Writing & Rhetoric (English MA, PhD)
About
MAs and PhDs work closely with award-winning faculty and peers to tackle emerging issues in technology, culture, and society.
Areas of study
Writing Studies & Program Administration: writing pedagogies; how writing is taught and learned; knowledge transfer and reflection; writing across contexts, the design and leadership of communication initiatives in professional and academic contexts; institutional rhetoric; information management (Gresham, M. Johnson, N. Johnson, Milliren, Robertson).
Digital Rhetoric, Technology & Information: generative AI and the composition process; how digital platforms shape writing, creativity,
and communication; how systems of information shape what counts as knowledge and guide
public life (Conner, Gresham, Gupta, N. Johnson, Moxley, Robertson).
Public Rhetorics: rhetorics of health and medicine; feminist rhetorics; and how writing serves communities
and advocates for change (Gresham, M. Johnson, N. Johnson, Milliren, McCracken).
Professional & Technical Communication: workplace communication; user experience research and design; design thinking; organizational
resilience; the ethical use and sharing of data in civic and professional settings
(Gupta, M. Johnson, N. Johnson, Robertson).
Methodological Training
Graduate students at USF gain experience with a wide range of research methods that reflect the field’s interdisciplinary nature. Methodological training combines theoretical grounding with applied practices, such as those prevalent in the professional careers of today. The methodological training students develop helps create a framework for understanding the practices of our discipline across many careers, academic and professional, and contributes to workplace readiness with knowledge they can apply not only for entry-level positions but for promotion later.
Students learn to conduct rhetorical and textual analysis through the close study of discourse, argumentation, and genre. They engage ethnographic and community-based approaches by working directly with communities to see how writing functions in everyday life. Many projects draw on feminist methodologies, which emphasize equity, reflexivity, and awareness of power dynamics in research design. Students also develop skills in digital and data-driven methods, including use of computational tools, empirical research design, text mining, design thinking, and data visualization while working with digital archives and information infrastructures. Training in historical and archival research helps students examine how writing, rhetoric, and communication infrastructures have developed over time.