatic Art Form that Moves the World,”2nd Place ENL 257

John Michael Bell, Spring 2010 A good commercial needs to hook its viewers, convince them to watch it, make them remember it, and persuade them into thinking that its product will be valuable in their lives. Google’s Super Bowl commercial, “Parisian Love”, did all of these things, and through unusual means. Typical Super Bowl commercials… Read more John Michael Bell, “Analysis of Google’s ‘Parisian Love,’”2nd Place ENL 257

Keith Amaral, Fall 2009 The cancer epidemic is undeniably one of the biggest exigencies the world currently faces; statistics show that it is a leading cause of death in the United States (“Cancer”). Though progress has been made in the fight to end cancer, the cure remains elusive. While there are many champions for the… Read more Keith Amaral, “An Analysis of Jim Valvano’s ’93 ESPY Awards Speech,” 2nd Place ENL 257