"Advice for New Graduates in Composition Studies."

Presented by Beth Hewett



Beth Hewett works for the University of Maryland-University College and is an independent researcher and consultant in education. She defines research in composition and rhetoric as research into communication and a really practical area of trying to influence others through words and actions. Her own research is most moved to explore questions of online writing instruction and the wonder of why we do it, whether it is worthwhile, and what is the point. She wants to know why we would want to use technology and should we use it. She has been working especially in the area of online teaching related to online one-to-one conferencing between teachers and students. She is also chairing a CCCC committee on best practices in online writing instruction. The end result she is hoping for is better online writing instructors and a collection of online best practices. Additionally, she suggests that what we learn from the online best practices might better inform improvements in the traditional classroom setting as well.

One challenge in online writing instruction is the tendency of instructors to use indirect communication methods to teach, such as rhetorical questions and leading questions. The indirect language usage that sometimes works well in some traditional classroom settings does not usually yield improvement in online writing students' writing. Despite this, its usage is still quite prevalent in the online writing instruction field. One area she has focused her work on is how to get online writing instructors to get comfortable with actually teaching the craft using direct language. This goal actually suggests that, at times, instructors should set aside the theories or modes of teaching online.

In response to a question of the best piece of advice for research she has received, Hewett says that the best advice did not come to her. Instead, it was actually given to a friend of hers by a professor Hewett greatly respected. The professor said, "Not every idea is a good idea." She says that we all get ideas that fascinate us, and we want to explore those ideas. We often get encouraged to go after those explorations by others in the field. The reality is, she says, that there is always someone out there who knows a little more than we do. If that person suggests to us that the direction we are taking is not the most fruitful, we have to listen and heed that advice rather than continue with our initial desire to explore the idea that perhaps was not as good of an idea as we originally imagined it to be. Despite this, the advice she would offer new professionals just finishing graduate school is to do the research that moves them, research that is important to them. This does not mean to go off in a direction that will ultimately prove the wisdom of that original best piece of advice, but she suggests that new scholars look at real problems with an eye for solving at least a small part of the problem. She says do this regardless of whether one gets paid for it or will be promoted for it. She suggests that adding to the knowledge of the field is more important than a publication line on a CV.