Rhetoric and Composition
The graduate program in Rhetoric and Composition offers coursework and experiences important for the professional development of effective instructors, theorists, researchers, and administrators in the field of rhetoric and composition.
The program emphasizes connections between theory and pedagogy, positioning our graduate students in the ongoing problematics of praxis. As we examine and debate various theoretical perspectives, we do so in light of teaching concerns and in relation to who our students are and what their needs might be. The program is intentionally small, the atmosphere is friendly and supportive, seminars are small, and writing courses are limited to an enrollment of twenty students. The five full-time professors in the program are able to provide each student in the concentration considerable support in her or his studies and training.
The teaching opportunities for graduate candidates who receive Teaching Associateships are varied. While it is unlikely you would teach all of these, the courses do include first-year and third-year writing and rhetoric, computer-mediated courses, professional writing, women and writing, special topics in composition, grammar, courses that integrate web writing, and introduction to literature. Our theoretical studies, coupled with these teaching opportunities, focus our work on the tensions between practice and theory in context for productive teaching. Our graduate courses offer MA and Ph.D. students the opportunities to explore these tensions in and through sites of gender, class, writing program administration, and historical constructions. Situated within an English department, the program also builds conceptual bridges among composition, literary, and creative writing studies.
The doctoral program is geared toward solid professional preparation. Students take a variety of courses and then focus their studies by the time they have passed their exams and chosen a dissertation topic.
Professional Development Opportunities
Teaching Associates in the Rhetoric and Composition concentration have outstanding opportunities for training and valuable work experiences. These include:
- Assistant Director of Composition
- Computer Classroom/Lab Consultant
- Assistant to the Director of Writing Across the Curriculum
All M.A. and Ph.D. teaching associates teach their own courses, starting with an approved syllabus and texts for first-year composition and moving on to greater freedom and opportunities to teach a variety of courses. Every student takes graduate training seminars in composition teaching. Computer classroom instructors receive additional training in computer-intensive composition pedagogy and may take a seminar in computers and composition pedagogy.
In addition, the rhetoric and composition program has recently been awarded additional doctoral and master's slots, along with extra stipend money for special recruitment. These enhancements make it possible for the program to gradually increase its core number of students in the coming years.
Rhetoric and Composition Faculty
- Sherrie Gradin, Professor and Director of Writing Across the Curriculum and the Center for Writing Excellence. Areas of emphasis: history of rhetoric, composition theory, and writing program administration.
- Mara Holt, Associate Professor. Areas of emphasis: feminist rhetorics, collaborative learning, race/whiteness, academic labor.
- Jennie Nelson, Associate Professor. Areas of emphasis: composition theory and empirical research.
- Sung Ohm, Assistant Professor. Areas of emphasis: race and ethnic studies, Asian-American studies, cultural and rhetorical theory.
- Albert Rouzie, Associate Professor. Areas of emphasis: computers and composition studies, rhetorics of electronic discourse, and rhetoric and composition theory.
Rhetoric and Composition Requirements
In addition to the general PhD requirements, doctoral students in rhetoric and composition will take five core seminars in rhetoric and composition, four electives in rhetoric and composition, two seminars in literature, and one each in literary theory and creative writing.
In addition to the general MA requirements, masters students in rhetoric and compositions will take three of the following courses: 592A, 592B, 592C, and 592D. Rhetoric/comp students take 593 Bib and Methods OR 592B Research Methods in Rhetoric and Comp. Rhetoric/comp students take two literature courses--one in British and one in American. Rhetoric/comp students are required to take four courses in Rhetoric/comp.
- 592A Major Rhetorical Theories and the Teaching of Composition
- 592B Research Methods in Rhetoric and Composition
- 592D The Rhetorical Tradition and the Teaching of Writing
- 792E Computers and Composition Pedagogy
- 592F: History of Composition
(updated 10/20/06)
Elective seminars in Rhetoric and Composition cover a wide variety of subjects and ground students in both the theory and practice. Some recent courses include the following:- Electronic Discourse:
- Rhetoric and Poststructuralism/Postmodernism:
- Collaborative Rhetorics:
- Women's Rhetorics
- Queer Rhetorics
Rhetoric and Composition Ph.D. Exam Sequence
Our Ph.D. process takes you through a structured program to insure that we prepare you for participation in the broader community of rhetoric and composition on a national—and increasingly—international scale. For this reason we have three examinations—a written, comprehensive exam that we recommend to be taken at the beginning of your third year; you must take it by the beginning of your fourth year. An oral exam on your dissertation prospectus must be taken within six months of the written exam. Ifr you fail the prospectus defense, you have an extra quarter term to revise the prospectus and pass the defense. There will be an oral exam ("defense") on your dissertation.
- The comprehensive exam offers a list of readings that forms a provisional canon for the purposes of our work with you. As academic expertise becomes increasingly specialized, the interdisciplinary discipline of rhetoric and composition is committed to maintaining a working knowledge of a few texts that form a basis for common ground in both spoken and written conversation—the academic discourse of the field. Passing the exam means that you have persuaded us that you understand what you’ve read, that you know how to summarize and synthesize in such a way that your work will be recognized as professional in the field; that you can form an argument that directs your thinking in a debate, and that you can support it in a persuasive, thesis-driven academic form that demonstrates how the ideas are currently discussed within the field of rhetoric and composition as well as any insight you may bring to bear on the subject. The comprehensive exam is graded by the rhetoric faculty.
- The prospectus is your working plan for your dissertation project, a brief rehearsal of a conversation you plan to enter and contribute to. The literature review represents the conversation. The introduction is your contribution to the conversation. The methodology is your plan of action. The working bibliography represents scholarly conversations related to the discussion you are joining. When your director agrees that you have a reasonable draft of the prospectus, it is time to formalize your choice of a committee. You must choose at least two, preferably three, rhetoric/composition professors from the department and one professor from another academic department. A fifth member is optional.
- The purpose of a dissertation committee is to help prepare you to enter the conversation you have chosen. Committee members help you rehearse the kinds of response your work may get when you have your degree and begin to publish from your dissertation in preparation for tenure. The dissertation committee, in this sense, is a safe audience that can help you solve problems in your thinking and research before you present your work to the national and/or international community of scholars in rhetoric and composition. Furthermore, in choosing to work with you, committee members have made a commitment to you and your work. They may be valuable advocates and resources after the dissertation project is successful, when you are attempting to publish your work. In choosing a dissertation committee in consultation with your director, you might consider the following questions:
- How might this professor contribute to my project?
- How might this professor be a future resource in the field?
Once you have a list of possible committee members, visit each one, prospectus in hand, and ask them if they’d be interested in working with you on your project, as described in your prospectus. When you have a dissertation committee, you are ready to proceed to the prospectus defense. - The oral prospectus exam, or defense, takes place when your director lets you know that your prospectus is ready. The director will schedule a room and a time for your dissertation committee to meet with you. Give your committee copies of your prospectus two weeks before the meeting. At the beginning of the meeting, make a five-minute statement to the committee. This may include
- a brief oral summary of your proposed argument and/or research question,
- the context of your interest in the topic, and
- what you’ve learned from the process of writing a prospectus.
This meeting is a productive opportunity for you and your committee to discuss your dissertation plan together. The goal is for you to leave the room with an understanding of what strategies are most likely to bring you success in the completion of the project. Working together, the committee can offer feedback about what in your plan is intellectually viable, efficacious, and appropriate to the discipline and what may work against your success. At the end of a successful exam, your committee is committed to the viability of your project, usually with revisions. If your plan changes dramatically during the course of the conversation, the committee may ask to meet with you again to discuss a revised prospectus. - The oral dissertation exam, or defense, takes place when your director lets you know that your dissertation is ready. The dissertation defense is open to the public. The director will schedule a room and a time. Although you have given your committee members copies of chapters as you finish them, you must give each member a bound copy of your completed dissertation two weeks before the defense. This copy will be the subject of discussion at the defense. At the beginning of the meeting, you will present a ten-minute statement. This must include
- a brief oral summary of the argument your dissertation has made and how you supported the argument. A one-page single-spaced chapter-by-chapter outline would be useful as a handout.
- the context of your interest in the topic, and the contribution your work can make to the field.
At this point in your project, you know much more about your topic than does your dissertation committee. You will demonstrate that knowledge in answer to questions posed by the committee. This is a conversation that you control, disagreeing with your committee when appropriate and thanking them for constructive criticism. Before the end of the defense, be sure to ask your committee what suggestions they want you to implement before completing your dissertation and what revisions they are suggesting before sending the material out for publication in article or book form. At the end of a successful dissertation defense, you are no longer a student. You are a colleague.