Tech writing degrees

[Samuel Elswick <selswick -at- MINDSPRING -dot- COM>]

This post in in response to the various opinions regarding the necessity
of a technical writing degree.

I believe that a technical writing degree is extremely valuable to
learning the basic techniques for presenting technical information to a
variety of audiences. Audience analyis, the use of graphics, etc. are
skills that are not frequently acquired in traditional writing courses,
and are necessities in the TC field. But, having said that, I must also
say that having a tech writing degree does not in and of itself make
anyone a good tech writer.

I have always been a strong proponent of the liberal arts and the
Humanities. I have a dregree in English, and a degree in History, but I
also took enough courses to give me a concentration in Technical and
Scientific Communication. My English and History courses are what gave
me my education, my analytical skills, my writing skills, and my
research skills. My TC courses gave me the tools and methodology
required to use those skills in a real-world business environment. Both
are neccessities.

Based on my knowledge of two of my fellow employees who do not have a
similar academic background, being a *good* technical writer is
difficult without having a foundation in basic critical thinking skills
and technical writing principles. The two co-workers I speak of have
either Associates degrees in an unreleated field, or no education
outside of high school. These individuals are adequate technical
writers, because they have picked up a few basic skills through
real-world experiences, but they lack the academic and methodological
foundations necessary for completing difficult writing projects.

In short, I would say that a technical writing degree is a definite plus
in the work place, but the skills acquired through studies in the
Humanities are just as essential. I know writers with wide ranging
backgrounds, and the best ones are the ones that have had an academic
foundation in writing (TC or otherwise) *and* have acquired analyitcal
and critical thinking skills, either through education or job training.

Also, it should be noted that all TC curriculums are far from being
equal. Many degree programs are little more than Writing 101 with a
technological slant. The best curriculums are those that provide
training in both theory and application; including courses in writing
principles, rhetoric, TC methodology and theory, on-line documentation,
and the graphic arts. Few curriculums are successful in provding such a
multi-faceted TC education; the one that I am most familiar with is at
James Madison University in Harrionburg, VA. This program is only two
years old, but has received acclaim as the only one of its kind in the
Mid-Atlantic region, perhaps even on the East Coast. It is
multi-disciplinary in its approach and includes a wide range of courses
from web design theory, to graphic arts, to ROBOhelp, to TC pedagogy, to
rhetorical theory, to English style and grammer, to basic editing
techniques. This is the kind of education that will be most useful to a
tech writer.

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