Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
For my project, I delve into the relationships of Victor and the Monster as well as the relationships Victor shares with other characters that were underdeveloped within the original novel by Mary Shelley in the novel Franeknstein. I examine their relationships in two components. The first through my own interpretation of Victor and the Monster’s relationship within a creative writing piece that extends the novel as if Victor had lived rather than died in the arctic in order to explore the possibilities of a more complex set of relationships between Victor and the Monster than simply creator-creation. My writing focuses on the development of their relationship once all they have left is each other. The second part of my project focuses on an analytical component. I analyze and cite the reasoning for my creative take on Victor and the Monster as well as their relationship within the novel and Mary Shelley’s intentions.
Media Mentality is a media education resource website designed to aid students in early career development. This project was developed with a few goals in mind: improve accessibility, provide opportunity and inspire a new generation of the workforce. We wanted to level the playing field as students enter undergraduate programs with varying degrees of experience. We see this website as an opportunity for interested parties to continue the research and add to the wealth of knowledge in a student worker role. The hope is that students, particularly freshman and first-year transfer students will utilize the site, expand their horizons, learn about all the career opportunities available to them, and push the envelope when it comes to the curriculum taught at Arizona State University. Visit www.mediamentality.com
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of the comprehensive HPV educational video, “What is HPV?” on the vaccination intent of young adults. The study also aimed to collect information regarding knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs that influence vaccination and related health behaviors. The sample included 215 participants between the ages of 18-26 who had not received any HPV vaccine, were able to read and comprehend English, and had consented for participation through Amazon Mechanical Turk. After they completed the baseline survey (T0), participants were randomly assigned to two study conditions. The intervention group (n = 104) watched the “What is HPV?” video, and the control group (n = 111) read the CDC HPV Fact Sheet. Both groups then completed a post-intervention survey (T1). The analysis results show that the vaccination intent among participants in the intervention group significantly increased following the intervention (59.6% to 71.2%), while vaccination intent significantly decreased for the control group (65.8% to 55%) following the intervention. The results also show a significant difference in the changes in vaccination intent for the two intervention groups. The most change in vaccination intent following the intervention came from the group who was undecided in the initial survey. The findings of the study suggested that a brief HPV educational video that provides the most updated evidence while using non-stigmatizing language and tone has the potential to increase young adults’ vaccination intent to prevent HPV-related cancers and diseases. The findings also suggested that effective HPV education is key to combating negative attitudes and misinformation about HPV vaccines.
500 Days of Summer, released in 2009 and written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, is an American film told through the perspective of Tom Hansen, the male lead. It is a story that begins with a third-person narrator, explaining that “This is a story of boy meets girl.” The narration then finishes with a warning that “you should know up front, this is not a love story” (Neustadter & Weber, 2009). As the movie continues, however, it becomes increasingly challenging to believe this warning. Tom sees Summer Finn, falls in love, and their relationship ends with him broken-hearted. It is only natural for the audience to view it as a story of Tom’s failed love, and without a deeper analysis, to perceive Summer as the antagonist. <br/> This tendency to view the movie as a love story motivated me to question why the discrepancy between the beginning narration and the common audience perception occurs. My thesis addresses this discrepancy by focusing on the idea that the natural gravitation towards the belief that 500 Days of Summer is a love story exists due to the unreliable narration given by Tom Hansen throughout the movie. I wrote three songs, an interlude, a duet, and a solo, based on the themes and lead characters of the movie to help validate the warning provided in the beginning and provide a deeper insight into Summer’s version of the story.
