A History of Professional Writing Instruction in American Colleges: Years of Acceptance, Growth, and Doubt

Getting an Invitation to the English Table—and Whether or Not to Accept It

“…For master's degrees, English departments currently award 65% of degrees, and humanities departments 5% (Meloncon, 2009, p. 138). These data emphasize the strong affiliation between professional writing and English departments-an affiliation with a long history (Adams, 1993;Connors, 1982;Longo, 2000).…”

Genre variation and minority ethnic identity: exploring the ‘personal profile’ in Indian American community publications

“…According to the Census Report, Indian Americans outearn every other ethnic minority, with a median family income of $70,708, which is 25 percent higher than the national average of $50,046, and second only to the median family income of Japanese Americans ($70,849). It was among the most popular of several such books of the day, featuring letters of inquiry and application for employment (Adams, 1993). By the year 2001, Indian Americans were running more than 750 companies in Silicon Valley and have been significantly influencing outsourcing practices in those and other industries since the 1980s (see also Sheshabalaya (2005) for an extensive review of the rising economic power of India and Indian Americans).…”

“…Institutionalized in the business and educational climate between 1880 and 1925 (Adams, 1993), 3 the cover letter complemented the resumé with a narrative voice to sell the writer to a potential employer. Institutionalized in the business and educational climate between 1880 and 1925 (Adams, 1993), 3 the cover letter complemented the resumé with a narrative voice to sell the writer to a potential employer.…”

Early Cold War Professional Communication: A Rationale for Progressive Posthumanism

“…Even the most pragmatically minded scholars would have been able to sense that business leaders, in addition to wanting workers who wrote with precision, force, and correctness and who understood how to operate in corporate culture, wanted workers who were imbued with an overall sense of ethics (Adams, 1993). This may be a reason that the five objectives stated by professional communication scholars at CCCC covered such a wide berth.…”

“…During World War II, the military had been quick to employ these more effective teaching methods. After the war, therefore, it was inevitable that universities and businesses would begin to employ these instructional techniques (Adams, 1993(Adams, , 1999Heyda). At the level of mastering the fundamentals, then, this shift was best described at the time by Lloyd (1953) who, excited about the use of linguistic theory in his classroom, had written, "after heaving the traditional grammar out of my courses as bootless, I have been gradually working out a way to use English structure to solve basic problems of reading and writing-solve them quickly and effectively" (p. 42).…”