Graduate Studies in Professional Writing

Our area, part of the Rhetoric and Composition Program in the Department of English, is noted for cultivating expertise in writing for the digital workplace, for teaching and researching multimedia writing and visual rhetoric, for digital and print publishing, and for emphasizing collaboration and community service. Professional Writing at Purdue is known nationally for its innovative and productive faculty, the doctoral research of its graduate students, and its creative and cutting-edge approach to writing and publishing in the digital age. The Purdue alumni network in Professional Writing and Rhetoric and Composition is wide and has binding ties to important sites in academia and industry. Graduate students with Professional Writing specializations can also apply for Crouse Scholarships, worth $5,000 each and awarded annually.

Graduate Courses in Technical and Professional Writing

Each of the following graduate courses in technical and professional writing is offered on a regular rotation (typically, at least once every two years).

• English 680T, Professional Writing Theory
• English 680Q, Qualitative Research
• English 605, Computers, Rhetoric, and Writing
• English 515, Advanced Professional Writing
• English 505M, Practicum in Teaching Professional Writing

In addition, other electives can count toward the secondary area--for example, English 680E (Ethics, Rhetoric, and Writing), 680W (Writing Across the Curriculum, 680V (Visual Rhetoric), 680D (Rhetoric and Digital Publishing), 680B (Kenneth Burke), and 680S (Digital Rhetorics and Design Studio). Teaching practica, which are usually offered once per year, do not count toward the secondary area, but they are an essential component of the development of students' teaching abilities.

Teaching Opportunities in Technical and Professional Writing

Graduate students specializing in technical and professional writing typically teach English 420 (Business Writing) and/or English 421 (Technical Writing). But they also may teach courses in the professional writing undergraduate major, including English 203 (Introduction to Research for Professional Writers), 309 (Computer-Aided Publishing), 420E (Business Writing for Entrepreneurs), 421 (Multimedia Writing), and English 424 (Writing for the Computer Industry). All professional writing undergraduate courses are taught in networked Mac and PC labs. Some are taught in the Center for Serious Games and Learning in Virtual Environments. Current graduate students interested in teaching in professional writing may apply for a position using our online application form.

For more information about applying to the graduate program, contact:

Ms. Jill Quirk
Office of Graduate Studies
Department of English
Heavilon Hall
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN 47907
317-494-3748

or contact the Director of Professional Writing, Dr. David Blakesley, at blakesle@purdue.edu if you'd like to know about Professional Writing in particular.

Important Graduate Program Nodes

• Graduate Student Portfolios
• Rhetoric and Composition Program
• English Graduate Studies
• GradSEA
• Graduate School

Internship opportunites are available to graduate students on the editorial board of The Writing Instructor, Parlor Press, and other local initiatives and publishing projects. Graduate students in PW regularly work in Purdue's famous Writing Lab and on the OWL. This professional development opportunities are excellent ways to network with professionals in the field while learning valuable skills in print and electronic publishing. Contact David Blakesley (blakesle@purdue.edu) if you would like to be involved.

Professional Writing is co-hosting Computers and Writing 2010 ("Virtual Worlds") in May, 2010, so many of our graduate students are closely involved with planning both the onsite and online conferences. We also hosted Computers and Writing 2003, which came to Purdue from May 22-25, 2003. See the C&W 2003 Website to learn about how that conference went.

PhD Secondary Areas in Professional Writing

If you have questions about the PhD secondary areas, contact Patricia Sullivan director of the graduate program in rhetoric and composition. Dr. Sullivan's office is in Heavilon Hall 401. If you are an alumnus and would like to see your work listed here (or make a correction), please contact David Blakesley (blakesle@purdue.edu).

Rhetoric, Technology, and Digital Writing

This area of specialization in the major explores issues of technology and writing. Three other courses are required: at least one must be technology intensive and at least one must stress issues that connect theory and pedagogy with technology and communication.

Why a PhD secondary area focused on rhetoric and technology? First, our graduate students wanted a more coherent and intensive construction on the issues embedded in technology and writing. Second, technology pedagogy, particularly in distance education, can evoke a "how-to" response. But we think the cultures of technology deserve more careful scrutiny. We are crafting a blend of technology intensive coursework with cultural theory, teaching, writing, and administration. We intend to participate in a critical construction of emerging technology issues.

Technical and Professional Writing

This PhD secondary area allows students to focus on studies of writing in the (digital) workplace. Advance coursework includes Professional Writing Theory, Visual Rhetoric, Empirical Research, Qualitative Research, and Critical Qualitative Methodology.

Purdue's PhD second field in technical and professional writing is noted for its expertise in teaching and researching computer-based writing, for its emphasis on collaboration, for its critical approach to the design of instructional technologies, and for its innovative faculty and doctoral research, particularly focusing on intersections between rhetoric theory and professional writing.

Graduate students in English desiring formal credentials in technical and professional writing may choose it as a secondary PhD area. This secondary area in technical and professional writing is geared primarily to preparing doctoral students for university-level teaching and research positions--but several program alumni have found their credentials valuable in securing employment in the computer industry.

Students must complete three recommended graduate courses (English 680T, English 605, English 680Q) and a fourth graduate course from a list of options. Students wishing to substitute a course not appearing on the list of approved options can petition the professional writing area committee to seek approval for the substitution.

Completed Dissertations in Professional Writing Secondary Areas

• Kate Agena, " Process and Power: Building Strategies for Technical Communicators to Effect Organizational Change"
• Stuart Blythe, PhD, "Conceptualizing the Technologies of Writing Center Practice"
• Michelle Comstock, PhD, "Re-mapping the Territory of "Youth": Youth-generated Sites of Rhetorical, Cultural, and Political Practice"
• Laurie Cubbison, PhD, "Validating Illness: Internet Activism in Response to Institutional Discourse"
• Bill Hart-Davidson, PhD, "Participatory Rhetoric and the Education of Professional Writing Teachers"
• Tharon Howard, PhD, "The Rhetoric of Electronic Communities"
• Marjorie Rush Hovde, PhD, "The Knowledgeable Practice of Computer Documentation Writers"
• Robert Johnson, PhD, "Rhetoric and Use: Toward a Theory of User-centered Computer Documentation"
• Amy Kimme Hea, PhD, "Entanglements: Re-Articulating Discourses and Practices of Web-Based Teaching and Learning"
• Elizabeth Lopez, PhD, "The Geography of Computer Writing Spaces: A Critical Postmodern Analysis"
• Marc Santos, PhD, "Toward Another Rhetoric: Web 2.0, Levinas, nnd Taking Responsibility for Response Ability" (2009)
• Mark Simpson, PhD, "Shaping Computer Documentation for Multiple Audiences: An Ethnographic Study"
• Morgan Sousa, PhD, "Mapping Usability: A Critical Research Analysis of Trends in Software Usability Research, Theory, and Practice" (2009)
• Karl Stolley, PhD, "An Art of Emergent Visual Rhetoric" (2007)
• Pamela Takayoshi, PhD, "Theorizing Technocentrism in Computers & Composition: Conflicting Values, Competing Visions, and Pedagogical Intervention"
• Jeremy Tirrell, PhD, "Mapping a Geographical History of Digital Technology in Rhetoric and Composition" (at Scribd; 2009)
• Janice Tovey, PhD, "A Visual Rhetoric of Electronic-Aided Publishing"
• Melinda Turnley, PhD, "Re-Writing Media: A Critical Investigation of Mediological Assumptions in Composition Pedagogies"
• Meredith Zoetewey, PhD, "Mobile Writing Technologies and the Dis/Location of the Computer Classroom"