Knights Write Showcase

We will kick off Knights Write with a brief welcome and our poster presentations. During the poster showcase, students from the First-Year Composition program and undergraduate Writing and Rhetoric courses will present (multimodal) posters that showcase their innovative research on a range of topics, including the importance of literacy and language, the rhetoric within diverse communities, and more. Attendees can view posters, listen, learn, and ask questions to student presenters.

This panel presentation features the findings of five students whose ENC 1102 research projects led them to new discoveries about the writing practices of diverse discourse communities online. Join us to learn more about the effects of writing and research!

This session will be moderated by Professor Natalie Madruga.

• Elli Ta: “Pick a Card: The Rhetoric of YouTube’s Tarot Fortune-Telling”
• Hannah Robertson; “Christian Parent Bloggers’ Rhetoric Towards Social Media use by Adolescents”
• Emiliano Ramirez Munoz: “The Successful Rhetoric of the TikTok Paleontology Community”
• Donovan Bell: “Trying to Determine ‘Real’ Cinema: Analyzing Rhetoric in Online Debate Surrounding Digital and Film Cinematography”
• Samantha Pena: “The Handmaid’s Tale in Modern Media: How Emerging Media from The Handmaid’s Tale Influence Current Social Culture”

AI Slop: What, Why, How?

Understanding, Diagnosing, and Tackling the Flood of Low-Quality AI Content

Anuj Gupta

Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Composition

University of South Florida

"AI slop" or low-quality AI-generated content is flooding our digital lives, from a deluge of cringey content on social media, to made up citations in research papers, and emails that contain more em-dashes than words. This talk breaks down what AI slop is, diagnoses why it exists, and invites you into a conversation that will help you think more deeply about how to intervene in the processes that generate AI slop.

This panel explores the ways that narratives, comics, and other graphics can intersect with health and medicine to communicate scientific information to lay audiences. Featuring students from ENC 3482H (Graphic Medicine) and ENC 3453 (Writing about Health and Medicine), this panel will challenge attendees to think about writing as so much more than alphabetic text.

This panel will be moderated by Professors Pamela Baker and Nathan Holic. Panelists include Silviana Buzatu, Daniela, Martinez, Kayden Peets, Sabrina Califano, Aden Abramovitz and Rebecca Flanagan.

Contrary to popular discourse, rhetoric isn’t just for politicians—it’s for everyone. In this presentation, five students from various majors will share their explorations of rhetoric and its power in our everyday lives. These ENC1101 projects remind us just how much rhetoric and writing matter even if we don’t always take the time to notice its impacts.

This session will be moderated by Professor Erica Macalintal.

• Iris Burakovskiy: “Rhetoric Within an Instagram DM”
• Sophie Van Houten: “Rhetoric in a Thank You Letter to My Parents”
• Sarah Correa: “Studying Among Coffees”
• Chloe Williams: “Thanksgiving in Two Tongues”
• Aden Baxley: “Pursuing the Arboretum Trails”

The Knights Write Awards Ceremony recognizes outstanding presentations at the annual event and excellence in publication in several writing-related journals and magazines. We will be joined by College of Arts and Humanities Dean Jeffery Moore to honor and recognize award-winning writers and scholars.

This panel traces narratives of disability across time and space to reveal how seemingly disparate phenomena share common roots in eugenic logic that endures in present-day policies and futures. The presentations explore the ways eugenic ideologies construct narratives of disability that render certain bodies and minds invisible while hypervisualizing others as threats to be managed, controlled, or eliminated. Such narratives continue to shape present understandings of disability, citizenship, and bodily autonomy, demanding new models for an equitable future. Don’t miss this presentation that emerged as a collaboration between students from ENC 3375 (Rhetoric and Pop Culture: Lady Gaga and Disability) and ENC3383 (Disability Rhetoric).

This panel will be moderated by Dr. Stephanie Wheeler and will feature the following panelists: Jandayra Gonzalez Matos, Khushi Patel, David Romero Mora, Cameron Pufahl, and Sloane Saltzman.

In this panel, tutors from the University Writing Center will share perspectives shaped by their work with writers from a wide range of academic programs. In this session presenter will:

• Offer practical strategies for approaching college writing projects with purpose and an eye toward professional growth.
• Consider the ways that choices about topics and formats can transform course assignments into meaningful evidence of professional identity to showcase in ePortfolios or interviews
• Examine often-overlooked transferable skills, including collaboration, research, and communication, which are highly valued by employers and graduate programs.
• Explore ways to extend the impact of course projects beyond the classroom through opportunities for publication and presentation.

Don’t miss this session to learn more about the ways you can turn writing assignments into experiences that build confidence, demonstrate expertise, and support long-term academic and professional development.

This panel will be moderated by Dr. Amy Cicchino and will feature the following panelists: Shia Kirby, Cameron Pufahl, and Mary Samuels