RUNNING HEAD: CARS INTRO AND ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 1

Cars Intro and Annotated Bibliography

Yelifer Al-Abdala

University of Central Florida

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As described by Johns (2019), discourse communities are comprised of individuals who

communicate ideas about a specific topic in hopes of bettering the community they are a part of.

Personally, I have always had an interest in the mental health awareness discourse community,

given its vast applicability. Raising awareness on the topic of mental health has persistently been

an item of utter importance specifically in the setting of a college campus. Numerous researchers

have analyzed the benefits existing mental health campaigns have on universities as well as

analyzing factors the programs need to be aware of. For example, Pawluk and Zolezzi (2017)

interviewed healthcare professionals in regards to their views on mental health education

programs. After analyzing the data from their qualitative research, these scholars discovered that

a majority of the healthcare providers agreed that initiating mental health campaigns within

education is a vital component that aids in increasing mental health literacy. Conversely, the

authors also discovered factors that could hinder the campaigns effectiveness, an item Downs

and Eisenburg (2012) as well as Monks, Cardoso, Papageorgiou, Carolan, Costello, and Thomas

(2015) detailedly explain. Monks et al. describe how students who struggle with their mental

wellbeing are concerned about their privacy, vulnerability, and confidentiality. Similarly, Downs

and Eisenburg (2012) urge, “campus strategies to enhance help seeking should be tailored to

address identified facilitators and barriers to treatment use among target populations”, (p. 105) a

statement that demonstrates how effortless it is for these factors to impact the campaigns

reachability within student populations. Downs and Eisenburg (2012) explain that mental health

programs face several challenges when attempting to reach their audience, due to cultural

differences, privacy concerns, and existing stigma around the topic. Likewise, Ma’s (2017)

article “How the Media Cover Mental Illnesses: A Review” focuses specifically on the stigma

surrounding both mental patients and illnesses. However, she examines the negative aura
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surrounding mental health within social media platforms- another major aspect of my research

project.

Ma (2017), as well as Beck and Wright (2019) assess the current relationship between

social media and mental health awareness and explain reasons as to why it is such a detrimental

one. As described by Beck and Wright (2019), as technology continues to develop and rates of

social media usage increase, so do the rates of loneliness and depression within students. This

may be due to the concept of lack of social connectedness as described by McLoughlin, Spears,

and Taddeo (2018). “Social connectedness refers to one’s ability to feel comfortable, confident

and have a sense of belonging within a larger social context than family or friends” (p. 6). Their

study revealed that those individuals who have higher levels of social connectedness demonstrate

lower levels of depression and anxiety, findings that show the potential social media has in

positively affecting mental health. Social media could undoubtedly be a way for mental health

campaigns to promote their message, resources, and counseling to bigger audiences if it is

utilized correctly. For this reason, it is extremely important that existing social media campaigns

assess how they could utilize social media as a tool to provide resources and information to their

target audience.

Rhetoric, as defined by Downs (2019), is the way in which individuals communicate and

make meaning; a concept we come into contact with in every conversation we are a part of.

Rhetoric impacts both face to face conversations as well as those done through social media

platforms in the form of a post, tweet, or even a hashtag. Given that technology is an integral part

of our lives, most mental health campaigns on universities do in fact have social media

platforms, whether that be an Instagram page, a Facebook profile, or a Twitter account. Although

there has been an existential amount of scholars who describe the benefits of utilizing social
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media to promote mental health awareness, there has been a lack of research on the effect

typified rhetoric has on the effectiveness of said campaigns. Social media posts rely heavily on

writing to convey a message, which immediately stresses the importance of word choice as well

as language use to encourage individuals to visit their pages or join their campaign. Researching

this writing related gap could aid immensely in identifying successful communication methods

within mental health campaigns, a niche I have chosen to occupy here at the University of

Central Florida.

My researched article supports the argument scholars have made on the importance of

mental health campaigns on universities and how social media could increase reachability, while

simultaneously arguing how said campaigns should implement more inviting language use to

increase their effectiveness. In order to make my research more applicable, I focus specifically

on the UCF Cares campaign: a program centered around bettering and addressing student mental

health. I conducted both a multimodal textual analysis of the campaigns website and social

media, as well as surveying students on their current involvement with the program. After

analyzing the data, I have concluded that when compared to their social media posts, their

webpage is undoubtedly more informational. The website provides students with resources and

counseling, while simultaneously producing a positive and encouraging aura due to the typified

rhetoric that is utilized- a conclusion confirmed by my survey responses. The responses revealed

that although a majority of the participants were not involved with the program, they did

consider their language use to be both open and inviting. On the contrary, the campaigns social

media accounts are less effective both in terms of the resources provided and language use.

Based on my principal findings, both their Instagram and Twitter accounts serve the sole purpose

of advertising their upcoming events; rarely discussing their mental health resources or
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programs. In summary, my primary data furthers the argument that typified rhetoric greatly

impacts the effectiveness of social media posts within the mental health discourse community.
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References

Beck, L., & Wright, A. (2019). iGen: What You Should Know about Post-Millennial Students.

College and University, 94(1), 21–22. Retrieved from www.aacrao.org/research-

publications/quarterly-journals/college-university-journal/issue/c-u-vol.-94-no.-1-winter-

2019. This source focuses specifically on social media and the effects it has on teenagers

while also addressing the effects technology has on mental health. Beck and Wright

describe how currently, technology is an important aspect of many individuals lives and it

can influence people's opinions and actions in many ways. The article even describes

how teenagers use social platforms to create fake versions of themselves to seem

interesting or for “content”. It also focuses on mental health and how as social media use

increases, so do rates of loneliness or depression in those users. Lastly, the authors detail

possible solutions to the negative effects technology has on mental health. The article

heavily suggests that encouraging face-to-face communication is necessary, given that it

has been proven to better mental health.

This source connects to numerous other articles included in my annotated

bibliography because they all discuss the relationship between mental health and social

media. More specifically, this article is similar to another source written by Downs and

Eisenburg. Similar to the Downs and Eisenburg article, Beck and Wright recognize that

the relationship between social media and mental health is negative, yet they motivate the

audience to change this. Both of these sources encourage college campuses and

institutions to provide a way for students to address their mental health. Moreover, they

emphasize that if utilized correctly, social media could actually help increase positive

mental health rates among college students. This source closely connects to my research
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question because it aids in understanding the direct correlation between mental health and

social media, how college campuses could aid their students in bettering their mental

health, and how to effectively communicate with said students. Effective communication

and the influence of writing are important factors of my project, and this source describes

ways to ensure these social media users are reached by mental health campaigns

successfully. Since I am analyzing the UCF Cares program and their social media sites, I

will utilize the information given by this source to determine if the campaign is

communicating well with users, which will aid in determining the effect writing and

rhetoric has on mental health programs in universities.

Downs, D., & Wardle, E. (2019). Rhetoric: Making Sense of Human Interaction and Meaning-

Making. Writing About Writing. Boston, MA: Bedford, St. Martins. The goal of this

writing segment from the Writing About Writing novel is to expose the audience to the

applicability of rhetoric. Downs detailedly describes the meaning of rhetoric while

emphasizing how it is an essential aspect of human communication. Rhetoric, as defined

by this article, is essentially any instance when individuals are communicating. Although

this may initially be a difficult concept to understand, both authors give real world

examples of rhetoric at work and its usefulness. Downs also discusses other aspects of

writing besides rhetoric. He describes genres and how they are essentially groupings of

similar ideas we experience everyday.

This article is closely related to another segment from the same book written by

Johns. Both sources aim to describe various elements of writing, ranging from rhetoric to

genres and ultimately, to discourse communities. Without the information both of these

articles present, I would not have the vast knowledge I now possess on the key elements
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of writing and their importance. Moreover, this specific source will aid in framing my

project within the perspective of writing and rhetoric to better explain how both of these

factors affect the UCF Cares mental health education campaign. After collecting all of

my primary data, I will refer back to Downs’ and Wardle’s article on the importance of

rhetoric to look for examples present within the UCF Cares social media sites.

Downs, M. F., & Eisenberg, D. (2012). Help Seeking and Treatment Use among Suicidal

College Students. Journal of American College Health, 60(2), 104–114. Retrieved from

dx.doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2011.619611. The main idea of this article is the

importance of raising awareness on the topic of mental health. Downs and Eisenburg

describe that currently many college students are not receiving the proper counseling they

need which negatively affects their mental health. The article examines the results of a

survey which was sent out to over 8000 college students in the United States. The

participants were individuals who had reported being suicidal in the past, and they were

questioned on the effectiveness of the mental health treatment they had been exposed to

at their respective university. Results revealed that there were many factors that

contributed to the lack of help the suicidal students seeked, which reveals how ineffective

some mental health campaigns truly are at making individuals feel welcome and seek

treatment.

Although this source does not directly discuss the relationship between social

media and mental health like my other sources, it does emphasize the importance of

mental health campaigns in a college setting. More specifically, this source is similar to

another secondary source in my annotated bibliography written by Beck and Wright.

They both describe the outcome of having an effective mental health campaign on a
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college campus and providing students with positive counseling; two ideas closely related

to my overarching research question. As stated before, this source details factors that

cause a mental health campaign to be unsuccessful and since I am focusing on the

effectiveness of the UCF Cares mental health program, I will keep these factors in mind

when conducting my primary research. Ultimately, this source will likely be a great aid in

my background information as it will provide the framework for differentiating between a

successful and unsuccessful mental health program on college campuses.

Johns, A. M. (2019). Discourse Communities and Communities of Practice. Writing About

Writing. Boston, MA: Bedford, St. Martins. This segment, included in the book Writing

about Writing, detailedly explains discourse communities and their applicability to our

everyday lives. Johns describes both discourse communities and communities of practice

as consisting of individuals who are passionate about the same topic, coming together to

share their ideas and opinions. Johns provides examples of discourse communities the

audience is familiar with, as well as describing how they are a key part of writing and

rhetoric. Moreover, she also describes how membership and roles within a specific

discourse community tends to vary, which aids in understanding how distinct the

communities are from one another.

This source correlates to another piece written by Downs and Eisenburg which

also defines rhetoric, a concept closely connected to discourse communities and

communities of practice. Both of these sources describe key elements of writing that are

essential to this writing related research project. In regards to my research question, Johns

has provided valuable information as to what discourse communities are. Given that I

have chosen to investigate the discourse community of mental health awareness, her
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article is beneficial for providing information as to why I chose this specific discourse

community and what being a member implies. I will likely utilize Johns writing within

the background information portion of my research project, as it describes foundational

elements of how writing influences discourse communities.

Ma, Z. (2017). How the Media Cover Mental Illnesses: A Review. Health Education, 117(1),

90–109. Retrieved from doi.org/10.1108/HE-01-2016-0004. This article recognizes the

importance social media has on the topic of mental health and it furthers this idea by

researching studies and articles that focus on how mental health is portrayed in the media.

Ma details how the media tends to depict both mental illnesses and patients in a negative

light which has greatly increased the stigma around the topic. The author also details

three common themes that emerge from researching the relationship: how the media

portrays mental illness, the effects of these portrayals, and how the media could aid in

reducing the stigma around the topic. As stated before, Ma analyzes roughly forty one

empirical studies and the results support her claim that the media is responsible for how

mental health is viewed by the general public as a negative concept.

My synthesis matrix revealed the vast similarities between this article and the

others I have collected for my secondary research. This article discussed the major

themes found throughout all of my secondary sources: social media, mental health, and

possible solutions in regards to mental health stigma and awareness. More specifically,

Ma’s article discusses many of the same issues the piece written by McLoughlin, Spears,

and Taddeo does. These sources are almost synonymous, as they both describe how

mental health is often portrayed on social media in a negative light and how changing this

will bring great benefits to those individuals who suffer with their mental health.
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Moreover, they detail the importance of implementing positive and encouraging

advertising on mental health social media sites. This idea is the foundation of my

research question. This article is relevant to my research question because it describes the

effects social media has on the mental health community and how writing or word choice

influence their relationship. It emphasizes that positive word choice and inviting language

is the key to having an effective campaign, which I will research within the UCF Cares

social media sites to better answer my research question.

McLouglin, L., Spears, B., & Taddeo, C. (2018). The Importance of Social Connection for

Cybervictims: How Connectedness and Technology Could Promote Mental Health and

Wellbeing in Young People. International Journal of Emotional Education, 10(1), 5–24.

DOI: 10.1080/87568225.2017.129634. The goal of this article is to emphasize the

importance of social connectedness on teenagers. As described by the article, social

connectedness is the rate of how involved an individual is with technology and how

comfortable they feel with other individuals online. The authors conducted a mixed

method study, analyzing both surveys and interviews that were administered to the

participants in order to find a correlation between social connectedness and positive

mental health. The questions included in both the surveys and interviews asked

participants if they have ever experienced instances of cyberbullying or depression and

those who were victims were then asked whether or not they seeked helped via social

media sites. Results revealed that the participants who were more involved online and

had higher rates of social connectedness showed lower rates of depression and rarely

struggled with their mental health.

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This source evidently discusses the connection between technology and mental

health while also examining specific mental illnesses like depression, anxiety, and

cyberbullying. This article is closely related to Ma’s article included in my bibliography,

because they both discuss how social media sites tend to be negative and produce stigma

around the topic of mental health. However, both of these sources argue that technology

could be positive if used correctly and efficiently to address mental health concerns. The

common themes of social media and mental health awareness are present throughout a

majority of my sources which demonstrates this articles applicability to my research.

McLouglin, Spears, and Taddeo conclude that providing individuals with resources that

allow them to address issues relating to their mental health is the most efficient online,

given that technology is an integral part of society today. This relates to my research

question because it confirms that providing college students with programs and

counseling resources is essential. The UCF Cares program I am analyzing has numerous

programs, events, and campaigns mostly online and throughout social media. By utilizing

the data this article provides, I can better analyze my findings to determine if the UCF

Cares campaign is effective and whether or not students who are more socially connected

seek help and are encouraged to visit the program.

Monks, H., Cardoso, P., Papageorgiou, A., Carolan, C., Costello, L., & Thomas, L. (2015).

Young People’s Views Regarding Participation in Mental Health and Wellbeing

Research through Social Media. International Journal of Emotional Education, 7(1), 4–

19. Retrieved from www.um.edu.mt/cres/ijee. This article describes a study performed on

a population of Australian students whose goal is to examine young peoples opinion on

social media accessibility in regards to issues pertaining to mental health. The study
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featured different focus groups, and participants were asked a series of questions relating

to their thoughts on individuals utilizing social media sites to promote wellbeing and

research about mental health. This study focused more on the participants' opinion of

being researched via social media, while also discussing the effects this has on mental

wellbeing. Results revealed that the participants reported feeling uncomfortable when the

topic of mental health was addressed within social media sites and some admitted they

felt as if their privacy was being invaded.

Ultimately, this article relates to the others I have chosen as my secondary sources

due to its applicability when discussing mental health in social media, specifically with

teenagers. This article is closely related to one written by Downs and Eisenburg, given

that both discuss the positive and negative practices mental health campaigns tend to use

and how this affects their rate of reachability among their target audience. In regards to

my research question, this source detailedly describes factors such as privacy,

vulnerability, and confidentiality, which have been proven to result in inefficient mental

health campaigns. When analyzing my primary data, I will determine the UCF Cares

social media sites and posts violated any of these three factors and the effect this had on

the audience.

Pawluk, S. A., & Zolezzi, M. (2017). Healthcare Professionals’ Perspectives on a Mental Health

Educational Campaign for the Public. Health Education Journal, 76(4), 479–491.

Retrieved from dx.doi.org/10.1177/0017896917696121. The goal of this qualitative study

is to examine the benefits and drawbacks of initiating mental health campaigns in

schools. The study was conducted on a population of about forty healthcare providers

residing in Qatar. The participants were interviewed on various topics ranging from
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misconceptions, barriers, proper methods, and rate of effectiveness within mental health

campaigns they have been exposed to in the past. Results revealed that the healthcare

professionals highly recommend initiating mental health campaigns within education but

there are several factors, such as the intended message and chosen platform that need to

be assessed beforehand. Participants described that perhaps the most important

information a mental health education campaign can share is their message. These

campaigns should both increase mental health literacy as well as providing individuals

with proper care and treatment. Additionally, the platform these programs choose to

spread their message on is also exceedingly important and the healthcare professionals

urge campaigns to utilize social media.

This source detailedly explains the necessity of mental health campaigns within a

college setting, much like the article written by Downs and Eisenburg. Both of these

sources demonstrate the themes present within educational mental health programs as

well as which factors determine its effectiveness. In regard to my research project, this

source will likely be a great aid in my background information section. This article

describes the importance of relying on social media to spread information about mental

health, which is precisely what I am researching within the UCF Cares program. When

analyzing my primary research and examining the programs social media sites, the

information this article has presented will aid me in determining the effectiveness of the

platforms the campaign has chosen.

Student Development and Enrollment Services. (2019) UCF Cares About You. Retrieved from

https://cares.sdes.ucf.edu/students/. This is the official webpage of the UCF Cares mental

health program. The webpages features several resources that provide students with help
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and counseling like Let’s Be Clear or Knights Helping Knights Pantry. Aside from

providing student resources, the website also provides a way to get involved with the

program as well as the schedule of upcoming events. Additionally, the website also

features a message from Jana Duntunen, the assistant Dean of students, who describes

how the campaign was made to, “expand the services students needed in times of crisis,

distress, or instability” (UCF Cares, 2019).

This source evidently introduces the mental health campaign present at the

University of Central Florida and the impact it has on students, an important program all

universities should have as described by Pawluk and Zolezzi. While this source is not an

article, it provides information as to which programs, resources, and counseling are

provided at UCF and how applicable they are to the student body. Additionally, this

webpage also provides data I will be utilizing for my primary research. I will examine the

word choice as well as language used throughout the website to investigate if there is a

correlation between rhetoric and the effectiveness of mental health campaigns in the

media.

UCF Cares [@ucfcares]. (2019, October 7). Hey Knights!... [Instagram post]. Retrieved from

https://www.instagram.com/p/B3VSv9eBtkv/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link. This

source features an Instagram post that was shared by the official UCF Cares social media

account. The post depicts a quote, describing how self care is a priority by stating how in

the same way individuals do not tend to let their devices battery run out, we should not let

our mental wellness deteriorate . The quote is intended to reach students at the University

of Central Florida who were struggling with studying for their midterms. The caption also
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urges students to attend their upcoming event which provides mental health resources and

stress relieving activities.

This source demonstrates the current relationship the UCF Cares mental health

programs has with their social media accounts. Given that most of my sources detail the

impact social media has on campaigns, this primary data provides me with information

correlating the two. In regard to my research question, this post gives insight into what

type of content the UCF Cares social media sites contain and the number of people they

reach. I will use this primary data to analyze the effectiveness of their social media posts

as well as the writing and rhetoric that is utilized in both the post itself and the caption.

UCF Cares [@ucfcares]. (2019, September 12). Join UCF Cares in the CAPS Courtyard

[Instagram post]. Retrieved from https://www.instagram.com/p/B2UR-A_BQqT/?

utm_source=ig_web_copy_link. This post, retrieved from the UCF Cares Instagram

account encourages those who follow their social media to participate in the upcoming

event. The event is labeled as one that effectively aids in releasing stress, as participants

are allowed to play with cats on the UCF campus. The actual photo that was posted

depicts the poster promoting the event, while the caption simply urges the audience to

attend while detailing when and where it will be held.

This post is closely connected to another social media source I have included in

my annotated bibliography. Both of these primary sources come from the Instagram

platform and were posted by the UCF Cares team. These posts will be helpful in relation

to my research question because it demonstrates what the social media accounts of the

campaign consist of. The post allows me to analyze the accounts reachability as well as
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the impact they have on the audience. Moreover, I will focus specifically on the typified

rhetoric utilized and if this impacts the effectiveness of the post.

UCF Cares. @ucfcares. (2019, September 10). It’s National Suicide Prevention Month! Stop by

Memory Mall and write a message of love and hope for someone struggling with

depression. [Twitter post]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/ucfcares?lang=en. This

source is related to a social media post made by the official UCF Cares Twitter account.

The tweet is comprised of three photos which demonstrate the event being advertised.

The event is titled “Field of Memories” and it is being held during National Suicide

Prevention Month at the University of Central Florida. The event encourages participants

to attend and write down positive and encouraging messages to those individuals who

may currently be struggling with depression.

Evidently, this Twitter post is closely connected to another tweet I have chosen to

analyze as part of my primary research. Both tweets are related to the topic of mental

health, and they both discuss ways to cope with struggles as well as events being held

whose goal is to help those who are struggling with their wellbeing. This twitter post will

aid in the primary research portion of my project, given that it demonstrates how the UCF

Cares mental health program utilizes social media, and whether or not this is beneficial to

spreading their message with their followers.

UCF Cares. @ucfcares. (2019, July 29). A reminder that UCF Counseling and Psychological

Services (CAPS) is available 24/7 by calling their crisis line at 407-823-2811. You are

not alone. If you need help, don't be afraid to reach out. In an emergency, always dial

911. [Twitter post]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/ucfcares?lang=en. This tweet,

posted by the members of the UCF Cares program, features an image of the counseling
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building at the University of Central Florida. The post reminds readers that the UCF

Counseling and Psychological Services department provide assistance to students

struggling with their wellbeing. The post also provides their phone number as well as a

reminder to dial 911 in emergencies. Overall, the goal of this post is to provide students

with resources and programs that are able to help them at any hour every single day.

This twitter post correlates to another I have chosen to include in my annotated

bibliography. They both provide students at UCF with resources aimed to better their

mental health and address any concerns they may have with their wellbeing. After

analyzing this post, I will be able to determine whether or not the typified rhetoric used

on the UCF Cares Twitter account is effective. This post also reminds students that they

are not alone, and they should never be afraid to seek help or assistance, which are

evidently words of both positivity and comfort.