Graduate students have access to a number of opportunities, resources, experiences, etc. on campus and beyond to encourage them to develop as professionals as they build their career pathways through their degree programs. This can include professional seminars, networking opportunities, workshops, and more. Furthermore, graduate students should think about what knowledge, skills, and dispositions they should be developing as they go through the program and seek input from graduate program leaders and faculty about how to achieve their goals. Our program regularly offers such opportunities.
Students may also find it helpful to view UCF’s Career Services and the College of Graduate Studies page for upcoming events and professional development opportunities
Department
At least once each term, Rhetoric & Composition faculty will lead professional development workshops for students in the program. Past topics have included mapping the field, writing annotated bibliographies and thesis proposals, and writing conference proposals. Upcoming topics will likely include situating your work in the field, developing your thesis project, and applying to PhD programs.
Students should also take advantage of the excellent composition workshops and research talks held each semester. Workshops will enable you to learn more about the teaching of writing and, if you are a GTA, network and share resources with other, more seasoned writing instructors in the department. The department’s Research Colloquium series features 2-3 pairs of research presentations each term, with each pair typically including a faculty member and an advanced graduate student (from the M.A. or Texts & Technology program). One purpose of this series is to provide M.A. students with examples of various types of research in the field, the scope of an M.A. thesis, and strategies for situating and presenting one’s research.
Social Media Engagement
Students can join a variety of social media groups, including listservs, LinkedIn, forums, Facebook groups, etc., or follow relevant practitioners, scholars, and organizations in the fields of rhetorical theory, professional and technical communication and composition studies on various platforms. Consider asking your faculty members for recommendations.
Finally, the program will encourage students to form a student chapter of the Rhetoric Society of America. Comprised of both graduate and advanced undergraduate students, other RSA student chapters have sponsored such activities as professionalization workshops, reading groups, and abstract writing groups.
University
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- Career Services offers help with evaluating career choices, applying to graduate schools, and refining your networking, interviewing, and presentation skills
- The Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning (FCTL) offers training and resources for Graduate Teaching Assistants, including the Teaching at UCF guide, teaching performance assessment, and the Preparing Tomorrow’s Faculty program
- The College of Graduate Studies offers a Pathways to Success program that includes workshops in academic integrity, grant writing, teaching, personal development, professional development, research, and other topics
- The UCF Institutional Review Board (IRB) offers education and training in research ethics, particularly for human subject research (e.g., research involving observations, interviews, surveys); this includes the CITI training that you should complete by the Spring of your second year
Field
Professional Organizations
All students in the program may consider becoming members of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC), a branch of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE); this membership includes subscriptions to the flagship journals College Composition and Communication (co-edited by our own Dr. Kara Taczak!) and College English. You can learn more about CCCC at ncte.org/cccc. Other memberships to consider, depending on your interests and career or graduate school plans, include the following:
- CCCC Research Network Forum
- RSA Summer Institute (biennial, in alternating years of RSA Conference)
- Ohio State’s Digital Media and Composition (DMAC) Institute
- Dartmouth College’s Institute for Writing & Rhetoric’s Summer Seminar for Composition Research
- Written Communication’s Methodology Resources
- Association of Teachers of Technical Writing (ATTW): attw.org/
- Coalition of Women Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition https://cfshrc.org/
- Council of Writing Program Administrators (WPA): wpacouncil.org/
- International Writing Centers Association (IWCA): writingcenters.org/
- Rhetoric Society of America (RSA): rhetoricsociety.org
Conferences and Travel Support
Attending one or more major rhet/comp conferences is an excellent way to learn more about the field and connect with others doing similar research. While conference presentations are not required for the MA degree, they are professionally valuable, and graduate students are encouraged to pursue them if possible. Your faculty members will likely mention conference opportunities in your classes, and you will receive email announcements about them from the program via the listserv as well.
Most professional organizations and conferences offer special rates for graduate students, and some (including the CCCC Convention and RSA) offer modest grants or scholarships to graduate students. Each year CCCC sponsors Scholars for the Dream Travel Awards to encourage scholarship by graduate students in historically underrepresented groups.
The College of Graduate Studies offers Presentation Fellowships to students who are presenting research at a professional conference. Information is available at graduate.ucf.edu/presentation-fellowship/. UCF graduate students presenting at a conference can also get funding from the Student Government Association (ucfsga.com/) and Graduate Studies (graduate.ucf.edu/), the latter of which offers some grants to support graduate travel.
The Department of Writing and Rhetoric may also be able to provide limited travel funds for MA students presenting at a rhetoric and composition conference. Reach out to the Program Director for more information.
The following are major conferences that cover a range of topics about writing, rhetoric, and literacy, several of which are affiliated with an organization mentioned above:
- Rhetoric Society of America (RSA): rhetoricsociety.org
- Association of Teachers of Technical Writing (ATTW): attw.org/
- Council of Writing Program Administrators (WPA): wpacouncil.org/
- International Writing Centers Association (IWCA): writingcenters.org/
- CCCC Convention: ncte.org/cccc/conv
- RSA Biennial Conference and RSA Summer Institute: rhetoricsociety.org/aws/RSA/pt/sp/conference
- Thomas R. Watson Conference (biennial): louisville.edu/conference/watson
- Computers and Writing: cccc.ncte.org/cccc/committees/7cs/candwcall
- Feminisms and Rhetorics: femrhets.cwshrc.org/
- ATTW: attw.org/attw-2018-conference-2/
- WPA: wpacouncil.org/wpa-conference
- Southeastern Writing Center Association: https://southeasternwritingcenter.wildapricot.org/
- South Atlantic Modern Language Association: https://southatlanticmla.org/
UCF Conferences and Competitions
- UCF Research Week: https://researchweek.ucf.edu/
- Knights Write Showcase Graduate Panel: https://cah.ucf.edu/writingrhetoric/knights-write/
- 3MT Three Minute Thesis: https://graduate.ucf.edu/3mt/
- Student Scholar Symposium: https://researchweek.ucf.edu/symposium/
Some of these conferences, depending on their location, etc., may not be an affordable option for graduate students, especially if the Department of Writing and Rhetoric’s budget limitations make it impossible to provide significant support in a given year. As an alternative, many organizations offer conferences partially or entirely online and there are often conferences hosted locally that are affordable. Our department hosts the annual Knights Write Showcase, which invites graduate students to participate in several ways and is entirely free. Work with your faculty advisors and pay attention to the program listserv to find opportunities that work for you.