To address graduate writing pedagogy in technical communication, this article reports on a study of 14 award-winning dissertations in the field. By treating dissertations as cultural artifacts constitutive of the educational contexts in which they are authored, this study reads dissertation methodology sections as research narratives to understand how we prepare new scholars and to examine the changing nature of what we value in the field.
BowenW. G.RudenstineN. L. (1992) In pursuit of the PhD, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
2.
Brooks-GilliesM.GarciaE. G.KimS. H.MantheyK.SmithT. (2015) Graduate writing across the disciplines, introduction [Special issue on graduate writing across the disciplines]. Across the Disciplines12(3): n.pg.Retrieved from http://wac.colostate.edu/atd/graduate_wac/intro.cfm.
3.
BuntonD. (1999) The use of higher level metatext in PhD theses. English for Specific Purposes18: 41–56.
4.
ChengX.SteffensenM. S. (1996) Metadiscourse: A technique for improving student writing. Research in the Teaching of English30(2): 149–181.
5.
Enoch, J., & Gold, D. (2013). Seizing the methodological moment: The digital humanities and historiography in rhetoric and composition. College English, 76(2), 105–114.
6.
GilesS. (2010) Reflective writing and the revision process: What were you thinking? In: LoweC.ZemlianskyP. (eds) Writing spaces: Readings on writingVol. 1, Anderson, SC: Parlor Press, pp. 191–204.
7.
Giltrow, J. (2003). System, self, and linguistic consciousness. In C. Bazerman & D. Russell (Eds.), Writing selves/writing societies. Retrieved from http://wac.colostate.edu/books/selves_societies/ C.
8.
GoldeC. M.DoreT. M. (2004) The survey of doctoral education and career preparation: The importance of disciplinary contexts. In: WulffD. H.AustinA. E. (eds) Path to the professoriate: Strategies for enriching the preparation of future faculty, San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, pp. 19–45.
9.
GrahamS. S.KimS. Y.DeVastoD. M.KeithW. (2015) Statistical genre analysis: Toward big data methodologies in technical communication. Technical Communication Quarterly24(1): 70–104. doi:10.1080/10572252.2015.975955.
10.
Hesse-Biber, S. N., & Leavy, P. L. (2010). The practice of qualitative research, 2nd Ed. Sage Publications, Inc.
LippincottJ. K.LynchC. A. (2010) ETDS and graduate education: Programs and prospects. Research Library Issues270: 6–15.
13.
McNelyB.SpinuzziC.TestonC. (2015) Contemporary research methodologies in technical communication. Technical Communication Quarterly24(1): 1–13. doi:10.1080/10572252.2015.975958.
14.
MiccicheL. R.CarrA. D. (2011) Toward graduate-level writing instruction. College Composition and Communication62(3): 477–501.
15.
MillerC. (1984) Genre as social action. Quarterly Journal of Speech70: 151–167.
16.
MillerC. (1994) Rhetorical community: The cultural basis of genre. In: FreedmanA.MedwayP. (eds) Genre and the new rhetoric, London, England: Taylor and Francis, pp. 67–78.
NickosonL.SheridanM. P.KirschG. E. (2012) Writing studies research in practice, Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.
19.
PaltridgeB. (2002) Thesis and dissertation writing: An examination of published advice and actual practice. English for Specific Purposes21: 125–143.
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PantelidesK. (2015) Dissertation genre change as a result of electronic theses and dissertation programs [Special issue on graduate writing across the disciplines]. Across the Disciplines12(3): n.pg.Retrieved from http://wac.colostate.edu/atd/graduate_wac/pantelides2015.cfm.
21.
ParéA. (2010) Making sense of supervision: Deciphering feedback. In: ThomsonP.WalkerM. (eds) The Routledge doctoral student’s companion: Getting to grips with research in education and the social sciences, London, England: Routledge, pp. 107–115.
22.
ParéA. (2011) Speaking of writing: Supervisory feedback and the dissertation. In: McAlpineL.AmundsenC. (eds) Doctoral education: Research-based strategies for doctoral students, supervisors and administrators, Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer, pp. 59–74.
23.
Pare, A. (2014). Rhetorical genre theory and academic literacy. Journal of Academic Language and Learning, 8(1), A83–A94.
24.
ParéA.Starke-MeyerringD.McAlpineL. (2009) The dissertation as multi-genre: Many readers, many readings. In: BazermanC.BoniniA.FigueiredoD. (eds) Genre in a changing world, Fort Collins, CO: The WAC Clearinghouse and Parlor Press, pp. 179–193. Retrieved from http://wac.colostate.edu/books/genre/.
25.
RicklyR. (2012) Making sense of making knowledge. College Composition and Communication64(1): 224–237.
26.
RoseM.McClaffertyK. A. (2001) A call for the teaching of writing in graduate education. Educational Researcher30(2): 27–33.
27.
SaleeM.HallettR.TierneyW. (2011) Teaching writing in graduate school. College Teaching59: 66–72.
28.
SelberS. (2004) The CCCC outstanding dissertation in technical communication: A retrospective analysis. Technical Communication Quarterly13(2): 139–155.
29.
Starke-MeyerringD.ParéA.SunK. Y.El-BezreN. (2014) Probing normalized institutional discourses about writing: The case of the doctoral thesis. Journal of Academic Language and Learning8(2): A13–A27.
30.
Swales, J. (2004). Research genres: Exploration and application. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
31.
ThayerA.EvansM.McBrideA. A.QueenM.SpyridakisJ. (2007) Content analysis as a best practice in technical communication research. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication37(3): 267–279.
