The CCCC Outstanding Dissertation Award in Technical Communication, 2004–2022: Doctoral Research Topics, Methods, and Implications for the Field

ABSTRACT

This study extends the retrospective analysis of entries for the CCCC Outstanding Dissertation Award in Technical Communication (1999–2003) by Stuart Selber in 2004, focusing on the subsequent two decades (2004 to 2022), to identify the topical research areas and methodologies in technical and professional communication (TPC) via the winning entries of the award. Through descriptive content analysis of 29 dissertations and corresponding summary statistics, this study reports on TPC disciplinary emphases and growth based on the sponsoring institutions on these dissertations, featured topics and their research methods or methodologies, and projected implications for the field. Accordingly, this study reveals the state of TPC graduate research through the lens of the imminent award and what it means for doctoral researchers, their advisors, and programs.

KEYWORDS:

• History
• dissertation
• award
• Conference on College Composition and Communication
• topical areas
• research methods
• disciplinary review
• graduate research education

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Stuart Selber not just for inspiring this project, but also reading and commenting on the first draft of the manuscript. Selber has imparted on me institutional wisdom that I could not find elsewhere (i.e., the establishment of the ODA-TC award, the initial judging process, and the changes in leadership that influenced the process today). As a writer who works on many messy projects, I thank my colleague Becky Rickly for her succinct feedback on this study. I am also grateful to the anonymous reviewers who have provided helpful comments that, ultimately, shaped and strengthened this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. I did reach out to the staff liaison at NCTE to acquire information about previous award cycles and their committee process but was told that each committee (with membership made up of volunteer scholars from the field) selected the winners independent from NCTE’s oversight, and there were not records of committee deliberation at the organization level.

2. Professional organizations like the ATTW, CPTSC, Society for Technical Communication (STC), and IEEE Professional Communication Society (ProComm) also support TPC scholarship, but they do not have the same amplitude in terms of scholarly resources as the CCCC for students’ professional development.

3. For current call for the award and list of previous winners, refer to https://cccc.ncte.org/cccc/awards/techcommdissertation

4. Follow Smith (2016) for an eclectic account of the history of close reading as a literary studies method turned digital humanities practice.

5. Consider Williamson and Huot (2012) on how our representation of methods is rhetorical and has consequences.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jason Tham

Jason Tham (he/they) is an associate professor of technical communication and rhetoric at Texas Tech University, where he teaches user experience research, information and instructional design, and online publishing. He is author of Design Thinking in Technical Communication and co-author of Collaborative Writing Playbook (with Joe Moses) and Designing Technical and Professional Communication (with Deborah Andrews).