Writing @ EMU

Now is the time to register for Spring, Summer, and Fall 2008 courses! If you would like to read some brief descriptions of the courses, click on the link at the top of the page, or click right here. If you have questions about classes not listed here (or even a class listed here), contact the instructor of the course.

It’s probably too late for this year, but perhaps next?

“National Novel Writing Month is quickly coming to an end,” from the Salem (OR) Statesman-Journal. When I advise graduate students on finishing their projects, I always suggest that they take some advice from the book written by the guy who started this, Chris Baty’s No Plot? No Problem! The best piece of advice here? Write often, get it down, revise it later.

Writing Research Across Borders An Interdisciplinary Conference
February 22-24, 2008 University of California, Santa Barbara
Note: Professor Doug Baker is a graduate of the PhD program at UC Santa Barbara and he can probably provide some more details about this event. [Read more →]

On November 7, we held our annual Fall Writing Program Roundtable discussion. The first forum was on PhD studies and the second was on conference presentations. Here’s a 12 minute video of highlights from the session about PhD studies:

A couple of important caveats/qualifiers here:

• Sorry about the tilting look. It’s not the EMU student center or the table– those were both perfectly level. I just didn’t do a good job of setting up the tripod and double-checking it before we started to record.
• The video is kind of jumpy because my goal was to edit down about 45-50 minutes of tape to just the highlights.
• And as always, if you’ve got questions about our MA program or about going on after our MA to a PhD program, feel free to ask!

The Eastern Echo, EMU’s student newspaper, is accepting applications for writers, editors and photographers. Apply at www.easternecho.org or in person at the Echo offices, 220 King Hall.

I would like to invite all of you to this fall’s Writing Program Roundtable, which will be held on Friday, November 2, 2007, from 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm, in room 304 of the EMU Student Center. This year’s program will be divided into two sessions: one on Ph.D studies and one on delivering conference presentations. Afterwards, we will have a very informal/”on your own” social event at Frenchies, which is the party room connected to Depot Town’s Sidetrack Bar and Grill. While this is a program geared towards students in the MA in Written Communication program, of course everyone in the department and beyond are more than welcome.

Here are some more details:

• We’ll start at 3:30 with a discussion about PhD studies which will be lead/facilitated/feature some of our recent graduates who are in the midst of their studies. What’s it like to be working on a PhD? How is it different from the MA? Just how much work is it, anyway? What are the rewards and sacrifices?
• We’ll take a break and then begin the second part our discussion on giving conferences presentations at about 4:30. Again, this too will feature some of our current and recently completed MA students. How do you propose to present a conference? What’s the best way to prepare and get started? Why do conference presentations in the first place?
• After we’re done, we’ll meet more informally at Frenchie’s/The Sidetrack for a social opportunity. Everyone will be on their own in terms of food and beverages, but I am sure a good time will be hand by one and all.
• This is meant to be an informative and yet informal afternoon. The goal is to have more “facilitated conversations” on these issues where lots of people can participate with questions, answers, and observations.

Also, if you can only make part of the sessions or even just the fun stuff at Frenchies, that is perfectly okay! Don’t feel obligated to come to all of the events, just what you can.

As always, feel free to email me with any questions you might have, and I look forward to seeing you in room 304 of the student center on November 2!

FYI for everyone: come see Marshall Poe’s lecture on Thursday, 7 pm, in 201 Pray-Harrold Hall. His talk, titled “Wikipedia: Academia’s Friend or Foe?” is the first of a four part series of lectures titled “Wikipedia: The Democratization of Knowledge or the Triumph of Amateurs?” that will take place in the winter 2008 term. Marshall T. Poe, who is the 2007-2008 McAndless Scholar in the College of Arts and Sciences, is one of the leading scholars in the world of early and medieval Russian history. He has fervently encouraged the increase of online materials in Russian history (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Poe) and he has increasingly turned his attention to the use and abuse of the internet as a scholarly tool. His recent articles in The Atlantic Monthly describe the tremendously popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia (see “The Hive”), and he has a book coming out titled WikiWorld: The Globalization of Knowledge in the 21st Century.

From the office of Career Services here at EMU comes information about the Nonprofit Volunteer Career Fair, which will be held Wednesday, September 26 is our annual Nonprofit Volunteer Career Fair. It will be held from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. outside the Student Center on the patio (rain location is the ballroom). See more details below.
[Read more →]

From the New York Times comes this article, “Young Workers: U Nd 2 Improve Ur Writing Skills.” Here’s a quote from the short article:

In a survey of 100 human resources executives, only 5 percent said that recent college graduates lacked computer or technology skills, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the outplacement firm.

The problem now is more basic. Nearly half the executives said that entry-level workers lacked writing skills, and 27 percent said that they were deficient in critical thinking.

There’s no question that technological skills and writing skills go together. On the other hand, there’s also no question that the same writing skills you use for IM-ing or cell phone text messaging are not the same as the ones you use in the office.

The RSA is one of the great conferences in composition and rhetoric, and it is always welcoming of graduate student proposals. See the information below.

[Read more →]