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Department of English

Dr. Derek Sparby

Associate Professor
Office
STV Stevenson Hall 421b
Office Hours
Monday 2-3pm and by appointment (Zoom)
Office Phone
(309) 438-3300office
phone
Email
dmsparb@ilstu.eduemail
Website
https://www.emsparb.com/website
  • About
  • Education
  • Selected Research

Current Courses

ENG 249.001 Technical & Professional Writing I

ENG 351.001 Digital Rhetorics

ENG 454.001 Digital Rhetorics

ENG 499.005 Independent Research For The Master's Thesis

ENG 599.027 Research And Dissertation

Teaching Interests & Areas

Digital rhetorics and technical communication

Research Interests & Areas

Digital rhetorics and technical communication

Ph D Rhetoric; Technical Communication

Northern Illinois University
DeKalb, IL

MA English Studies

University of Colorado
Boulder, CO

Book, Authored

Memetic Rhetorics: Building a Rhetorical Toolkit for Ethical Meming
Derek M Sparby.
(2023), 10.3998/mpub.12207107, University of Michigan Press

Book, Chapter

Feminist Ethics
Derek M Sparby.
(2025), Invited contribution in Derek G. Ross (Ed.) The Routledge Handbook of Ethics in Technical and Professional Communication, Routledge
Toward a feminist ethic of self-care and protection when researching digital aggression
Derek M Sparby.
(2022), Methods and methodologies for research in digital writing and rhetoric, WAC Clearinghouse
Toward an audience-centered approach: Rhetorical analysis of university crisis communication emails
Courtney Cox, Derek M Sparby.
(2022), Embodied environmental risk in technical communication: Problems and solutions toward social sustainability, ATTW Series (Routledge)

Book, Edited

Digital Ethics: Rhetoric and Responsibility in Online Aggression
Jessica Reyman, Derek M Sparby.
(2019), Routledge

Journal Article

A Memetic Pandemic: COVID-19 Memes As Tactical Risk Communication
Derek M Sparby.
Technical Communication Quarterly, 34 (2), 153-168, (2025), 10.1080/10572252.2024.2352106
Symposium on Bisexual Digital Rhetorics
Cindy Tekobbe, Derek M Sparby.
Rhetoric Review, 44 (4), 255-330, (2025), 10.1080/07350198.2025.2553412
Investigating disembodied risk in university crisis communications during COVID-19
Courtney Cox, Derek M Sparby.
Communication Design Quarterly, 10 (1), (2022)
Tactical Risk Communication: Observations from Teaching and Learning about Crisis Communication during COVID-19
Tiffany Bishop, Emily Capan, Brittany Larsen, Raven Preston, Derek M Sparby.
Technical Communication Quarterly, 31 (2), 175-189, (2022), 10.1080/10572252.2021.2008509
Digital Social Media and Aggression: Memetic Rhetoric in 4chan’s Collective Identity
Derek M Sparby.
Computers and Composition, 45, 85-97, (2017), 10.1016/j.compcom.2017.06.006