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GRAHAM CENTRE HOME
D.K.
Seaman Chair in Communication
COURSE
& PROGRAM INFORMATION FOR UNDERGRADUATES
COURSE & PROGRAM
INFORMATION
FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS
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and
Communication News
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Rhetoric Hall of Fame
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of Recent Talks
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& Communication Links
Send
a message to:
Dr. Jennifer MacLennan, D.K.
Seaman Chair in Professional and Technical Communication and
Academic Director of the Graham Centre
Burton Urquhart, Instructor and
Program Administrator for the Graham Centre
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Graduate Study in
Rhetoric
(currently
a Special Case Programme)
This
page is not intended to outline general policies or procedures
for the College of Graduate Studies and Research. For
general
information on graduate admission, please consult the GSR Web Site.
CONTENTS
Can I do a Graduate Degree in Rhetoric
with Dr. MacLennan? top
The short answer is yes. But for now, because I am the only
graduate faculty member in the Graham Centre, and because my
resources are so scarce, I simply can't take on everyone who is
interested in studying rhetoric at the graduate level. There are thus two important principles
you must understand before you decide to pursue this option.
- Students who are interested in pursuing a Special Case
degree in communication and rhetoric need to have, or be
prepared to acquire, sufficient
background
to support thesis work in the discipline. An interest in language,
persuasion, or communication,
or courses in other disciplines (English, political studies, sociology,
etc) are not enough
by themselves. Unless
you have studied rhetoric extensively in
your undergraduate degree, embarking on a graduate
programme
will mean taking some qualifying
courses and doing extensive reading beforehand. Every one of my current
and former graduate students has
done this.
- Because of the nature of my situation as a single faculty
member with no formal departmental or programme structure, and because
the Special Case route requires such a close working relationship
between
supervisor and students, I cannot take
on students whom I have not previously taught or whose work I do not
know. Unless my circumstances change, there can be no
exceptions to this rule.
How Does Someone
Qualify for Graduate Studies in Rhetoric at U of S? top
Typically, students in Special Case programmes work with
a faculty
supervisor who is already familiar with their work. Because of the
nature
of the programme and the intensiveness of the experience, it's
imperative
that you and your faculty supervisor are familiar and comfortable with
each
other before your programme begins. In practical terms, this means that
you
will normally have taken at least one, and preferably more than one,
course
with the person before. This is something that I strongly
recommend
as a general principle, and that I certainly adhere to in working with
my
own students. In short, before
you can be considered for graduate study in rhetoric, you must take at
least one course at the graduate or senior undergraduate level with
your proposed supervisor -- me.
For students interested in rhetoric and communication, I
take
an active part in helping to develop the project plan and working
bibliography.
Before agreeing to supervise anyone's thesis project, I require that
students have sufficient background in rhetoric to enable them to
undertake a
thesis
using rhetorical methods and techniques. top
From the university's point of view, the Special Case Programme
(through
which my students are registered) is open to any
qualified
student who meets the criteria for entry into a regular graduate
programme
at the University of Saskatchewan, provided that:
- the student has identified an
academic
supervisor who is both qualified and willing to supervise the work;
- the student has identified, and
consulted
with, faculty who agree to serve on the supervisory committee;
- the proposed project is not one
that could be carried out within an existing graduate programme.
I can't emphasize strongly
enough that rhetoric is a whole separate
discipline, with its own theory, its own traditions, and its own
disciplinary
expectations. These are NOT the same as what you might have
encountered in studies in English lit, sociology, psychology, commerce,
or
other fields. To start graduate study without fully understanding the
foundations
of the discipline in which you hope to write a thesis would be a
mistake. top
How the Special Case
Programme Works
Students interested in a Special Case programme must
first
develop a research project idea, and identify a faculty member who is
both
willing and qualified to supervise the work. The project plan needs to
be specific and detailed, not just a hazy notion that you'd like to
study "some aspect of communication." Before approaching a
faculty member, you should have identified a specific object of study
and research question.
Because you will need to
cooperation
and support of your supervisor before you even apply to the programme,
it
is essential to meet with that person first to thoroughly discuss your
project
ideas and proposed course of study. After this discussion with the
faculty
member, and with that person's approval, the student normally
consults the College of Graduate Studies and Research to discuss the
procedures for
application
and acceptance. Once that meeting has taken place, the development of a
detailed
programme plan -- including identifying the supervisory committee --
comes
next. top
At the time of application to Special Case option,
you will be expected to provide a detailed project proposal and
rationale
for the thesis, along with a methodological framework and working
bibliography.
The proposal must be accompanied by an outline of the proposed
programme,
including the intended coursework and timelines for completion.
In addition, you must identify and work with someone who is
willing
to serve as faculty supervisor and who must write a letter of support
for
your application. You must also identify and obtain the signatures of a
group
of faculty who are willing to serve as members of the supervisory
committee.
Outlines for any proposed special courses must be provided with the
initial submission. As well, the application must include other
standard elements,
such as transcripts and letters of recommendation. This entire
submission
is developed in consultation with the faculty
supervisor. Guidelines for the proposal can be found in the
document Guidelines for Special Case Admissions (Form GSR 405).
top
Rhetoric
and Communication in the Special Case
Graduate Programme: Day-to-day Challenges
As I have outlined elsewhere
on my site, graduate study of any kind is much more demanding than
undergraduate
degree programmes. The primary distinction between them is in the
amount of
structure and the independent initiative that is required. This
principles
holds double for independent programmes: just as any graduate programme
is
much more difficult than an undergraduate degree, so the
Special Case graduate programme is much harder than a
conventional
graduate programme, both to get into and to get through. There
are
several reasons for this:
- The Special Case
option requires much more self-motivation and discipline even
than a
regular graduate degree, as well as a sufficient understanding of the
discipline to conduct graduate level research and analysis. Read that
again: I did say more motivation and
discipline.
- Some students are attracted to
the
idea of doing a degree through Special Case because they mistakenly
imagine
that
it will be easier than a conventional programme. In fact, the opposite
is
true. By contrast with a "normal" graduate degree, in the
special case graduate route, you have to invent your own programme
of
study -- not just the thesis or dissertation project, but the entire
thing,
including course work. As exciting as this can be, it contains all
kinds
of pitfalls that an established programme doesn't. An existing
programme
is actually easier both on you as a student and on the professor you'll
be
working with because there's a set path with all the obstacles and
challenges
worked out in advance. There are also plenty of graduate course
options
already in place for you to choose from.
- In Special Case, the
faculty supervisor has way more direct influence
over
your programme on a day-to-day basis, so it's even more critical than
usual
to have a supervisor with whom you can comfortably work, and who will
take
an active interest in guiding and supporting your progress. This issue
is
important for all grad students, but it's even more important for
independent
programmes, where there's no department or other faculty structure to
help
you along should the supervisory relationship break down. (For this
reason,
too, faculty will tend to be more cautious about who they take on as
students). top
- The biggest challenge is that,
even
more than in a conventional programme, you're responsible for your own
motivation
on a daily basis. It's a lonely, difficult road -- and it is so even if
grad
study in the field is the only thing you've ever wanted to do. In a
conventional
programme, there are other students going through the same experience,
and
you can turn to them for understanding and support.
- A student in a "regular"
university
programme has the advantage of affiliation with a department that
provides
structure, courses, and faculty to supervise the proposed thesis. Since
Special Case programmes are typically offered in departments with no
existing graduate programme, a
student
in Special Case has no automatic or guaranteed access
to departmental resources (such as offices, secretarial support,
scholarship
money, or teaching opportunities) and mechanisms (for example, a
departmental
Graduate Programme Chair or procedures for committee meetings).
The Graham Centre provides a spiritual and disciplinary home, but at
the moment does not have formal approval to provide the administrative
home for my students.
- Because I am so far the only
graduate faculty member in the Graham Centre, there are as yet few
regular course
offerings
suitable for graduate students interested in communication, except for
those
that I am able to offer. This means that individualized reading courses
(898)
must be created by willing faculty in appropriate disciplines. Since
the
faculty who take these on do not receive remuneration, you as a student
must
be prepared to be creative in uncovering faculty who might be willing
to
offer relevant courses, and you must be prepared to be persuasive in
convincing them to do so.
- Since there has been no
department of
communication
here, and so few opportunities to study rhetoric anywhere in Canada,
most
of my students come to their graduate degrees without sufficient
coursework
in rhetoric. All of them, without exception, have taken extra courses
in
the subject before beginning their formal programs of study. I
recommend
this for several reasons, one of which is that it will give us a chance
to
get to know each other and to decide whether we want to extend the
working
relationship into a graduate programme. For all the reasons outlined
above,
this is a critical requirement.
Administrative
Challenges
for Rhetorical Study at U. of S.
In addition to the challenges for the Special Case graduate
student, at the moment there are also significant difficulties for me
as D.K.
Seaman
Chair and Academic Director of the Graham Centre. The first is that,
for the time being at least, there is no administrative or staff
support for developing or
administering
programming. Read that again: NO staff support -- no secretary, no
administrative
assistant, no formal departmental structure. This means that details of
a
student's
programme that would normally be handled by a department's Graduate
Programme
Chair and associated apparatus must be dealt with personally by me.
I
am including here not only administrative details, but secretarial
demands
too.top
As well, the fact that there is no existing programme in
communication
as such at the U of S presents other challenges in addition to the
absence of administrative or secretarial support. For instance, there
is no budget
for graduate programming, and at the moment there are no other faculty
to take on
responsibility for course development, teaching, graduate student
supervision, etc. This means that I must develop and offer new graduate
course offerings on a regular basis to support my students' programmes,
no matter what the demands of my regular workload. In addition, without
a formal department there is also no budget for graduate student
support,
apart from what I can personally earn or donate.
What this means is that my resources are limited compared to the
resources available through an existing department. top
As well, there's the course work challenge. Even if I wanted
to,
I can't always offer regular courses in rhetoric, since there is a
limit to
what one person can do, and my plate is already very full with a whole
range
of other duties not normally required of faculty (consulting,
administrative
responsibilities, and curricular development). Even if I could
offer a full slate of graduate courses in communication and rhetoric
(and
I do my best), there are also limits imposed by the graduate school on
how many courses any one student can take from one faculty member as
part of
the student's programme. In spite of these limitations, I do regularly
offer
graduate seminars specifically designed to support my students'
programmes;
to date I have offered at least one (and frequently more than one)
graduate
seminar each year. Translated into concrete terms, this means that I
have
been creating at least one brand new course every year, and sometimes a
new
one in each term.
To get an idea how onerous this is, ask any other faculty
members how many brand new courses they typically offer in a five-year
period. Most will tell you that one or two new courses over any
five-year period is a lot. Consider that in that span of time, I
typically offer
between five and ten brand new courses; for instance, in 2006-2007
academic year, I will have piloted three
new courses, with a like
number to follow in 2007-2008.
Finally, the Graham Centre is still in its infancy. The
phase-in of all of our offerings is expected to happen in the next
three to five years. In that time, I must develop all the curriculum
and programming for three new degree options, supervise and train new
faculty, and continue with a full teaching load.
Potential
Rewards
Okay, so those are some of the obstacles, and they are considerable.
During
the thesis-writing stage, my graduate students might be inclined to say
that
if they'd known how difficult this was going to be they would not have
embarked
on a Special Case programme in the first place.
However,
as you can guess, there must be some rewards involved as well, else why
would
anyone opt to do this? One answer is that they have no way of knowing
before
they start what exactly they're getting themselves into. But
complications
aside, I think the rewards are as follows:
- A chance to develop your own
programme
of study (within the limits of the kinds of courses that are available
-- or can be made available -- at the U of S), and
hence
work on a research question that really interests you in an exciting
and
fascinating field of study.
- Regular access to a demanding
but
supportive supervisor. I take my role as a graduate supervisor very
seriously,
and I
make myself very available to my students for guidance, support, and
help. I meet with each of my graduate students on a weekly basis during
the writing of the thesis. You won't get away with anything, and you
will
work
hard, but at the end you'll have a rigorous thesis or project that you
can
be proud of.
- A circle of committed and
supportive
"rhetoric heads" as colleagues. Although we don't yet have a formal
programme
or an actual department, we are a close-knit, supportive group
usually numbering between four and seven graduate students plus the
very dedicated instructors in the Graham Centre.
- Teaching experience. The college
offers
a required course in Oral and Written Communication for engineering
undergraduates,
which graduate students in rhetoric and communication have
opportunities
to teach. Although the hiring of sessional instructors is
union-controlled,
with preference given to those with Right of First Refusal status, some
sections each year are set aside for rhetoric
and communication grad students, as required by their programmes of
study.
- Conference participation. My
policy
is to ensure that my graduate students (and, on occasion, qualified
senior
undergraduate
students) have opportunities to present original papers at annual
conferences
in rhetoric and communication. Details of previous presentations can be
found
on my Hall
of Fame page on this site.
- Conversations, camaradarie,
movie nights,
dinners,
and book buying excursions, the infamous Book List, and more.
top
My
Expectations
Judging from the number of regular enquiries I receive, it sometimes
seems
as though everyone is fascinated by communication and would like to
study
in the field. Given my resource limitations, I simply can't take on
everyone
who
approaches me about graduate study. To help you assess whether you
would like
to study with me, here are the things I expect of my graduate students:
- An
established professional relationship. All good graduate
supervisor-student relationships are mentoring relationships, which
means they are intense and very personal. The Special Case structure is
even
more so, since you apply not to an existing programme, but to study
with me personally. In fact,
the Special Case application process requires that I vouch for your
abilities before you enter the programme, something I cannot do if I do
not know you. As I have emphasized
throughout this document, I cannot take on graduate students whose
academic capabilities are unknown to me. If you want to study rhetoric
with me at the graduate level, it's
imperative that you take some of my courses before you begin.
- Formal background in
rhetoric. A fascination with language, semantics, culture, and the
politics
of influence is helpful, but by itself it is not enough. If you plan to
write
a thesis in rhetoric you will need formal background in the theory and
critical
practices of the discipline. The best thing you can do if you haven't
studied
rhetoric before is to take as many classes as you can in rhetoric,
beginning
with GE
400
-- Rhetoric: The Theory and Practice of Persuasion. This course
will
not only acquaint you with the basic concepts of rhetoric, but it will
also give us a chance to establish contact. Since students in
Special Case programmes generally work with
professors who know their work,
taking a course also provides both of us the chance to assess whether
we
would like to work together over a longer term. As well, if I know you
and
your work I can better advise you on doing graduate study and assist
you
in setting up a workable programme. top
- Solid writing ability.
This
is an absolute, non-negotiable requirement. If you can't spell, don't
know
a noun from a verb, or can't construct a grammatically complete
sentence,
you will need to improve your skills before you think about
graduate
school in any field, and this is especially true in a
language-focused
discipline like rhetoric. Writing a thesis in this field requires
advanced
writing skills, and graduate school is not the place to learn the
basics of
writing. Do not expect to get in if you can't write effectively,
clearly,
idiomatically, and grammatically, or if you can't develop a coherent
argument. If your writing
needs improvement, take care of this first.
- Good work habits and lots of
self-discipline. You'll
be
doing more work than you've ever dreamed possible, and you'll still
want
to have time for some kind of life. Good time management skills and an
ability
to "multi-task" are essential. To some extent you'll refine these
skills in
grad school, but if you are unable to manage multiple
demands when you enter the programme,
chances are you won't make it through. Even if your undergraduate
grades were good,
there are no guarantees, since undergraduate success isn't a
particularly
reliable
predictor of success in grad school. If it were, there wouldn't be so
many
unfinished MA and PhD degrees around (and there are plenty of those --
as many as half those who embark on a PhD never finish the degree).
You need
to be highly disciplined, determined, and willing to put aside
other interests
for the sake of your graduate degree. You also need to be
prepared
to write several drafts -- sometimes as many as fifty (yes, I did
say
fifty) -- of every paper. Many graduate students do poorly, or
even fail, because they continue to rely on the last-minute strategies
that worked in undergraduate courses. No matter how smart or how well
read or how good a writer you are, the depth of analysis and
understanding required by graduate level papers cannot be achieved in
one or two drafts thrown together at the last minute. You need lots of
self-discipline and a willingness to work on your thesis for several
hours every day. top
- Reading skills. You will
be
reading a lot of material in a relatively short time, much of
it very
challenging. You need an ability to read actively and intelligently,
with
engaged attention. I won't expect you to "get" all of the readings on
the
first time through, but I will expect you to try all of the material
and to
ask informed questions about difficult texts. You will need to read for
nuance and subtlety, and you will also need to be
adept
at synthesizing what you read. top
- Commitment. Graduate
study
in any context requires an extraordinary level of self-motivation. It
is not
a fall-back position or something to take if you can't decide what you
want
to do with your life. If you can't seem to complete projects or get
focused
on your work, graduate school of any kind may not be for you. Certainly
a
graduate programme through the Special Case option would be utterly
impossible. I expect you to meet your deadlines, complete all
your tasks,
keep your word, and come to see me immediately if you run into
difficulties
in any aspect of your programme. I can't support you or help
you
out of difficulties if you don't keep me advised of events or issues in
your
work or your life that might interfere with your progress toward the
graduate
degree. top
- Stick-to-it-iveness.
Winston
Churchill could have been talking about graduate school when he said
"When
you're going through Hell, keep on going." Whether you're working on an
MA
or a PhD, you'll be living with your project for longer than you've
likely
ever worked on any single task (unless you have already published a
book prior
to entering graduate school). You can expect to be heartily sick of
your
topic before you're through the thesis or dissertation; you can expect
that
everyone else's thesis topic will come to seem more interesting than
yours;
you can expect to find yourself unable to stomach another day of
looking at
or thinking about the same horrible thing. But you will have to
have the persistence to keep on working, no matter what,
and the perseverence to keep going even when you feel
that
you can't take another step. top
I am currently developing a more formal set of requirements that I will
make
available for those who are interested in studying rhetoric with me.
Because
of space, resource, and logistical limitations, I can take only a
limited
number of students, and I am hopeful that this procedure will help us
both
to figure out whether working together would be the best thing for us.
Stay
tuned for this addition, coming as soon as I can manage it.
Best of luck in your search for a graduate programme. If I can be of
help,
please e-mail me.
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