techcommie

Hi, I'm in my senior year, only a few months away from applying to grad school, and am having a serious crisis of confidence. One of my problems is that I never took a research methods class. I get along, but I'm unsure about how I review current scholarship--am I doing it horribly wrong? Here are the steps: -Think up a bunch of likely key words -Run the key words through the main journals in my field -Run the key words through Google Scholar -Ask my professors if they know of any don't-miss material Am I missing something here? Will people laugh their asses off when I get to "real" school? Many thanks for guidance to a noob!

Thanks for the responses! I have several follow up questions to ask when I get a moment to organize my thoughts, but one comment has me so curious--I just have to ask: When you say grammar, are you talking about grammar, the rules of syntactical usage in language (yeah, I know it's not the OED definition), or grammar, an appropriation of the word related to quantitative research? I'm confused by the proximity of 'grammar' and 'statistics' in the first quoted sentence. Edit: Also, I'm glad to hear about the focus on methodology. I spent five semesters in chemical engineering before switching to the technical communication B.S., and have retained a great fondness for anything that looks like data.

For those of you who have been initiated into the ranks of rhetoric and composition, what would make up the "starter kit" you would give to your naive little 21 (or however old) self? -Is there a Holy Grail book that tells you everything you need to know to not sound like an idiot? I have Corbett and Connor's Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student as my main reference, but perhaps there's something that includes more contemporary stuff? Same for composition studies and pedagogy; any "read this and everything will make sooooo much more sense" kind of books? -What are a few basic MA and PhD programs we should look at to start with? The ones everyone's talking about, with the rock star professors and the stellar tenure-track placement? Also, what are the up and coming programs, and ones that are perhaps more interdisciplinary than most or are perhaps more heavily involved with digital media or something colorful like that? -Speaking of rock stars, who are the top ten (or other arbitrary number) people making a splash right now in the field? Hard to tell from reading the WPA list--they all talk a lot. -Other than the WPA list and reading Kairos and CCC, what's a good way to stay abreast of the trends in current scholarship? -What organizations should we join? -One piece of advice you wish someone had told you when starting this journey? Thanks!

Since your questions are more general than the topic of this thread, I think you'll get more of a response if you post your questions in thread topics grouped by subject (a thread for the ASU program and a separate thread for the advice questions--identifying programs, preparation, and job prospects). That way, people who have the information you're looking for will be able to find your questions. My two cents: -You identify quality programs in a number of ways. Look at their acceptance rate; can they afford to be choosy? (you can find this data in the rhet/comp program report; a link is floating around these forums somewhere). Look at their faculty. Are they big names in the field, well known, widely published? Get on to forums or lists like the WPA-L; you'll be surprised what you can pick up from hearing the faculty converse among themselves. Look very minimally at national rankings, but do look. They don't mean much often when it comes to PhD programs, especially in rhet/comp, but the big names might give you an edge when applying to some jobs. Look at major publications like CCC and Kairos; who is on the editorial board? I would also say to consider the ethos of the site; what values do they hold (or say they do)? Is the focus of the program well articulated? -Best way to prepare yourself, from what I've been told, is to read a ton and write a ton. Familiarize yourself with the current scholarship in the field as well as foundational theories. Writing (especially published writing) is really important, too. Take every opportunity to conduct research or perform critical analysis. Take every opportunity to co-author a paper with a professor or present at a conference. PhD programs look for future scholars; it can only help your admission if you are already developing yourself as a scholar. -Jobs are mostly in the academy, but it depends on your focus and on the focus of the department you're in. For instance, some of the Rhetoric PhDs from Carnegie Mellon have gone on to work for companies like Microsoft, something to do the rhetoric of interface design, I think. I would say that industry jobs are out there, especially if your research is in something very practical. A good way to survey jobs is to browse the alumni profiles of program websites. -Best way to find salaries is to look them up. In my state, you can look up the salaries of any professor online (the ones at public universities and who are thus government employees, anyway).

If I could time travel to my sophomore self, I would say this: PUBLISH. Presenting at UG conferences is great, but think bigger, too. Submit original research and critical essays to peer reviewed undergraduate journals (they're out there!). Develop relationships with professors who collaborate with students on research and see if you can participate. Respond to calls for proposals; even if you get rejected by the conference, it will be great experience in writing proposals! And if you get in, you'll have that presentation to put down on your CV. Publishing is tangible evidence that you can conduct scholarly inquiry at a rigorous level. Adcomms like making safe bets.

Hi thelost. I am a tech com undergrad, and until recently was looking into grad programs with a usability/user centered design focus. Here's my perspective. A straight technical communication program will include elements of usability. Certainly understanding of the user is critical to all aspects of technical communication. However, you won't necessarily take classes that are explicitly about usability studies. I took one last semester, but tech com programs are not standardized. You can expect, however, to have a pretty broad education, ranging from topics like visual communication to technical editing to rhetoric to information management, and you will learn a lot of tools, like RoboHelp and the Adobe Creative Suite. And yes, since they are often housed in English and Communication departments (although there are exceptions), the norm is still a strong emphasis on writing and communication principles. I can definitely say that most programs have a far larger scope than simply writing user manuals, though. That kind of narrow focus went out several decades ago. Technical communication today is about information architecture, instruction design, prototyping and interface design, technology marketing--this applications are extensive. (See stc.org for more information.) If you know you want to do usability, though, I would go more in that specific direction. One very interesting program is University of Washington's Human Centered Design and Engineering program, which is housed in the school of engineering. Until 2009 this department was a technical communication program. However, they are now targeted on user experience/usability/human factors, and have a very substantial research component funded by large tech corporations, while the rhetoric and communication aspects are still in place from when it was tech com. Their website has a list of peer schools which are also in the area of usability. Check out Carnegie Mellon's Human Computer Interaction program and MIT's Media Lab. Stanford has a good HCI group too which is housed in the CS dept. Regarding your background, you are absolutely not at a disadvantage, whether you apply to a tech com program or an HCI or Human Factors program. The applicant pool to all of these programs is very diverse. Your technical knowledge will even put you ahead of the pack in some instances (definitely in HCI). You will likely have to take some bridging courses for tech com programs, but that's not a big deal. Some good tech com graduate programs are Texas Tech, University of Minnesota, and RPI. Good luck with your decision!

Very glad to see this thread, as I will also be applying for the fall of '12. truckbasket: I really want to read that book! About the program research, what, specifically, should we look into beyond the faculty profiles and major faculty publications? I understand you guys are occupied with your own impending application results, and can post this question in its own thread (with other general advice-y questions for us noobs) later in the spring if you prefer.

work boots

Thanks for the feedback! Great to hear what you all have done.

Comp/rhet folks: what kind of writing sample did you submit? I have half a semester and a summer to come up with something before application season hits, and I'd like to get a feel for what others have done. There's no undergrad thesis in my department, so that's out. I have various academic papers, of course, but they aren't research heavy for the most part. The most English-y papers I have are from a classical rhetoric class where we analyzed discourse through, for example, the lens of Aristotle's common topics; these papers have a very class-assignment flavor. My other class papers are about technical writing (my major): a literature survey on modularizing online help, a web interface critique, archival research about a technical communicator, an essay on historical strategies for professionalization of the field, and so forth. I assume (correct me if I'm wrong) that adcomms would rather see something related to the field of rhetoric and composition. So: what did you submit? If it was a research article, what methodology did you employ? What questions did you ask? Did you instead submit an essay or other genre? How did you generate ideas if you weren't given the initial concept by a professor or class assignment?

Tiger Eye

prior engagement

Thanks for the feedback. I think directing my focus to MA programs is probably a better plan. With regard to the deadlines, I'll be applying in the fall for admission in fall 2012.

I'm sorry if this topic is redundant; I've looked around a bit and haven't seen anything on the subject, but please direct me to the proper post if I've missed the discussion. I'm a tech com undergrad planning on applying to a PhD or MA Rhetoric program this fall. I have a strong chemistry background and would like to focus on science/technology and rhetoric (I know, original, right). What I'm not sure is how my background will play when it comes to admissions. Will committees balk at my non-English degree, which furthermore is a B.S. as opposed to a B.A.? I want to apply to a Rhetoric program instead of a TC program because I want a broader education and more composition pedagogy. The other parts of my profile worry me too; not so much anticipated GPA or GRE, but that in general I look like a tech com candidate (paper undergoing peer review, but in a TC journal; work exp all in TC jobs). This isn't a chance me thread. I just want to know if anyone has made the switch from this field to rhetoric and how easy/hard it was, strategies, etc. Also, how about the job market; better for Rhet/Comp PhD's or Tech Com PhD's? Thanks for any info you could share.

Current student, work part time at the university technology licensing office.