Rhet/Comp starter kit for newbs?

[techcommie]

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!

[ComeBackZinc]

So many big questions. Let me throw a few things out there.

First, peruse College Composition and Communication, which is probably the flagship journal, from the NCTE, our professional organization, and College English, also from the NCTE. I'm also partial to Pedagogy and Research in the Teaching of English.

On the rhetoric side, Bizzell and Herzberg's The Rhetorical Tradition is used all over the place and is an exhaustive text.

Big schools-- any list I've seen includes Purdue, Illiniois-Urbana/Champaign, Michigan State, Illinois-Chicago, Syracuse, Penn State, University of Rhode Island, and Arizona. (I could easily be leaving some out.) Ohio State has a great tradition of rhet/comp but as I understand it (and perhaps someone with first person knowledge could fill in) the discipline essentially doesn't exist anymore. I had always heard Purdue spoken of as the best program, although that has recently become, ah, a little self-serving of me. I can tell you from experience that URI is a small program but a great one, with a separate (and separately funded) Writing department, Writing major, some big names like Bob Schwegler and Nedra Reynolds and great up-and-comers and, incidentally, a 100% hiring rate since they started awarding PhDs with a concentration in Rhet/Comp in 2000.

As for big books, I can't really tell you anything exhaustive, but personally I love Angels' Town by Ralph Cintron, Composing Research by Cindy Johanek, Research on Composition by Peter Smagorinsky, and Whistlin' and Crowin Women of Appalachia by Katherine Sohn.

As far as advice goes, individual questions would be good. I would just say that Rhet/Comp is a very different world from lit-- incidentally, I love and value both, I've just chosen Rhet/Comp for myself and my future-- and to expect to do very different things. Personally, I'm interested in doing empirical research that is largely on the side of the social sciences, with statistical and validity checks, etc. So expect to be engaged in pursuits that are very different from what happens in lit.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions, I'll do my amateur best.

[ComeBackZinc]

Now I worry I'm insulting programs if I leave them out... Cincinnati has a good program, as does Wisconsin.

[RockDenali]

I definitely agree with the post above. Purdue, Illinois-UC, Syracuse, Wisconsin-Madison, and Penn State would be in most people's top 5. If you want to get into technical writing, also add University of Minnesota, NC State, and Iowa State.

Louisville has a good program, too, and one hell of a stipend.

Most rhet/comp programs have stellar placement. Fewer PhDs, higher demand. Now, many PhD programs require an MA in rhet/comp before you apply. It really doesn't matter where you get the MA. While visiting this year, I met people with MAs from regional state schools and people with MAs from highly ranked national universities.

For historical perspective, read anything you can by Kenneth Burke and Richard Weaver, who were writing about writing when it wasn't cool. Almost everything in rhet/comp today can be traced back to something written by one of those guys. Also familiarize yourself with Aristotle's Rhetoric; Corbett's Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student is a good primer for classical Greek rhetoric, which, ultimately, is the fons et origo of everything rhetorical.

I second the recommendation of The Rhetorical Tradition. That's probably the best place to start for a general overview. That's what I read in my Intro to Rhetorical Theory class way back when.

I'd add Rhetoric Society Quarterly and Journal of Advanced Composition to the earlier list of journal titles.

As far as contemporary "big names," it just depends on what sub-field you want to get into. Tech writing, ESL writing, writing program administration, FYW pedagogy, eco-rhetoric, transnational and borderlands rhetoric, rhetoric of science . . . Check out Parlor Press for some good contemporary titles and authors.

Lastly: learn your grammar and learn to love statistics. Quantitative research is definitely becoming popular as we seek to defend ourselves against budget cuts! Methodology in general (qualitative, ethnography, historiography) is probably more important in rhet/comp than in literature.

[crimsonsneakers]

Miami of Ohio, Syracuse, UCSB...

There's a Norton of Composition Studies, which is what we used in the one rhet/comp course I've taken. It has fairly current scholarship; the anthology is from 2009 I think.

[techcommie]

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:

Lastly: learn your grammar and learn to love statistics. Quantitative research is definitely becoming popular as we seek to defend ourselves against budget cuts! Methodology in general (qualitative, ethnography, historiography) is probably more important in rhet/comp than in literature.

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.

Edited April 11, 2011 by techcommie

[runonsentence]

-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?

I would echo what's been said above, in that the answers to all of your questions will eventually involve identifying sub-fields within rhet/comp that interest you. (But I realize that you're here looking for a way to build a general knowledge and eventually work into a more specific direction!)

• MA/PhD programs: interestingly, MA programs in rhet/comp are still more the exception, rather than the rule. (Recent CCC article on this....) I'm not sure where to recommend in terms of an MA program, though you need to make sure that it will get you teaching experience, if possible (my MA at Cincy did this and really prepared me to move into the PhD, even though I did my MA in Englsh lit).
• Other "big" names that have been left out so far: Milwaukee does great interdisciplinary and digital work; UNC Chapel HIll won some CCCC diss awards in recent years; University of Texas-Austin is traditional but stellar. There's also a comp/rhet roundup 2011 thread in here somewhere that lists the programs we all applied to this year, to give you an idea of where you might look, depending on subfield.
• Names: one thing that might be more manageble that perusing every journal we publish is checking out the CompPile bibliographies. These are compiled by well-regarded researchers on specific topics, and give you an idea of who's been influential.
• Orgs: join the NCTE and the CCCC (NCTE membership is a pre-req for CCCC). MLA is useful when you're on the job market at the end of the PhD.
• Books: some books that my mentor had me read last summer to get a sense of the field and its current direction include Rhetoric & Composition as Intellectual Work (Olson), Writing Teacher's Sourcebook (Corbett, Myers, Tate), Composition Studies in the New Mllenium (Bloom, Daiker, White), and Politics of Writing Instruction (Bullock, Trimbauer).

[ComeBackZinc]

Another great book: the Rhetoric of Rhetoric by Wayne Booth.

[RockDenali]

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.

Yep! Grammar. Description of syntax. Labelling language, written and spoken. Discourse analysis. All that. One of the most basic ways to quantify writing is through its grammar. For example, when departments decide whether to place students into ESL or "foundational" (i.e., remdial) writing classes, they read student essays and look for "ESL markers," which are syntactic mistakes that no native speaker would make.

It's also much easier to discuss a piece of writing if you can say "this participial phrase should begin the sentence so that it modifies the proper noun" rather than "move this thing here because it sounds better."

Mind, some programs are not heavy on methodology. However, most programs will have at least one professor who stresses it. And it's great to hear that you're coming from a science background. That will be very beneficial. Most of us come from an English or writing background and are trying to catch up on our technical and science skills!

Edited April 11, 2011 by RockDenali

[RockDenali]

Another great book: the Rhetoric of Rhetoric by Wayne Booth.

Yes. Great book. Wonderful discussions of the cultural and ethical dimensions of rhetoric. My favorite word comes from here: rhetrickery!

[Two Espressos]

I'm bumping this thread!

This is fantastic information; it was exactly what I was looking for.

Does anyone else have anything to add to the great advice listed here?

[ComeBackZinc]

I thought that this thread could use some cites to good journal articles that deal with historical and epistemological issues in the field, so here goes. Just my random sampling.

Lauer, Janice M. “Composition Studies: Dappled Discipline.” Rhetoric Review 3/1 (1984): 20-29

Fulkerson, Richard. “Composition Theory in the Eighties: Axiological Consensus and Paradigmatic Diversity.” College Composition and Communication 41. 4 (1990): 409-429

Berlin, James A. “Contemporary Composition: The Major Pedagogical Theories.” College English 44. 8 (1982): 765-777

Kopelson, Karen. “Sp(l)itting Images; Or, Back to the Future of (Rhetoric and?) Composition.” College Composition and Communication 59.4 (2008): 750-780

[rmgerdes]

Has anyone heard anything about the University of Okalhoma's program for Rhetoric and Composition?

[ComeBackZinc]

Bump!

[Rabbitry]

Difficult because it's such a big field. I can tell you some of the books/articles that have influenced me most or got me thinking:

Paolo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed.

James Berlin, Rhetorics, Poetics, and Cultures

David Bartholomae, Inventing the University (article)

[kelannrob]

This thread is exactly what I needed to find! Just had a discussion with my grad advisor about defining my field of specialization in relation to the dissertation topic I want to pursue. I was wanting to find a way to incorporate composition theory and pedagogy with Mexican folklore. He suggested using rhet/comp as the umbrella to cover it all, but I still wasn't entirely clear about how. You folks nailed it in these posts!

Thanks for the great suggestions and good luck to all with your studies!

[ashley624]

Lastly: learn your grammar and learn to love statistics. Quantitative research is definitely becoming popular as we seek to defend ourselves against budget cuts! Methodology in general (qualitative, ethnography, historiography) is probably more important in rhet/comp than in literature.

 

Ditto on this and the Bizzell and Herzberg book! Macroanalysis by Jockers introduces some methods for quantitative research and is a pretty neat read as well. 

[bhr]

Let me speak up for my own little corner of the Rhet/Comp world. I'm a new MA accept for next Fall, (go Sparty!) but I've gotten some great exposure to the digital side of the world, and think it's gotten ignored above. (especially because you mentioned Kairos)

 

First, go read anything you can by Cynthia Selfe, particularly The Politics of the Interface. It's 20 years old, but one of those benchmark works that you need to know. Read anything you can by Gail Hawisher on writing studies, and James Gee if you are into gaming. She's not as big of a name, yet, but Cheryl Ball is the editor of Kairos and has a few books on digital humanities that are worth reading (as is her regular column on the industry for Inside Higher Ed.)

[rhetoricus aesalon]

Another good read is in the three "Octologs" published from former panels at CCCC by Rhetoric Review. They focus mainly on issues of historiography but also offer a great sampling of some of the biggest names and perspectives in the field. They are also published once a decade, so it's an interesting look into how the field has changed over the past 30 years.

Edited May 27, 2014 by Chadillac