Part of your comprehensive exam includes a paper, approximately 10-pages double-spaced. Your 10-page paper can be a traditional academic paper, such as a literature review (bibliographic essay), which may or may not incorporate application examples.

OR it can be a 10-page, double-spaced critical analysis of a "practical application" project that you created for a class.

Whichever approach you take, your "paper" must be approved first by your comprehensive exam director, then distributed to committee members at least two weeks before your comprehensive exam.

Traditional Academic Paper

For students using the thesis option, this paper (at least 10-page double-spaced) demonstrates your ability to write a thesis, normally being a literature review (bibliographic essay) with brief overview of thesis. It is considered a more traditional academic paper. You may also submit your prospectus, a planning document for your thesis.

For students using the non-thesis option, this "academic" paper can consist of a variety of options. For example, you might use a paper and annotated bibliography from Engl 7705: Ethical Issues in Professional Communication, revised and (if needed) extended so that the two documents total at least 10-pages double-spaced. See the documents indicated in the list below for examples of course projects that could be classified as an traditional academic paper.

Sample traditional academic paper ...

• "Virtual Learning or Virtually Learning? An Overview of E-Learning Debates in the Mid-Ohio Valley," rtf file  |  pdf file 
• "Face to Face with Assessment,"  rtf file  |  pdf file
  
• "Preparing Technical Communicators for Ethical Challenges," click here 
  
• "Layout and Design: The Historical Background and Current Implications of the Shift from Verbal to Visual Rhetoric." Discusses evolution of writing tools and the ways in which that evolution caused the shift from verbal to visual rhetoric: click here 
  

To begin deciding what your paper might evolve from, review the suggestions that follow:

• Engl 6740/6741: Internship in TPC ... report/paper
  
• Engl 7705: Ethical Issues in TPC ... paper based on annotated bib, as well as the annotated bib
• Engl 7746: Training in Professional Communication ... summary, including annotated bib
• Engl 7765: Writing Public Policy ... final project
• Engl 7730: Issues in TPC ... annotated bib and/or bibliographic essay (literature review)
• Engl 7701: Research in TPC ... research agenda (combination of projects 1 & 2)
  

The projects just suggested are NOT the only choices. You may use work completed in other courses, depending upon your approach to a project.

Critical Analysis

Your 10-page paper can be a critical analysis of a major item or theme in your portfolio as it relates to the works on your reading list (works on standard reading list plus works that you have added in consultation with your adviser). Several different approaches are possible:

• You can focus on one item in your portfolio (one project) and discuss that item in depth in terms of the literature on your reading list.
  
• Or you can focus on one or two related subject areas or themes that are covered on the reading list and exemplified by material from your portfolio. 
• Or you can prepare a critical analysis that represents the spirit of these approaches.
  

Bottom line: You do not have to refer to a specific number of works on the standard reading list in this critical analysis if your analysis is better served by incorporating other works. It is suggested, but not required, that your added reading list items be chosen from items you use in your critical analysis. In either case, your committee director needs to approve the approach that you will use, including your selection of reading list items.

In your critical analysis, you should analyze rhetorically and reflect on the project(s). Consider as appropriate such aspects as background, purpose, audience, content, organization, style, visuals, and format/layout, as well as cultural dynamics. Projects can be print documents or online ones such web site. Projects can be collaborative.

Your critical analysis should incorporate discussion of references to some of the works on the reading list, works that you add, and/or other works appropriate for your project and analysis. You do not necessarily have to revise your project, but in your critical analysis, you should demonstrate that you understand what revisions are needed and why.

Sample critical analysis ...

• "Adult Learning Theory and Training Strategies: Review of an E-mail Tutorial" [critical analysis paper based on two projects for Engl 7746]  rtf file  |  pdf file 
  
• "Reducing the Decibels: The Story of a Web Site Renovation" [critical analysis paper based on project created in Engl 7746: Training in Professional Communication]
  
• " The Characteristics of a Document and the Audiences It Serves " [3 projects discussed in terms of Hunt, Kevin. "Establishing a Presence on the World Wide Web: A Rhetorical Approach." Technical Communication 43.4 (1996): 376-87 ... Note that a more detailed discussion of one project is acceptable.]
  

The project or projects used should be work that you completed in a class, not be an entirely new project or new projects; however, you, in consultation with your director, may want to revise what you submitted for the class project a bit for it to be suitable for the comprehensive exam. Remember that if you do not revise, and even if you do, your critical analysis should demonstrate that you understand what revisions are needed and why.

To begin deciding what project (projects) you might use as a basis for your critical analysis, review the suggestions that follow:

• Engl 6700: Technical Editing and Production (formerly 5770: Advanced Editing) ...   concept sheet, usability testing, and final project
• Engl 6715: Technical Writing ... planning documents (documentation plan and user analysis, review plan, and usability testing plan) plus final project  OR Powerpoint presentation if substantive (beyond the minimum requirements).
• Engl 6721: Copyediting ... final copy editing project
• Engl 6740/6741: Internship in TPC ... substantive project completed
• Engl 7712: Grant & Proposal Writing ... final proposal
• Engl 7746: Training in Professional Communication ... final project
• Engl 7765: Writing Public Policy ... final project
  
• Engl 7766: Communication and Emerging Technologies -- The Influence of Computers on Communication ... final project

The projects just suggested are NOT the only choices. You may use work completed in other courses.