‘Boot Camp’ as a Nexus of Graduate Writing Support

Steve SimpsonNew Mexico Tech

2012 Conference on College Composition and Communication – St. Louis, MoN.15 • March 24, 2012• 12:30-1:45

The Need for Graduate Writing Support

• Growing concern for the quality of the graduate experience and graduate attrition rates (Boud & Lee, 2009; Golde & Walker, 2006) and the quality of graduate-level writing support (Aitchison, Kamler, & Lee 2010; Micciche & Carr, 2011).

• Both native and non-native English speaking graduate students need writing support.

• Dissertation boot camps have grown in popularity across the US (Mastroieni & Cheung, 2011).

This Presentation

• This presentation describes a Thesis/Dissertation Boot Camp created at New Mexico Tech and shares preliminary findings from an ongoing study of this resource.

• My argument: Not only is boot camp a simple, low-cost, easy-to-implement resource for graduate students (NES and NNES), but tactically, it is a good first step for programs wishing to build a larger, sustainable graduate writing initiative.

Data

• Current data consists of observations from two boot camps (Summer 2011 & Winter 2012, 25 participants), pre-boot camp writing plans, pre/post surveys of boot camp participants, post surveys of participants’ advisors, and follow-up interviews with participants.

• Interview Participants:– “Marta” (Spanish) PhD, Hydrology– “Jamila” (Arabic) PhD, Geophysics/Seismology– “Song” (Chinese) MS, Hydrology– “Ani” (English) PhD, Geology– “Mort” (English) MS, Hydrology

What is Boot Camp?

• Boot Camps are intense 1 or 2 week writing workshops, giving participants large blocks of time to WRITE.

• Short term goals: Get work done and get feedback

• Long term goals: Develop successful writing habits and plug students into other resources

Boot Camp at Tech

• Boot Camp at Tech plays a central role in a series of communication initiatives, which also includes “linked” graduate communication courses, graduate writing center hours, and graduate “communication fellows.”

• 1-week sessions offered during winter and summer breaks (9AM – 4PM)

• Participants create writing plan with their advisors beforehand as part of their registration

Boot Camp at Tech

• Open to Master’s and PhD students from all disciplines and at all stages of the writing process (on average, 14 students per session, mixed NESs and NNESs).

• Workshops– Time management and planning– Peer reviewing– Technical editing– LaTex and general thesis formatting guidelines– Yoga!

• Optional consultations with writing and math faculty. LaTex specialist available, as well.

• NO FACEBOOK!!!

Short Term – Getting Work Done

• “Boot Camp put my butt in a seat” (Anonymous participant)

• “It gave them a critical insight into what needs to be done for completion and a boot you know where to get started” (Anonymous advisor)

• “The consultations were priceless. […] It is also excellent for getting perspective and understanding how each piece fits together in the whole work.” (Anonymous participant)

Long Term – Changed Writing Habits

• Writing Process – “I think the what the boot camp help me, especially the first one is just to create the habit of coming early and to just to try to leave everything for later and just focus on the writing…” (Marta)

• Formation of peer writing/reviewing groups – “…from boot camp and what I learned from boot camp, I became a better reviewer. […] This is what my people that I reviewed for tell me. That they like it when I review for them” (Jamila)

• Utilization of other resources (e.g., writing center, communication classes, etc.)

Long Term – Student Ambassadors

• Boot Campers advocate for writing in their own departments– “We have been writing since we started. You write

projects, you write this, you write that. I think this could be tackled earlier so that we all have better writing skills because after all that is the way you are actually communicating things” (Marta)

• Boot Camp’s success helps when negotiating other writing resources

Thank you!

ssimpson@nmt.edu

Acknowledgements

• Marcia Bardy, my graduate student, who helped with the interviews

• Funding from our Department of Education grant. (Title V: Promoting Postbaccalaureate Opportunities for Hispanic Americans—PPOHA)

• The Boot Camp staff – Marcia Bardy, Dr. William Stone (Department of Mathematics), Dr. Maggie Griffin (CLASS Department & official Boot Camp Yogini), and John Shipman ( New Mexico Tech Computer Center)

Works Cited

Aitchison, C., Kamler, B., & Lee, A. (2010). Publishing pedagogies for the doctorate and beyond. New York: Routledge.

Boud, D., & Lee, A. (2009). Changing practices of doctoral education. New York: Routledge.

Golde, C. M., & Walker, G. E. (2006). Envisioning the future of doctoral education: Preparing stewards for the disciplines (Carnegie essays on the doctorate). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Mastroieni, A., & Cheung, D. (n.d.). The Few, the proud, the finished: Dissertation boot camp as a model for doctoral student

support. NASPA: Excellence in Practice, pp. 4-6.Micciche, L. R., & Carr, A. D. (2011). Toward graduate-level writing

instruction. College Composition and Communication, 62(3), 477-501.

Obstacles

• Differing advisor/student expectations

• Student perception – “Providing boot camp and peer study groups only enable those that should NOT get a degree and most especially should not get a degree from Tech. […] . I would prefer when I finish that my degree be worth more than my charmin and this is just one more way that the new faculty and administrators at Tech are finding to make my degree worth less and the school more like a community college.”