RHET/COMP

Information for Graduate Students

Statement of Purpose | Conference Proposals | Ph.D. Comprehensive Exams
Job Market Information | Statement of Teaching Philosophy | Sample Job Documents
Professional Organizations & Resources | Other Rhet/Comp Programs
Print Resources | (Unsolicited) Advice

Graduate School Statement of Purpose

• Graff, Gerald & Andrew Hoberek. "Hiding it from the Kids." College English. 62.2 (Nov. 1999): 242-254. (Available via campus connection to JSTOR)

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Conference Proposals

• Faber, Brenton. "Rhetoric in Competition: The Formation of Organizational Discourse in Conference on College Composition and Communication Abstracts." Written Communication. 13.3 (July 1996) 355-384. (Available through campus connection to OhioLink Journals.)
• Suggestions from WPA-L on how CCCC proposals are read. (Requires Case ID)
• Sample Individual Paper & Panel proposals.

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Ph.D. Comprehensive Exams

See also: Professional Organizations & Resources below.

• CompFAQ - Reading Lists
• English Language & Rhetoric - University of Washington (Ph.D. Exam lists)
• Rebecca Moore Howard's Bibliographies (Syracuse University)

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Job Market

See also: (Unsolicted) Advice below.

• "9 Interviews" (for a lighter look at the MLA interview & some useful links)
• Baron, Dennis. "The Hiring Season." Chronicle of Higher Education. 9 Nov. 2001.
• ---. "To Whom It May Concern: Reading Job Applications." Chronicle of Higher Education. 21 Dec. 2001.
• ---. "The Job Interview." Chronicle of Higher Education. 21 Jan. 2002.
• ---. "The Hiring Season: Completing the Cycle." Chronicle of Higher Education. 31 May 2002.
• Burmester, Beth. "The Economics of Completing the Dissertation and Getting a Job: Actual Expenses and Economic Considerations Relating to a National Academic Job Search and the Final Year of Dissertation Writing." Lore. Spring 2004.
• Highberg, Nels P. "Step by Step, Application by Application, It Can Happen to You." Lore. Spring 2004.
• Miller, Scott L., Brenda Jo Brueggemann, Bennis Blue, and Deneen M. Shepherd. "Present Perfect and Future Imperfect: Results of a National Survey of Graduate Students in Rhetoric and Composition Programs." College Composition and Communication. 48.3 (Oct. 1997): 392-409. (Available via campus connection to JSTOR)
• MLA. "Career and Job Market Information." (Various PDF files with analyses of recent job market information.)
• ---. "Information and Guidelines for Job Seekers." (Various articles and resources.)
• Moneyhun, Clyde. "All Dressed up and OTM: One ABD's View of the Profession." Rhetoric Review. 12.2 (Spring 1994): 406-412. (Available via campus connection to JSTOR)
• ---. "Still Dressed up but OTJ: Beyond the Quest for Perfection in the Rhet/Comp Industry." College Composition and Communication. 50.1 (Sept. 1998): 91-95. (Available via campus connection to JSTOR)
• Queen, Robin, and Anne Curzan. "In the Professions: Perspectives on the Academic Job Market." Journal of English Linguistics. 35.4 (Dec. 2005): 374-377. (Requires campus connection to SAGE publications.)
• Rude, Carolyn. "The Academic Job Market in Technical Communication, 2002-2003." Technical Communication Quarterly. 13.1 (2004): 49-71. (Available via campus connection to EJC)
• Stygall, Gail. "At the Century's End: The Job Market in Rhetoric and Composition." Rhetoric Review. 18.2 (Spring 2000): 375-389. (Available via campus connection to JSTOR)
• Thomas, Trudelle. "Demystifying the Job Search: A Guide for Candidates." College Composition and Communication. 40.3 (Oct. 1989): 312-327. (Available via campus connection to JSTOR)
• University of Washington. "Information for the MLA Job Seeker." (Requires Case ID)

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Statement of Teaching Philosophy

• > Iowa State University - "Writing a Teaching Philosophy Statement"
• > Ohio State University - "Writing a Teaching Philosophy Statement"
• > LORE: Teaching Philosophies (various resources)
• > Montell, Gabriela. "How to Write a Statement of Teaching Philosophy." The Chronicle of Higher Education. 27 Mar. 2003.
• > 2 Teaching Philosophies (Emmons & Stafford; Requires Case ID)

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Sample Job Documents

NOTE: These materials require a Case-ID and password for access. The following examples are "real world" documents contributed by our very own graduates, and they are provided on the condition that you share-and-share-alike. After you've completed your own job search, please contribute your job documents (by sending them to kimberly.emmons@case.edu) to share with your colleagues. Thank you.

• > Maria Assif (Lecturer of English, University of Toronto, 2008) - Job Letter, Curriculum Vitae.
• > Brian Ballentine (Assistant Prof., West Virginia University, 2007) - Job Letter, Curriculum Vitae, Teaching Philosophy.
• > Darcy Brandel (Assistant Prof., Marygrove College, 2006) - Job Letter, Curriculum Vitae, Teaching Philosophy.
• > Gabriel Rieger (Assistant Prof., Concord University, 2008) - Job letter, Curriculum Vitae.

In our recent (2007) job search, we are seeing a lot of websites supplementing applications. This appears to be the norm among tech-savvy applicants, and it offers you a chance to collect materials and present yourself to the hiring world more fully than with traditional paper-based materials. Consider browsing other Ph.D.-granting programs for recent (and soon-to-be) graduates for additional sample job documents. For example, the Center for Writing Studies at UIUC.

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Professional Organizations & Resources

• Bedford Bibliography for Teachers of Writing and Teachers of Basic Writing
• Canadian Association for the Study of Language and Learning (CASLL)
• CompPile (database and FAQ wiki)
• Council of Writing Program Administrators
• Doctoral Consortium in Rhetoric & Composition
• International Writing Centers Association
• National Conversation on Writing
• National Research Center for the First-Year Experience
• Rebecca Moore Howard's Bibliographies (Syracuse University)
• Rhetcomp.com
• Rhetoric & Composition e-server
• Teaching Composition (a faculty listserv & archive)
• Writing Across the Curriculum Clearinghouse
• Writing Center Research Project (University of Louisville)
• Writing Program Adminstrators' Listserv (WPA-L)

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Other Rhet/Comp Graduate Programs

• Doctoral Consortium in Rhetoric & Composition
• English Language & Rhetoric - University of Washington

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Print Resources

Barr-Ebest, Sally. "Gender differences in writing program administration" in Writing Program Administration 18.3 [1995] 53-73. (For a sobering look at the inequities along gender lines.)

Enos, Theresa, Ed. Encyclopedia of Rhetoric and Composition. New York: Garland, 1996. (Available in KSL: PN172.E53 1996)

CCC Bibliography of Composition and Rhetoric, 1987-1990. (Available in KSL: Ref Z5818.E5C44)

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(Unsolicted) Advice

"Academic Careers: Faculty Positions." Career Development Center, Brown University.

"The Academic Job Interview." Compiled by Nanda Dimitrov, Ph.D (University of Western Ontario)

Elliott, Michael. "The Unofficial Guide to the Academic Job Search in English." (Emory University)

English Graduate Committee (Case Western) - Teaching Presentation Advice. (Requires Case ID)

"Interviewing & the Job Talk." Various resources from the University of Michigan Career Center.

"Job Search Advice." Compiled wisdom from the WPA-L and Rhet/Comp Community.

Ms. Mentor, always smart, always timely, offers her advice to women academics in the pages of the Chronicle.

Smith, Philip E. "Negotiating a Job Offer." ADE Bulletin. 118 (1997).

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