| This dissertation explores the self-sponsored writing of 12 college students from disparate time periods: the Antebellum (5 students) and the present (7 students). Diaries discussing college life as a student in the 1840s were gathered from the Antebellum students. Blogs, on the other hand, were gathered from the 21st century students. In order to explore how these students used language in different contexts, these self-sponsored writings were analyzed using Linguistic Inquiry Word Count. Through an in-depth analysis of the linguistic and psychological characteristics of both the blogs and diaries, it is ultimately argued that bloggers tend to create create community while the diarists write to escape community. |
