At this point in time, I have finished coding all of my transcripts. This means that each speaker’s Excel file has been filled with their respective tokens of affect, judgment, and appreciation according to the criteria of the Appraisal framework (Martin and White, 2005). All the tokens have also been organized around central themes of…
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During the month of October, I really buckled down when it came to coding, and I successfully completed four out of the five of my interviews I am planning on using. As I’ve been coding, I’ve realized that it is essential that I create some kind of “coding guidelines” to make sure that my classifications…
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This month has been a whirlwind of getting back into school and classes as well as solidifying my plan for my research. As the analysis of my six transcripts has begun, I’ve finally been able to get into the specifics of the language that my participants use to describe their lifestyle. I have created Excel…
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As school starts up again, I am continuing to read articles about evaluation and discourse surrounding food and veganism that may help me structure the analysis of my over 200 pages of transcripts. While I walk around campus surrounded by my classmates once again, my mind can’t help turning to the individuals I interviewed over…
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The main purpose of my research is to explore the different methods of evaluation vegans use according to the Appraisal framework developed by Martin and White (2005). This framework identifies three main ways that individuals can positively or negatively assess some item: through affect (emotion), appreciation (aesthetic values), and/or judgment (relating a behavior to some…
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As non-vegans, many of us take one look at vegan dairy and meat substitutes and stick out our tongues in disgust. Coconut milk ice cream? Ugh, it tastes nothing like real ice cream. Cheese made out of soy? Give me a break. Surprisingly, the vegan community is no less divided on this same issue. Ask…
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Over the past week, I completed and transcribed my first interview of the summer with a vegan! Although my dad is a vegan, which made it easy to find vegan contacts when performing my research last summer in my hometown, I am not as connected with the vegan community in Williamsburg. This has made it…
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Due to their minority position in society, vegans, or individuals who refrain from consuming animal products, are constantly subject to criticisms of their way of life. As a result, I argue that the linguistic tools vegans utilize to characterize their lifestyle play a crucial role in the success of their interactions and in the process…
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The post Persuasion in Discourse: Evaluation Strategies of Vegans appeared first on W&M Honors Fellows.

My paper is finally written, my transcripts are finalized, and my sources are cited. I cannot believe that these seven weeks of fun are over! As stated in my abstract, the original goal of this project was to investigate authenticity in the vegan “How I Became a Vegan story,” a goal which I have indeed […]

The post Investigating the Vegan Speech Community: Final Summary appeared first on Upperclass Monroe Scholars Summer Research Projects.

As I draw near the final week of my project, I begin to finally put my finger on a thesis for my paper. Hooray! The last several weeks have been devoted to narrowing down my methodology, determining the area of focus for my analysis, and reading journal article after journal article. Thankfully, I’ve determined an […]

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