An E-Portfolio

 

Overview

 

            This report is intended to clarify the definition of what it means to be a professional writer. Additionally, it aims to distinguish between writing within academia and comparing it to writing within the workplace. This report will situate itself within a line of inquiry regarding levels of professionalism in the field while focusing on the disciplines of academic and workplace writing. I have conducted interviews with professional writers and UCF faculty who offered their perspectives on the definition and career as a whole. Along with these interviews, I have also researched multiple undergraduate and graduate degree programs in order to gain insight into the academic aspect of the writing practice in addition to referencing a variety of sources regarding the topic of professional writing.

 

 

Introduction

 

            Professional writing is the process of examination and interpretation of technical and formal documents which are then rewritten and reformatted into more comprehensible and applicable compilations that pertain to a range of different audience members. Writing is crucial to the development and success of almost every profession, as it is the basis for communication and connection. As such, professional writers must do more than actually write; they must be able to gauge the audience’s interests and potential reactions. Doing so will lead to a better relationship between the writer and the audience, which is important and vital for any piece of writing to be effective. Good communication skills are the key to good writing. This idea is validated by Jonathan Bush in his article for English Journal, as he states “When professional writing is done well, it takes into account the writer’s purposes, the needs and expectations of the audience, the conventions of genre, and the complexities of situation and context” (117). There does exist, however, a difference between being a professional writer and merely writing within a profession. The levels of expertise within the field vary.

 

 

            As a junior during my spring semester at the University of Central Florida, I took Professional Writing with Professor Barbara Kyle. This class enlightened me in many ways – most importantly, making me realize that the definition of professional writing extended out farther than I had imagined. Professional writing is incredibly versatile and covers careers ranging from technical and business writing to creative and literary writing. In the course, I learned how to gather information and construct formal proposals and feasibility reports, along with create a multitude of abstracts and cover letters. Through this, I have come to the realization that professional writing isn’t merely exuding proficiency and expertise in the field of writing. It is, however, demonstrative of the writing that occurs within the workplace; usually reflective of something done regularly that has both value and compensation for one’s professional life.

 

 

            In addition to referencing a variety of outside sources, I have conducted interviews with the following people who are in the professional writing industry in order to gain further insight into the definition:

 

 

• Melody Bowdon – Director of the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning at UCF

• Tambre Clark – Director and Grant Writer for United Way of Brevard County

• Nathan Holic – Instructor of Writing for Publication at UCF

• Barbara Kyle – Instructor of Professional Writing and Professional Editing at UCF

• Stephanie Vie – Associate professor of Professional Writing at UCF

• Pavel Zemliansky – Program Director of Writing Across the Curriculum at UCF

 

 

 

Analysis

 

The Professionals’ Take on Professional Writing

 

            Melody Bowdon graduated from the University of Arizona with both a Master’s and a Doctorate in Rhetoric and Composition. Among one of her classmates and longtime friends was Dr. Blake Scott, Director of Writing and Rhetoric Programs at UCF. Both of them were English Literature majors that switched to Rhetoric and Composition because they felt it offered “more versatility” in the field. Bowdon says that professional writing is “more eclectic” than technical writing, as it covers more genres of writing and offers more outlets. According to Bowdon, professional writing is the umbrella term that includes technical writing rather than the other way around. Having dozens upon dozens of published independent and collaborative works, Bowdon was definitely considered a professional writer at one point, and still believes herself to be. Although she has no recent published works, she “currently still writes and edits multiple grants, proposals, and reports” on a daily basis, not to mention continues to make a living from it. Although these works aren’t being published, they are still apart of the everyday tasks that form the basis of professional writing.

 

            Stephanie Vie has a very well-rounded definition of what professional writing means to her, as she believes “professional writing is both a field of study and a profession.” Furthermore, according to Vie, “Stephen King is a professional writer. Scriptwriters and ghostwriters are professional writers. Professors like me who must write as a large part of their job are professional writers. If you write, and that is how you make your living primarily, I would say you are a professional writer. I would also hope that professional writers try to hone their craft in some way and become better writers over time.”

 

            Tambre Clark is a grant writer for United Way of Brevard County, a nonprofit organization that’s actively involved in the community’s health and human service sector. Clark says her daily activities consist mostly of “writing proposals by gathering information about the subject, formatting it into a comprehensible composition for different types of audiences, and writing and revising the proposal for submission.” When asked what her definition of professional writing was, Clark replied that it was “any type of writing that consists of wholesome elements that come together and form an operational purpose.”

 

            The demand for professional writers is high, but each job title may be different than the last. Dr. Pavel Zemliansky says he has worked with many people who are professional writers, but simply have different occupational names. For example, Zemliansky states that “professional writing may be housed in the marketing department,” as there is much writing that goes into the marketing of a product. Likewise, “the title of project manager/project coordinator may not reflect that of a writer, but in reality they’re the ones that write and coordinate writing the most.” Although academic writing in the United States is highly valued, the demand for professional writing does differ in various locations. For instance, Zemliansky is currently researching professional communication in international contexts. In places like Russia, Ukraine, Poland, and Germany, writing eloquently isn’t as important as being orally eloquent. Similarly, Nathan Holic believes that “the demand is high for professionals with good writing and communication skills, but it likely depends upon the area of the country, and the employers in that particular area.”

 

            A slight setback to the career of professional writing has been the recent influx of amateur journalists due to new blogging sites and the like. Holic feels the threat of these bloggers, stating that “bloggers are a threat to everyone; a violent and terrible threat that must be stopped.” Although bad news to some may be good news to others, as Dr. Bowdon states that she is happy to see more people involved in the writing world and that they are “writing, engaging, and producing rather than consuming.” Professor Barbara Kyle thinks it’s the professionals who make themselves feel threatened by the amateurs. She says that “Bloggers and amateur journalists threaten traditional journalism as a career; traditional forms of academic writing are also threatened, but it’s up to writers to participate in these newer forms to maintain a presence…By staying aware of and making use of the changes, I don’t feel threatened.” As means of communication adapt, professional writers must adapt in the same way.

 

            Overall, the interviewees came to the consensus that to be considered a professional writer, one must create something that: 1) is done in the workplace that solves or addresses a professional matter, 2) receives some sort of compensation, and 3) reflects some kind of operational purpose (whether it may be technical, business, or academic). These qualifications apply to all genres of writing; as such, the definition for professional writing has come to be multifaceted in genre, yet restrictive in eligibility.

 

 

A Pedagogical Glance at Professional Writing

 

            There has been a fairly recent influx in the amount of degree programs that specialize in professional and technical writing. I have researched the University of Central Florida, University of Arizona, and Champlain College and found offered programs such as Writing and Rhetoric, Rhetoric and Composition, and Professional Writing respectively. Each university that I analyzed fosters courses that focus on both the creative aspect and technical aspect of professional writing. My results have validated two things: 1) there are many paths available to students who want to pursue professional writing as a career and 2) professional writing doesn’t exclusively pertain to technical and occupational fields, a notion that the public typically conceptualizes.

           

            The University of Central Florida just adopted their Writing and Rhetoric program as an undergraduate degree during the summer of 2014. The aim of this university’s major is to offer comprehensive courses that prepare prospective graduates to enter the writing workforce by enhancing their understanding through simulated real-world assignments accompanied by research, analysis, synthesis, and rhetorical discussion. These classes differ from others in the way that they are mostly project and discussion-based, and they mimic true workplace atmospheres by promoting collaboration and the construction of professional documents.

           

            A Rhetoric and Composition degree at the University of Arizona can only be obtained through their graduate program, as the Bachelor degrees only include English or Creative Writing; however, this university has one of the top rhetoric and composition graduate programs in the country. According to the website, this particular program aims to “examine writing, literacy, and culture from a transdisciplinary perspective concerned with critical and transformative action in the world.” This degree allows for more versatility in the field and prepares students for entrances into careers such as teachers and scholars rather than solely writers.

           

          Champlain College offers the most unique of programs, as it offers the degree as a Bachelor of Sciences rather than of Arts. The program also provides three different areas of specialization including a Journalism track, a Screenwriting track, and a Publishing track. Champlain’s curriculum is protean and focuses on a variety of aspects of professional writing as a whole. The website offers a look into the classes that are offered as a Professional Writing major, stating that “Like more traditional writing programs, Champlain offers excellent courses in fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, screenwriting and playwriting. Our unparalleled range of electives includes unusual options such as food writing, children’s books and songwriting, as well as career-focused courses like grant writing, technical writing, copy-editing and publishing.” Clearly, Champlain covers all the bases for professional writing, from the creative side to the more technical. Additionally, they present the option for students to take different courses that pertain to the many interests that they as professional writers may have.

 

            Although the assignments within the courses offered at each university don’t fully reflect the types of compilations one would produce in the real world, they do act auxiliary methods for enhancing students’ understanding of the subject and allowing them to engage in practices relevant to the creation of these documents. In the text Worlds Apart, Dias et al. demonstrate that the social motive for academic writing and workplace writing differ immensely, explaining that “School writing whose goal is epistemic is very different from that writing whose goal is to produce new knowledge for scholars” (45). Likewise, the authors later argue that “school writing tasks typically have discernible beginnings and endings, single authors and readers, and relatively stable, epistemic rhetorical aims – workplace texts are but one strand in an intricate

network of events, intentions, other texts, relationships, and readers” (113).

 

            The courses that each university offers are intended to shape the foundation of the types of professional writing that graduates will face in the workplace. By the tasks delegated by professors, students will expand their knowledge and hopefully gain insight that will resonate with them when in the workplace. According to Rankins-Robertson et al. in their article for

Journal of Basic Writing, “First-year composition classrooms, particularly basic writing classrooms, offer a starting place for helping students to develop a more robust understanding of academic discourse and academic literacies. When writing assignments are designed with this goal in mind, instructors have the opportunity to challenge and socialize students into academic ways of knowing that can transcend the classroom” (58).

 

 

Conclusion

 

            Although the motives for academic writing differ from the motives in the professional world of writing, academic writing is intended to represent a training method that lays groundwork for workplace writing. To reiterate, professional writing is the process of examination and interpretation of technical and formal documents. These are then rewritten and reformatted into more comprehensible and applicable compilations that pertain to a range of different audience members. In order to be considered professional, the work must: be done within the workplace that solves some kind of professional matter or responds to a certain exigence, receive a type of compensation, and lastly, reflect an operational purpose. By defining professional writing in this way, professors and instructors are better able to create curriculum that is pertinent to both the workplace and industry of professional writing as a whole.

 

 

 

Works Cited

Bush, Jonathan, and Leah Zuidema. “Professional Writing: What You Already Know.” English Journal 2 (2010): 117. Academic OneFile. Web. 19 Feb. 2015.

 

"Professional Writing Degree Program." Champlain College. N.p., 2015. Web. 19 Feb. 2015.

 

Dias Patrick, Aviva Freedman, Peter Medway, and Anthony Paré. Worlds Apart: Acting and Writing in Academic and Workplace Contexts.

Mahwah, NJ: L. Erlbaum Associates, 1999. 45-113. Print.

 

Rankins-Robertson, Sherry, et al. “Expanding Definitions Of Academic Writing: Family History Writing.” Journal Of Basic Writing 29.1 (2010): 56-77. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 19 Feb. 2015.

 

"Rhetoric, Composition, and the Teaching of English." University of Arizona. N.p., 2015. Web. 19 Feb. 2015.

 

Bowdon, Melody. Personal interview. 04 Sept. 2014.

 

Clark, Tambre. Personal interview. 03 Sept. 2014

 

Holic, Nathan. E-mail interview. 02 Sept. 2014.

 

Kyle, Barbara. E-mail interview. 02 Sept. 2014.

 

Vie, Stephanie. E-mail interview. 02 Sept. 2014.

 

Zemliansky, Pavel. Personal interview. 03 Sept. 2014.