My professors (Drs. Meredith and Ryan Neville-Shepard) and I during our visit to the Gateway Arch!

Author: Amy Whiteside | Major: Communication | Semester: Spring 2023

I’m Amy Whiteside, a senior communication major and honors student here at the University of Arkansas, and I recently returned from a trip to St. Louis, Missouri to present my research at the annual Central States Communication Association conference. The paper I presented was titled “Conspiracy Theories as a Rhetoric of Control: Manufacturing Certainty in COVID-19 Origin Counter-Narratives,” and it is a project that I had been working on for over a year! My paper argues that belief in conspiracy theories acts as a coping mechanism for people who feel that they lack control over their personal situation, their interpersonal relationships, and/or the political process. I also used the lab leak conspiracy theory (saying that COVID-19 was manufactured as a biological weapon and intentionally released upon the world) as a case study to prove this, rhetorically analyzing Reddit posts and articles from believers of the theory to show how it provided them with a compensatory sense of control.

I had a ton of fun at this conference. I traveled with my professors, Drs. Ryan and Meredith Neville-Shepard, and as a person without much travel experience (and absolutely no conference experience) myself, I was glad to have them to show me the ropes. My paper was accepted to an undergraduate panel, so I presented on the second day of the conference alongside three other undergrads from three other universities. I was a bit nervous that morning, but once I met my fellow panelists and had a few moments beforehand to chat with them, I felt a lot better knowing that they were all having the same feelings. I was really confident in and familiar with my paper, so once I started presenting, all of my nerves melted away, and I actually had a great time getting the opportunity to talk about my research to an engaged and interested audience of people! After the panel, the floor was opened for questions from the audience, so being able to answer questions about my work off the cuff really boosted my confidence as well. After the panel was over, we all received both verbal and written feedback from our respondent, which was very helpful as I move forward in writing more papers and (hopefully) submit to more conferences. In my feedback, the respondent gushed about my literature review and called it “beautiful” in her written comments, so that felt like a big win for me, especially since the literature review is one of the hardest parts of a research paper!

My days at the conference were pretty unstructured outside of the panel that I presented on, so I took the opportunity to attend other panels and meet a lot of new people. I ran into a friend and Arkansas alumna who is currently in a communication M.A. program at another university, so she introduced me to all the people in her program with whom I was able to network and learn about what kind of research they are doing. I also connected with one of the other presenters on my panel, so we spent some time chatting and attended another panel together. It was nice to meet and hear the perspectives of other students; I expected to feel out of my element at this conference, being surrounded by a lot of super accomplished and intimidating people, so meeting other students in the same position as me (still in their researching and conference-attending infancy) eased that feeling. Since this conference had a specific undergraduate division, I was able to attend both regular panels and ones that featured only undergraduate presenters, both of which were very enlightening. Seeing the kinds of topic that other people’s papers were on was so interesting—things that I would never have even thought to study, but so intriguing to learn about! Seeing other people’s presentations and hearing the feedback they received helped me a lot to understand how I can improve my own work. The undergraduate division also had its own luncheon where all the participants were honored with a certificate (and some good food)! I showed up a little bit late and was nervous about having to sit with a table full of people that I didn’t know, but it turned out to be great. One of the things that struck me the most about this conference was how friendly everyone was—I was worried that everyone would just keep to their own groups, but all the people that I encountered were so open and eager to chat.

I will be joining the communication M.A. program here at the University of Arkansas in the fall, and I hope to continue on to a PhD program after that! I feel that attending this conference was a great way to test the waters in the world of academia, and, luckily, it taught me that I love it. I hope to submit to and attend more conferences in the coming years as I continue researching and furthering my education, so I am glad that the Honors College made it possible for me to take this first step!