PUBLICATIONS
“I soon realized that conducting research centering on what matters to research participants—grounded theory research—means there is no path and, certainly, there is no way of knowing what you will find.”
—Brené Brown
Brown’s work has reminded me time and time again of the emotional weight of being a researcher. Research is not just about data and theories—it’s about the deep investment we place in our ideas, only to find, more often than not, that we were wrong. Especially in grounded theory research, we enter with one understanding, only to have it unraveled by the very voices we seek to amplify. And that unraveling can feel personal, like a failure. But it’s not. Being ‘wrong’ about a theory or hypothesis doesn’t make us bad researchers—it makes us open to discovery. It means we were listening. When we set aside our egos, we make room for research that doesn’t just reflect our own expectations but truly honors the lived experiences of our participants. And isn’t that the point?
PUBLICATIONS
Books
Sullivan, S. Student Well-Being and Critical Media Literacy: How Student Voices Shape Our Digital Futures. Palgrave Macmillan (Springer Nature), 2026.
Book Chapters
Sullivan, S. (under revisions, 2025) “Staying Calm in the Chaos: Navigating Disingenuous Rhetoric and Problematic Behavior on Social Media.” In University of South Carolina Press, The Post-Truth Handbook: A Practical Guide to Addressing Disingenuous Rhetorics
Modesto, M. & Sullivan, S. (under review, 2024). Departing grade justification: How contract grading changed our response practices. In D. Ferris, G. Eckstein, & B. Gilliland (Eds.), Responding to Writing: A Practical Sourcebook for Instructors.
Sullivan, S. (2024). Rethinking Curriculums: How Critical Digital Literacy and Mandatory Composition Courses Collide. In S. Gennaro, N. Higdon, M. Hoechsmann, & J. Share (Eds.), Transformative Practice in Critical Media Literacy: Radical Democracy and Decolonized Pedagogy in Higher Education
Sullivan, S. (2023) Digital Engagement in Undergraduates: A mixed-methods study of how students engage in a digital world and what that means for their well-being. In McGraw Hill-Aula Magna (Eds.), Critical Media Literacy – Literacidade Mediática Crítica – Literacidade Crítica da Mídia
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
Sullivan, S. (2025) “Artificial Intelligence in the Business Writing Classroom: How to Encourage College Students to Think Critically about ChatGPT in their Assignments” OLOR Effective Practices
Higdon, N. & Sullivan, S. (2025) “Media literacy in the crosshairs: NATO’s strategic goals and the revival of protectionist pedagogy” Journal of Media Literacy Education 17 (2), 97-109
Modesto, M. & Sullivan, S. (manuscript in preparation, 2023). “The contract has helped me get my pedagogy and my response closer to my values”: Contract grading as an impetus for instructional authenticity.
Cochran, Silvers, Sullivan, Benson, and Halsey. (2022) “Authenticity, Self-Compassion, and Self-Determination Theory: A Response to Power Inequities within Higher Education.” Composition Studies https://compositionstudiesjournal.files.wordpress.com/2022/11/cochran-sullivan-benson-silvers-h alsey.pdf
Scholarly
Conference proceedings. Scholars Archive Oregon State University: https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/defaults/6w924h99n