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EIU Master of Arts in English

Thesis in Applied Professional Writing

Process Overview

  • Students are responsible for researching and securing their own projects. Students may seek advice on this process from committee members.
  • Students must receive approval of their selected client and project from their committee chair before proceeding to the prospectus stage.
  • Before submitting the prospectus, the student and committee will negotiate with the client an agreement concerning disclosure and intellectual property rights. Signed by the client and the student, the agreement should indicate which information may or may not be disclosed to members of the thesis committee. It should also indicate that the client consents to the student’s publishing all or part of the material in a bound or otherwise published thesis, and specify which material, if any, must be redacted from the thesis in its bound or published form.
  • The student will work with the client to complete the client’s project to the client’s satisfaction. The student’s committee will assist the student in an advisory role for this portion of the project.
  • The student will work with the committee to complete a critical companion piece that appropriately examines the project.
  • Students’ committees will solicit evaluative feedback from the client concerning the successful completion of the project. If possible, the student will then respond to the client’s evaluation as part of the critical companion piece.
  • Although clients will have no formal role in the thesis defense, they may be invited to attend and participate in the general discussion.

Critical Companion Components

  • Literature review of research connecting to the project
  • Description of the project, including an analysis of the audience, purpose, and context driving decision-making
  • Analysis of the workplace communication practices as related to completion of the project.
  • Analysis of the final project itself with references to specific portions of the project

Defense

  • Presentation of the client project (10–15 min)
  • Brief overview of the companion piece (5–10 min)
  • Questions from committee
  • Questions from department and/or client

What Makes a Good Applied Professional Writing Capstone Project?

  • Project is of sufficient scope to be considered capstone work
  • Project is in its early stages, allowing the student to play the primary role in creating and shaping the final form
  • Project can be completed within the thesis semester time frame. If the project is part of a larger project, specific parameters can be defined for the student’s project.
  • Project involves more than one aspect of the professional communication continuum (research, drafting, revision, editing, document design, and presentation) in a way that reflects the standards of that workplace
  • Organization or company is able to grant students access to information and people necessary to complete the project effectively
  • Project must be public enough that students can share all or most of the final version with their committee and at the defense and can include the project or significant excerpts from it in the bound thesis to be placed in the library and the conference room, or in the electronic version to appear online.

Policies Pertaining to the Applied Professional Writing Thesis:

  • Students may receive grants or honorariums, but not salary, for projects. Further, a student may not complete a project for a client currently providing the student with full or part-time employment.
  • The company or organization should assume responsibility for the costs of completing the project (e.g., software and other materials required, travel expenses, production costs)
  • The student is responsible for all costs associated with the project as a thesis (e.g., distributing drafts to committee members, having the thesis bound, and so on)
  • Projects must be external to the English Department (but may be found in other parts of the university) and must not overlap with professional writing or other work completed as an English Department GA.
  • The student-client partnership must be in conformity with Eastern Illinois University’s conflict of interest policies.

Graduate Studies Committee Rubric for Applied Professional Writing Thesis Prospectus

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