Category: Announcement

I received some questions from folks about graduate school, so I thought that I would post my thoughts here for the benefit of everyone:

General applying advice

0. Before going to graduate school, take the time to research if an advanced degree will help you with your career and personal goals. Take the time to answer the question: Why do I want to go to graduate school, and what will an advanced degree help me accomplish? In some careers, a graduate degree won’t necessarily help you. It’s a good strategy to work backwards from job listings to see job requirements for the kinds of jobs that you want to figure out what the education requirements might be. Also, some jobs, like K-12 education might require certifications that are earned separately from a graduate degree. Investigate what schools offer those and how to earn them. NYC Public Schools offers some info about this here: https://www.schools.nyc.gov/careers/teachers/teacher-certification. However, you might have personal reasons for wanting to earn an advanced degree, which is perfectly valid, too. The main point is to have well-thoughtout reasons why you want to make the transition to graduate school.
1. Read the application guidelines for each school several times, and read the program requirements–the courses, language requirements, etc.–several times so that you know what will be expected of you to earn that degree.
2. Make an application checklist for each school (each will likely be a little different) and check off each item as you get it prepared and submitted.
3. Some schools might use their own application system online and others might require you to use Interfolio.com.
4. Find out how each school wants you to submit recommendation letters. Most will ask you for the recommender’s contact information, they will contact the recommender, and the recommender will upload or email the recommendation directly to the school.
5. When asking for recommendation letters, ask the recommender if they can give you a “strong recommendation.” If so, strategize with that person about what to include in the letter–what do you want them to emphasize? a project? a class? an assignment? Also, tell them the exact name of the program you applying for, a link to that program’s website, and what your goals for the program (what do you imagine you would like to focus your studies on?) and your goals after graduation (what will you use the MA to do–get a specific kind of job, apply for a PhD program, etc.).
6. Spend lots of time polishing your writing samples. They should demonstrate your research, analytical, and reasoning skills as much as your writing ability. Make sure citations are correct. Have your writing samples meet the requirements for the application (some ask for no more than 5000 words, for example). Use the writing process (draft, feedback, revise) multiple times with feedback from different people (family, friends, peers) to improve your writing.
7. Not all schools accept GRE scores, but those that do might weigh the score heavily in your admission, so invest time in studying and test practice so that you do your very best on the exam. There are also cram schools/test prep schools that offer courses to help you do well on the exam. If you can afford these, it could improve your score.
8. Since you’re leaving City Tech with a non-literary degree, you’ll want to account for that in your application materials. Say things like the PTW degree gave you important writing, analytical, and research skills that can be applied to any domain, including English literature. Then, talk about what you’ve done outside of the PTW program to prepare for an English MA–literary works that you have read, periods that you focus on in your reading, other classes and what you might have learned in them in regard to English literature. If you have an interest in a specific genre of literature for your graduate degree, you should mention that, too. For example, Science Fiction, Campus Novels (about academia), Office Fiction (about workplaces and our social relationships in them), and Law through Literature (stories in which the narrative turns on points of law, the legal system, or the legal profession) all have points of connection with PTW.
9. Remember, just like looking for a job, you are making an argument to each of the graduate programs that you deserve a place in their program. Contend that you are best because of some reasons–you’ve done a lot to prepare yourself for this challenge, you have a unique perspective and background that will enrich the program for all students, you have goals for yourself that can only be accomplished by successfully completing a degree in their program, etc. There are many sample letters a Google search away, so dig around online and look for books on the subject, too, such as Donald Asher’s Graduate Admissions Essays, Fourth Edition: Write Your Way into the Graduate School of Your Choice or Colleen Reding’s Grad’s Guide to Graduate Admissions Essays: Examples From Real Students Who Got Into Top Schools.
10. If you’re missing some important part of the application, such as languages, you should reach out to the program coordinator to ask if you can take language courses while in the MA program or if you should take language classes before entering the program as most programs that have language requirements will give you a test on your language ability (again, look at the program requirements).
11. Every program will have different options for financial aid. Some might include scholarships, teaching in exchange for tuition and a stipend, or a combination of these. You might qualify for consideration of these during your application, but there might be others you need to apply for separately. When in doubt, check with the program director. Also see this page on Federal Student Aid about FAFSA and a “grad school prep checklist”: https://studentaid.gov/resources/prepare-for-college/checklists/grad-school. Avoid loans unless you’ve done the math and know that the job you want requires the degree you need and the wages of that job will provide you enough money to pay back the loan quickly (ensure there are no early payment penalties) while giving you enough to afford the life that you want. Also, there are some federal loan forgiveness programs, but you should understand that they likely will require effort on your part to avoid mistakes, catch errors on the servicer’s side, and advocate for yourself to have the terms honored.
12. An important part of life after undergrad graduation with a job or graduate school is budgeting. Avoid accruing debt on a credit card. Plan ahead for expenses. Save money when you can. Recent advice on this can be found here: https://www.wsj.com/articles/to-stop-living-paycheck-to-paycheck-they-spill-about-it-on-tiktok-28d659a2?mod=hp_lead_pos9.

Harvard English Graduate Programs Admissions (PhD, MA for PhD students)
https://english.fas.harvard.edu/guidelines-admissions

Yale Admissions (1 year MA and 6 year PhD)
https://english.yale.edu/graduate/applying-yale

CUNY Graduate Center (PhD only)
https://www.gc.cuny.edu/english/admissions-and-aid

CUNY City College (MA)
https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/admissions/english-literature

CUNY Brooklyn College (MA English and MA English Teacher Programs)
http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/web/academics/schools/socialsciences/departments/english/graduate/ma.php

CUNY Hunter College (MA in Literature, Language, and Theory)
https://www.hunter.cuny.edu/english/graduate/majors

Other CUNY MA in English Programs
https://www.york.cuny.edu/english/student-resources/graduate-school-resources

GRE Test Prep Books

• ETS (test maker) Resources, https://www.ets.org/gre/test-takers/general-test/prepare.html
  -Princeton Review GRE Premium Prep, 2023: 7 Practice Tests + Review & Techniques + Online Tools (Graduate School Test Preparation)
  by The Princeton Review
• GRE Prep Plus 2023, Includes 6 Practice Tests, 1500+ Practice Questions + Online Access to a 500+ Question Bank and Video Tutorials (Kaplan Test Prep)
  by Kaplan Test Prep
• GRE Prep 2023 For Dummies with Online Practice
  by Ron Woldoff

If you attend this reading, write a 250-word summary about the reading and your experience there. Copy-and-paste your memo into an email to Prof. Ellis to receive credit. Details are below.

Flash Fiction Reading and Discussion by Francine Witte

Please join us on Monday, May 15th, at 1 p. m., in Room 209 of the New Academic Building, for a reading and discussion of flash fiction by celebrated flash fiction author and editor Francine Witte. Francine Witte’s poetry and fiction have appeared in Smokelong Quarterly, Wigleaf, Mid-American Review, and Passages North. Her latest books are Dressed All Wrong for This (Blue Light Press,) The Way of the Wind (AdHoc fiction,) and The Theory of Flesh (Kelsay Books) She is flash fiction editor for Flash Boulevard and The South Florida Poetry Journal. She is an associate poetry editor for Pidgeonholes. Her chapbook, The Cake, The Smoke, The Moon (flash fiction) was published by ELJ Editions in September, 2021. She lives in NYC.

In the last 10 minutes of class, I’ll step out so that everyone has a chance to complete the Student Evaluation of Teaching (search your email for “NYCCT Student Evaluation of Teaching”–you should have received an email for each of your current classes–if you haven’t filled out your SET for our class, please use this time to do so) and the PTW Program Questionnaire. Both are anonymous, and your feedback is deeply appreciated!

Submit your perspective to WSJ Future View for extra credit. Write a response to their periodic question. Take a screenshot before submitting and email it to Prof. Ellis for credit.

These are the two portfolio types that you can choose from for your final professional portfolio project: an OpenLab/Wordpress-based portfolio website OR a Google Doc with a sharable link.

Your portfolio should contain 10 examples of your writing and multimodal compositions (meaning: videos, podcasts, storyboards, posters, etc.). Each of your examples should be paired with a 1-page, double-spaced (~250 words) reflection that describes the rhetorical context of the document (why you made it, who is its audience, and what is its purpose), your workflow to create it (including tools, feedback, and revision), and if appropriate, a discussion about how that deliverable fits into your overall professional persona (e.g., if you are interested in working for non-profits, you should show examples that demonstrate that interest and note how each deliverable relates to that professional goal).

Next week, I’ll demonstrate the basics of creating your portfolio using OpenLab and Google Docs. In the meantime, you should select your 10 deliverables to include in your portfolio and begin writing a reflection for each.

Also, you can begin looking at examples of portfolios for inspiration and ideas.

I showed you this sample portfolio using Google Docs and this is my professional teaching portfolio that I built on OpenLab.

These are ePortfolios of PTW alumni on OpenLab:

• Jacklyn Valentin
• Jodieann Stephenson
• Rownak Choudhury
• Mariah Rajah
• Christopher Navarrete
• Alexander Thompson-Burton (must be logged into OpenLab to see)
• G. James Mitchell (must be logged into OpenLab to see)
• Pamela Drake
• Paulina Nawiesniak
• Tyne Hazel
• Melissa Camacho
• Jamika Russell
• Steven Pena (great student, sadly passed away in 2020)

If you use OpenLab, there is a lot of help information available that you will need to rely on as you build your ePortfolio using WordPress.

Here are two extra credit opportunities. You may do one or both. The first is a student research poster session. These will be posters on display by students at City Tech showing off their research. If you opt to do this, write a 250 word memo naming the student scholars and summarizing at least 5 posters. And, if you write 500 words that include interview quotes with some of the students who are presenting posters, you can earn double extra credit! The second option is to attend the academic conference associated with the poster session. You have to register using the link below for it. To receive credit, attend the event and write 250 words about who spoke and what you learned.

This Wednesday, May 3, we will be hosting the Dr. Janet Liou-Mark Honors and Undergraduate Research Scholars Poster Presentation in the New Academic Building Lobby from 10 AM until 4 PM. On Thursday, May 4 (from 9:00 AM – 12:30 PM), we will host an HSP Student Academic Conference in room A105. The conference will be followed by our Award Ceremony at 12:45 PM in the Amphitheater LG30.  Please register for the conference here: 

https://forms.gle/3fH1usHKyomGHuT38

Please view the attached program and flyer for more information, and please join us! 

—————————————————————–  

Dr. Janet Liou-Mark Honors and Undergraduate Research Scholars Poster Presentation 

Wednesday, May 3 

10 AM – 4 PM    

New Academic Building Lobby   

HSP Student Academic Conference:  

Interdisciplinary Design Game-Based Learning Lab (ID GBL²) Game Showcase 

Keynote Address & Student Panelists 

Thursday, May 4, 9 AM – 12:30 PM    

New Academic Building, room A105

Light refreshments will be served.

Awards Ceremony   

Thursday, May 4, 12:45 PM – 2:15 PM    

Amphitheater LG30 

If you attend this event and write up at least 250 words about who spoke, what you learned, and what connections you made between the event and your own knowledge, you can earn some extra credit. For your event summary, copy-and-paste it into an email to Prof. Ellis.

Please join us on Thursday, April 27th at 1pm in N227 (Faculty Commons) for the City Tech Community Roundtable - a new seminar series made of short talks that aims to bring together faculty and students to share our scholarly and creative work and learn about what our colleagues across disciplines are doing, and restore and nurture our college's vibrant intellectual community.

Our second event features three awesome speakers:

Dr Javiela Evangelista, who will tell us about "Race and Technology Academic Program",

and a student-faculty team composed by

Jake Postiglione and Dr Giovanni Ossola, speaking about "Smart Physics: A Lab in your Pocket."

As you can see, the topics promise to be of wide interest for faculty and students, and we hope to see many there. Also, you are welcome to bring your lunch, but as usual we will have coffee and the good cookies!

Looking forward to seeing you on Thursday.

The Research Council WG4

In addition to free access to The New York Times (instructions here), CUNY students also get free access to The Wall Street Journal by following these directions.

While the other extra credit that I’ve mentioned in the class is an opportunity for you all, it is small game. It can give you a boost on a missed log book entry, a skipped beginning of class writing assignment, or points added to your final portfolio. If you’re interested in big game, I have an extra credit option for you that can add up to 10 points to your final grade. To earn these points, you need to read Sullivan and Savage’s Writing a Professional Life: Stories of Technical Communicators On and Off the Job (Allyn and Bacon, 2001) or another book about the professional work related to our field that you clear with me in advance (this means a book about the work experience in the field or a field related to your specialization and not a handbook, textbook, or reference guide).

After reading it, write a 1,000 word book review that includes an introduction (provide a thesis, such as reviewing this work as an exercise in your professionalization; and give a road map for the rest of the review), a discussion of each section/chapter, and a conclusion that connects what you’ve read to what we’ve discussed in our class or other things that you’ve learned in the PTW Program. Include a Reference section with a single entry for the book in APA style at the end of your document. If you quote or paraphrase any material, remember to parenthetically cite it using APA style (see the Purdue OWL APA site for more info).

Copies of the book can be found in the New York Public Library and Archive.org. Amazon has used copies and used bookshops likely have copies, too.

Everyone should be doing this kind of work anyways–learning as much about the field as you can in preparation for beginning your career–but I can give you these points as encouragement.

I want to encourage everyone in class to submit something to this year’s Literary Arts Festival writing contest. Not only might you win an award, but your work might be included for publication in City Tech Writer. Either or both of these accolades would be great additions to your resume. To sweeten the deal, I’m willing to give you extra credit if you submit something that you’ve revised/worked on before submission (you can screenshot your confirmation after submitting your work with the Google Form and email that to me). There are many categories for submissions. The deadline is March 20. See below and read the LAF website here for more details.