RE: Grad School

Subject: RE: Grad School
From: "walden miller" <wmiller -at- vidiom -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2000 10:42:25 -0600

> I would appreciate some input on the importance (or unimportance) of
> graduate-level instruction in the technical writing profession.
> Does it pay
> off? Do graduate programs adequately preparing students to function as
> effective technical communicators in the real world?

I was a technical writer and tech writing manager for five+ years before
going to grad school at Iowa State.
I got a MA and most/some of a PhD (all courses, no quals, or dissertation).

Assuming you are already a tech writer:
I think grad school is extremely useful for some things, but entirely
useless at others. For example:

ISU has a few great assets: Proposal writing, Editing, and Graphic Design
Theory. I should add that they have some excellent Research courses which do
help with understanding how to do research in tech writing and how to read
research in tech writing (both extremely important when proposing and
reading user studies, etc.)

Other than that, the rhetoric courses are great, but do little for the tech
writer, unless you want to teach tech writing.

Now for the things that are no so good: tech writing classes, rhetoric
classes, fiction classes, linguistic classes, etc. All very interesting and
helps to make you a well-rounded writer and academician, but they have
little direct consequences in your tech writing ability (if you already are
a tech writer).

Assuming you are not a tech writer, but a fiction writer, journalist, etc.,
I think that an MA program in tech/bus writing would be incredibly good. It
would give you the vocabulary and basic training for tech writing, while
giving you some credentials that would at least get you a reasonable
interview.

For everyone:
Not all grad programs are created equal. As I said, ISU is
rhetoric/teaching heavy, but has two or three highlights that are worth a
whole lot. Also, ISU has very good computer labs, a large budget and staff
(around 30 professors in the Tech/Bus writing/Rhetoric department). And the
professors are good. Other schools (U of Minn, New Mexico, Carnegie Melon,
RPI, etc.) have other strengths and very different weaknesses. All schools
have a theoretical base which guides the hiring of new professors and the
courses given and the research opportunities. Decide what you want out of a
graduate education, research the grad schools, and then decide whether any
school provides what you want.

That's as good advice as I can give.
For me, I met a lot of writers which I have hired over the years. I learned
a lot about proposals and visual rhetoric and I have become even more
skeptical of user studies and research claims. I also got to teach writing
for three years, which was a joy for me (got it out of my system for a few
more years).

Walden Miller
Director, Vidiom Systems
Boulder, Colorado





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