Re: Re[2]: Master's Degree

[Kimberly Ferri Cakebread <kim -at- ASPECTDV -dot- COM>]

There's always the alternative of an MS.  The MS I earned in Technical
Communication provided both theoretical and practical background in
technical writing.  I consider it an excellent preparation for the real
world of technical writing.  The entire orientation was towards what we
would encounter as technical writers.  Some of the courses were taught be
consultants and writers who still earned their daily bread out in the
field.  I also consider it a degree in professional writing.  No one
completed the program without getting real experience with a real company
doing real technical writing.

Kimberly Ferri Cakebread
kim -at- aspectdv -dot- com

At 01:30 PM 7/10/97 CST, you wrote:
>     Alex and all,
>
>     Note that it is a "degree in professional writing" and not a
>     "professional degree in writing".  There's a big difference.
>
>     A MA is not a professional degree.  It is a liberal arts degree
>     indicating that the student is knowledgeable in the arts, and
>     particularly in the art of professional writing.  Someone with
>     an MA probably has a good idea of the theories involved in writing--
>     e.g. minimalism vs. comprehensiveness or E+.  The person most likely
>     has a solid grounding in critical approaches to the problems in-
>     volved in writing (this is what those lit classes are for).  And
>     the person should know her way around a library and how to verify
>     and properly document information sources (that's what that research
>     methods class is for). No MA course is about what we do every day in
>     the office.  It's the study of an art.
>
>     Of course, the next level is a PhD--that is, a doctorate in the
>     Philosophy of writing.  This does not indicate a good writer but
>     someone who knows a boatload about writing.  In obtaining such a
>     degree the student at some point must analyze a fair bit of writing.
>     We can only hope that some of this is analysis lends to her
>     development as a writer herself.
>
>     If you want a professional degree, go to DeVry or ITT Tech.  They'll
>     show you haw to use tools.  If you really want to understand the
>     wherefores of professional writing--beyond the narrow scope of
>     whatever job you may already have--then enter an MA program.
>
>     Cheers,
>     Matthew Flynn
>     Technical Writer
>     Deloitte & Touche Tax Technologies LLC
>
>
>______________________________ Reply Separator
_________________________________
>Subject: Re: Master's Degree
>Author:  Alex Ragen <alex -at- CHECKPOINT -dot- COM> at Internet-USA
>Date:    7/10/97 10:19 AM
>
>
>TWs --
>Now I'm really confused. Pete Kloppenburg wrote:
>"I believe anybody who takes an MA in professional writing with an eye to a
>job down the road is wasting their time and money.  Do it because you want
>to, because you are interested, because you enjoy school. "
>
>Being as I am a straw chewing hayseed from the backwoods, I innocently
thought
>that the word "professional" distinguishes those who get paid for what they
>do from those who don't. So ... if a degree in "Professional Writing" doesn't
>prepare a person for making a living at writing, what does it prepare a
>person for? And if the program doesn't teach "project planning,
>HTML coding, online help development, printing," then what exactly is it
>preparing the student for? Could it be - perish the thought - that
>universities don't actually prepare students for life in the real world,
>but only for life in the university? Where are professional writers
>supposed to learn the craft? In Left Bank cafes?
>
>If professional writing programs are anything like creative writing
>programs, then User Guides would be cryptic, useless and unorganized,
>conveying no real useful information at all, when in fact this is true only
>of Microsoft's books. So I conclude that most tech writers did not learn
>their stuff in professional writing programs, and I can only hope that this
>trend continues.
>--Alex
>===================================================
>Alex Ragen - Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.
>Home of FireWall-1 - the planet's leading FIREWALL
>alex -at- checkpoint -dot- com - http://www.checkpoint.com
>===================================================
>
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