Glorified Grammarian or Versatile Value Adder? What Internship Reports Reveal About the Professionalization of Technical Communication

Janel Bloch

Abstract

Purpose: To compare and contrast the experiences of technical communication interns over recent decades as they relate to the progress toward the professionalization of technical communication.

Methods: Exploratory thematic analysis of 15 detailed graduate student internship reports (1984–2009) based on five professionalization issues: educational background, identifiability of technical communicators, status, demonstrating value added, and professional consciousness.

Results: Interns across the entire time range faced professionalization issues. Regarding education, the need for technical communicators to possess specialized subject-matter knowledge is becoming even more essential in this age of distributed work and could be addressed within the technical communication curriculum by more consistently requiring minors or double majors in specialized fields. The study also shows a continuing lack of awareness of the technical communication skill set; the Technical Communication Body of Knowledge project is progress toward professionalizing the skill set. Additionally, status issues and the need to add value were persistent challenges for the interns. Educators should avoid conditioning technical communication students to expect low job status and help them find the right organizational fit, actively promote themselves, and be financially aware. The professional consciousness of technical communicators seems to have eroded over time, as the overlap with other fields may hinder technical communication from becoming an easily differentiable profession, although the Technical Communication Body of Knowledge project and STC's move toward certification may assist in this regard.

Conclusions: Several recommendations are offered for interns, employers, and faculty to help interns be perceived as professionals and to improve the professionalization of technical communication as a whole.

Keywords: internships, professionalization, graduate programs, status

Practitioner's Takeaway

Employers of technical communication interns should carefully match interns with positions to fully use their skills, considering issues such as subject-matter expertise and fit with organizational culture.
Employers of technical communication interns should be prepared to provide adequate feedback, help them with networking, and coach them to be self-advocates.
Technical communication interns must be prepared to be entrepreneurial and financially savvy and to seek opportunities to demonstrate their value in tangible ways.
Practitioners should maintain contact with academic programs in technical communication, which continually seek internship opportunities for students.

Introduction

The media often broadcast “technical writer” as a promising career choice. In fact, U.S. News & World Report ranked “technical writer” as “one of the 50 best careers of 2011” (Newman, 2010). However, students interested in technical communication careers still struggle with identifying opportunities and adapting to their first position. To help ease this transition, many technical communication programs offer course credit for internships, and some include them as a degree requirement (Savage & Seible, 2010). Internships can benefit all involved: Students obtain experience and a chance to apply their academic knowledge, employers see what students can offer, and faculty stay connected with workplace needs. As Munger (2006) puts it, internships can be “win-win-win situations” (p. 336).

An important part of internships is for students to reflect on connections between the work done on the job and the knowledge learned in school. This reflection can be prompted by activities such as keeping journals and participating in class discussions during the internship and also by writing a comprehensive report upon completing the internship (e.g., Tovey, 2001, p. 232). In graduate-level technical communication programs, this report can be equivalent in length and rigor to a master's thesis, complete with a faculty supervisory committee.

This article discusses my exploratory study of the detailed internship reports of students in a technical communication master's degree program. These reports from 1984 to 2009 chronicle the experiences of students working in a variety of technical communication-related positions.

My study addresses two gaps in the literature. The first is the lack of narratives of technical communicators' work experiences, which Savage and Sullivan (2001) identified and began to address in their collection Writing a Professional Life: Stories of Technical Communicators On and Off the Job. Second, as these internship reports cover the past quarter century, I address the need for longitudinal studies of technical communicators' work (Rude, 2009). These reports, taken together, provide a look at trends, or lack thereof, in the professionalization of technical communication and offer a unique opportunity to compare and contrast experiences over time. I conclude with recommendations for interns, employers, and faculty.

Methodology

The internship reports in this study were written by students in the Master of Technical and Scientific Communication (MTSC) program at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. This program began in the mid-1980s and, as Anderson (1984) explains, was designed around a “problem-solving model” (p. 163) that reflected the need to devise creative strategies to address the variety of situations technical communicators face in the workplace. By developing this problem-solving mind-set, students were prepared “not only for entry-level positions as writers and editors, but also for rapid advancement in the profession” (Anderson, p. 165). Students were required to complete an internship, following detailed requirements for both employers and students (see Miami University, 2004a, 2004b). The internship could take various forms, such as a summer internship or a designated portion of a full-time job, and it was often the student's first professional work experience.

To get academic credit for the internship, students were required to write a detailed report approved by a faculty committee. Students submitted the approved report to Miami University's library to be publicly available, just as is done for a thesis or dissertation. They were aware of four audiences: future MTSC students, their faculty committee, their internship colleagues, and “a very nebulous fourth audience”—anyone obtaining the report through Miami University's library (Miami University, 2004b, p. 6).

The content and organization of these reports were delineated quite clearly (Miami University, 2004b):

A description of the employer and how the intern fit into its organizational structure
A general overview of the intern's work
A detailed description of the intern's work on a major project
The intern's reflection on the internship, relevant to topics studied within the MTSC program.

To help ensure the value of the internship to all concerned, interns were required to have a statement signed by the employer and the faculty committee verifying that the internship involved “professional work appropriate for someone who has completed at least one year of graduate study in technical and scientific communication” (Miami University, 2004b, p. 2). Employers agreed to give interns an appropriate orientation and to provide two evaluations.

Interns were also required to have both a supervisor within the organization and a “writing mentor” who could “teach, advise, and evaluate” them regarding workplace writing (Miami University, 2004b, p. 4). The supervisor and the mentor could be the same person but need not be. For example, a student in a “lone writer” position would need an external writing mentor.

This collection of internship reports provides a valuable data set of firsthand accounts of the work of technical communicators that can be used in examining issues pertaining to the professionalization of technical communication. Specifically, this set of reports does the following:

Provides detailed accounts of technical communication work experiences
Includes samples of work in (often lengthy) appendices
Spans a wide range of time, 1984–2009, allowing for a kind of longitudinal study
Represents a variety of internship situations in different technical areas, including technological, medical, scientific, and environmental.

For this exploratory investigation, I selected 15 reports, from the more than 200 available, to examine in detail—approximately half from the beginning and middle years of the time range, and the rest from more recent years. I chose more reports from recent years to reflect the present status of the field and to offer insights for making recommendations, and I selected reports representing a variety of internship situations and subject-matter areas. Because the reports varied in the details offered, I chose reports that addressed the five professionalization issues discussed in the remainder of this article.

My university's Institutional Review Board determined that the requirements for human subjects research are not applicable to this study because all the reports are publicly available. Full citations for the reports are listed in Appendix A. Table 1 summarizes the reports analyzed for this article. To emphasize the years rather than the authors throughout this article, the reports and the interns are referred to by year and number rather than by the author's name.

Professionalization Issues

Technical communication has long struggled with professionalization issues. The two volumes of Power and Legitimacy in Technical Communication (Kynell-Hunt & Savage, 2003, 2004) include 20 articles, and related pieces have appeared in this journal on a regular basis. I have identified within these discussions five common themes that also appear in the reports in my study: (1) educational background; (2) identifiability; (3) status; (4) demonstrating value added; and (5) professional consciousness. Each of these themes is explained below.

Table 1: Summary of Internship Reports Examined for This Study

Title	Year and Number	Organization
Technical Writer	1984-01	Technical Communications Department of a large electronic data-processing company
Medical Writer	1984-02	Medical Affairs Department of a large pharmaceutical company
Technical Publications Writer/Editor	1985-01	Neurotoxicology Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Technical Writer	1994-01	Risk Management Business Unit of a newly merged software company
Part-time Assistant Medical Writer	1995-01	Regulatory Services Department of the pharmaceutical division of a large consumer products company
Technical Writer	1995-02	Small consulting firm providing services such as training, documentation, technical artwork, and simulations
Technical Writer	1995-03	Small technical communication consulting firm with large corporate and government clients
Technical Writer/Editor	2004-01	Document Development Branch Editorial Team, Education and Information Division, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
Technical Writer	2004-02	Web-Based Learning team in Information Systems and Services Department of a large grocery retailer
Study Analyst/Report Writer	2004-03	Study Analysis and Reports Department of a large contract scientific research organization
User Services Analyst	2004-04	Small software company
Technical Communicator/Trainer	2007-01	Small consulting company
Technical Writer	2009-01	Office of an international ground engineering and environmental consulting firm
Community Health Worker	2009-02	Community health center in an economically disadvantaged area
Instructional Design Senior Analyst	2009-03	Content Development Center of a division of a global management consulting, technology services, and outsourcing firm

Educational Background

The existence of academic programs in a field contributes to professionalization, as Kynell-Hunt (2003) discusses in explaining how engineering improved its status as a profession. In 1995, Zimmerman and Muraski recommended that more technical communicators pursue educational opportunities specifically related to technical communication and observed, “Less than 20% of STC's members reported having degrees in technical communication. Most have degrees in English, journalism, social sciences, or scientific, engineering, or technical fields” (p. 621). As with engineering and medicine, careers in technical communication preceded academic programs, and only in recent decades have degrees in technical communication become widely available. Even now, it is possible to become a technical communicator with a degree in another field, and existing technical communication degree programs have differing requirements. This variation in education has been simultaneously advantageous and problematic (Harner & Rich, 2005; Meloncon, 2009; Rainey, Turner, & Dayton, 2005; Wilson & Ford, 2003).

Identifiability

Another aspect of professionalization repeatedly noted in the literature is that technical communicators are sometimes difficult to identify, and when they are identified, there is no clear understanding of what they can do (Giammona, 2004; Hayhoe, 2003; Jones, 1995). This lack of identifiability indicates the absence of “market closure,” which Savage (1999) argues is a characteristic of true professions: An occupation with market closure has an “identifiable status in the marketplace, to the exclusion of other occupation groups who would offer or claim to offer comparable services” (p. 357). The long-debated issue of a professional certification for technical communicators (Turner & Rainey, 2004) is directly associated with this theme as well.

Status

The literature includes much ongoing discussion about the low status and perceived dispensability of technical communicators in the workplace (Giammona, 2004; Hayhoe, 2003; Myers, 2009). According to Spilka (2000), “technical communicators are often undervalued and perceived as grammarians only. They are often on the lowest rungs of the corporate ladder and the first to be laid off when company finances become shaky; and they are rarely viewed as corporate leaders” (p. 219).

Demonstrating Value Added

The literature has frequently discussed the need for technical communicators to be proactive in demonstrating their value, which is not readily apparent in traditional accounting measures (Redish, 1995). According to Sherri Michaels, a technical communicator with decades of experience, technical communicators are “unknown and unseen asset[s]” and “To have an impact, we need to be more opportunistic, to imbed ourselves in the core functions of our organizations—improving sales revenue, reducing risk, or increasing product acceptance” (qtd. in Myers, 2009, pp. 8–9). Technical communicators need to use their rhetorical skills to demonstrate—in ways that are meaningful to their colleagues—the value they provide. Once this groundwork is established, they should be more likely to be the “change agents” that Hughes (2002, p. 284) believes they are capable of being and instigate the “social change” that Kynell-Hunt (2003, p. 61) argues is necessary for the technical communication field to harness the power to truly achieve professional status.

Professional Consciousness

Compared to those with more established professions, technical communicators are not as individually or collectively connected to the field (Savage, 1999). The recent developments in the Technical Communication Body of Knowledge project (Coppola, 2010) are a step in the right direction toward establishing a common knowledge base to which all technical communicators can connect.

Analysis of Internship Reports

The following discussion examines the professionalization themes identified above as they appear in the selected internship reports. Subsequent reflection details what this analysis indicates about the movement toward the professionalization of technical communication.

Educational Background

The MTSC program was established in the mid-1980s, as the number of degree programs in technical communication was beginning to grow (Anderson, 1984, p. 160). It included courses focused specifically on technical communication, along with others in related topics such as rhetoric, editing, linguistics, visual design, organizational communication, and management. The MTSC program also required students to take graduate-level coursework in a specialty area (e.g., medical, environmental) and to complete an internship in that same area. Table 2 summarizes the educational background (in addition to the MTSC coursework) of the internship report authors and the experience of their immediate coworkers.

Table 2 may reflect the changing nature of technical communicators' work environments resulting from the trend toward distributed work, a concept embedded in popular terms such as “the new economy, “the knowledge economy,” or “the hyperlinked organization” (Spinuzzi, 2007, p. 266). As Spinuzzi (2007) explains, distributed work results from “the fundamental shift in work organization away from the stable, rationalized, modular work structures that characterized the Industrial Revolution and toward less stable, more interpenetrated work” (p. 266). Perhaps indicative of this shift away from “modular work structures,” the only intern in the sample who worked in a department called “technical communications” was 1984-01. In the 1980s, as the computer industry was developing, more organizations employed multiple full-time technical writers, sometimes having separate departments for them. Eventually, many of those technical communications departments gave way to outsourcing and rightsizing. As can be seen in Table 2, most of the other interns were among few writers employed by their organization. Indeed, six of the interns were lone writers (1984-02, 1985-01, 1994-01, 2004-02, 2007-01, 2009-01). An exception may be 2009-03, but this intern was employed by a consulting firm and thus worked for a variety of clients (i.e., “less stable, more interpenetrated work”).

Table 2: Summary of Educational Background of Intern and Experience of Coworkers in Given Work Situations

Year	Organization	Additional education of intern	Work situation and coworker experience
1984-01	Technical Communications Department of a large electronic data-processing company	Graduate business courses	Member of a Technical Communications Department where coworkers had varying degrees of education and experience; some had no experience but had recently completed degrees, while others had much experience, but no formal training in technical communication.
1984-02	Medical Affairs Department of a large pharmaceutical company	Undergraduate biology degree	The only medical writer on a single team consisting of a physician, a clinical researcher, a statistician, and an administrative assistant. One other medical writer served all product teams.
1985-01	Neurotoxicology Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency	Undergraduate English and journalism degree with graduate courses in chemistry and biology	The only technical communicator—reported to the division director and supported scientists/researchers.
1994-01	Risk Management Business Unit of a newly merged software company	Unspecified	The only technical communicator on a 15-member product team of developers and specialists in quality assurance, management, and sales.
1995-01	Regulatory Services Department of the pharmaceutical division of a large consumer products company	Had worked for the company as a research associate for 3+ years	Member of a team developing a new drug application; the only writer on the team; there appeared to be writers on other teams, but no formal medical writing group.
1995-02	Small consulting firm providing training, documentation, technical artwork, and simulations	Unspecified	Worked with two other consultants—one with a MTSC degree, and the other working on an instructional design degree. Clients had manufacturing and engineering backgrounds.
1995-03	Small technical communication consulting firm	Unspecified	Worked with other consultants having graduate degrees in technical communication. Clients typically had backgrounds in engineering or environmental science.
2004-01	Document Development Branch Editorial Team, Education and Information Division, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health	Unspecified—had some science graduate courses, but not a strong science background	Worked with other writer/editors (unspecified educational background), some with many years of experience. Also worked with an occupational chemist subject-matter expert.
2004-02	Web-Based Learning team in Information Systems and Services Department of a large grocery retailer	Undergraduate computer science degree	The only technical writer on team, with a group leader, group manager, and three developers.
2004-03	Study Analysis and Reports Department of a large contract scientific research organization	Undergraduate science degree	Worked with other study analysts with unspecified backgrounds.
2004-04	Small software company	Unspecified	Worked with other technical communicators with bachelor's or master's degrees in technical communication.
2007-01	Small consulting company providing services such as creating software applications and designing data warehouses	Unspecified	The only technical communicator—worked with consultants with a variety of backgrounds, such as computer science and database management.
2009-01	Office of an international ground engineering and environmental consulting firm	Unspecified	The only technical communicator in this office—many colleagues had engineering and technology backgrounds.
2009-02	Community health center in an economically disadvantaged area	Unspecified	Worked with the medical director and other medical personnel. No coworkers with training in technical communication.
2009-03	Content Development Center of a division of a global management consulting, technology services, and outsourcing firm	Unspecified	Worked with other consultants with training in instructional design.

Table 2 seems to also reflect the increasing availability of specialized study in technical communication. Intern 1984-01 was also the only one mentioning difficulty working with technical communicator colleagues who lacked academic training in the field. Interestingly, this intern describes efforts to arrange additional training for these colleagues and how these efforts were met with resistance. Although other interns worked with technical communicator colleagues, many of these coworkers had advanced academic training in technical communication (1995-02, 1995-03, 2004-04).

The interns' graduate education seems to have served them well in initially finding a position in the workplace. In addition to communication-related courses, the MTSC program required graduate-level coursework in a subject-matter area related to the internship. A lack of subject-matter knowledge can sometimes detract from a technical communicator's perceived professionalism; a number of interns indicated that subject-matter expertise was extremely helpful to them in relating to coworkers in other fields (1984-02, 2004-01, 2004-02). Others indicated that even more technical knowledge would have been helpful (1984-01, 1985-01, 2009-01).

Table 3: Summary of Work Done by the Interns

Year	Representative work done by the intern
1984-01	Interviewed colleagues in various areas and created technical documents for both technical and nontechnical audiences—mainly for internal use Edited the work of colleagues in Technical Communications and other departments Created order management forms and other documents for internal projects Transferred files from one system to another
1984-02	Prepared communications addressed to the Food and Drug Administration Helped researchers prepare scientific journal articles and poster presentations Edited advertising copy
1985-01	Wrote standard operating procedures (SOPs) on experiments routinely performed and developed a system for writing, editing, formatting, and maintaining the SOPs Wrote a brochure describing the purpose, research, and goals of the organization Provided writing and editing support as needed
1994-01	Created a complete draft of a user's guide Designed, wrote, edited, and produced a set of documentation Assisted the business unit manager with marketing, conference, and customer communications Did status report newsletters, edited an ad for American Banker, edited presentations for banking conferences, and revised marketing brochures
1995-01	Wrote and edited a clinical investigator's brochure Wrote and formatted guidelines and descriptions of the information required in a new drug application (NDA) Wrote and edited two-page summaries of articles with data supporting the NDA
1995-02	Did technical research, writing, editing, and desktop publishing for instructional design projects for a large equipment manufacturer
1995-03	Edited and wrote an annual site report for an environmental cleanup project Developed two training kits for groups within a large consumer products company Managed one small project Developed computer-based training (CBT) Attended proposal meetings to market the firm's CBT development services
2004-01	Wrote and designed a brochure about skin exposure to chemicals Edited an occupational safety and health program and system effectiveness report Created a large poster to present scientific information from a white paper Edited and animated a PowerPoint slideshow
2004-02	Helped plan, edit, design, and revise content for a web-based training course Developed application simulations Created a newsletter to broadcast the newly created department's activities and services
2004-03	Analyzed data and wrote reports using software packages and databases—involved the entire writing process—including revision Comprehensively coedited a textbook chapter Created graphics for coworkers
2004-04	Documented the firm's latest software application, including writing online help and creating online demonstrations for the application
2007-01	Updated the organization's website Created user and system documentation for a proprietary application Developed timelines, status reports, and checkpoints
2009-01	Prepared a large report for a major client Prepared construction quality assurance reports and marketing information, including statements of qualifications and templates Updated the office intranet site Prepared environmental impact assessments, conducted independent research, prepared permit amendments and modifications Conducted résumé reviews for the firm's book of consultants' résumés
2009-02	Developed and wrote the content needed to expand the clinic's website Redesigned the clinic's informational brochure Worked on two grants Wrote health dialogue scripts for the clinic's health care workers to use in interacting with patients
2009-03	Developed an online training course Developed other low-end and high-end instructor and web-based training Did audience analysis, gathered information from subject-matter experts, and prepared/reviewed deliverables

Identifiability

Several of the interns encountered colleagues or other professionals who did not identify technical communication as a separate profession and who were unsure of what technical communicators do. Table 1 includes a variety of job titles, which seem to shift away from “technical writer” or “technical communicator”; this shift may indicate movement away from market closure (Savage, 1999). While further analysis of the entire set of reports would be needed to substantiate the shift, this finding is echoed by Rainey, Turner, and Dayton (2005, p. 325), who found that the 67 technical communication managers they surveyed used 16 different titles, and by Lanier (2009, p. 53), who studied employment advertisements for technical communicators.

However, Savage (1999) also argues that “a common market-controlling strategy in professionalization is for practitioners to work for clients, rather than employers” (p. 365). Table 2 indicates that, despite the variability of job titles, technical communication may actually be moving toward market closure in this respect, because 6 of the 15 interns worked for consulting firms or contractors (1995-02, 1995-03, 2004-03, 2007-01, 2009-01, 2009-03), and more of these situations were in recent years.

Another indicator of market closure is producing work different from those in other professions. Zimmerman and Muraski (1995) observed that although technical communicators are asked to produce a wide variety of documents, “they may not have the requisite interviewing, organizing, writing, copyediting, proofreading, analyzing, illustrating, conducting usability assessments, and computer skills” (p. 622). The reports show that these interns were indeed able to produce many kinds of documents and did possess the necessary complex skills, which likely came from the academic background provided in the master's program, often coupled with the intern's subject-matter expertise. Table 3 illustrates the kinds of documents produced and the skills applied in producing them.

As Table 3 shows, the interns produced a wide variety of documents and used many different skills, such as writing; editing; design; audience analysis; interviewing; and even project management, marketing, negotiation, and sales.

Status

To examine the status issues the interns faced, I searched their reports for themes relating to respect, value, support, and trust and found that the interns articulated two kinds of status issues: those related to being interns and those related to being technical communicators.

Status Issues Related to Being Interns Status issues common to interns included lack of cooperation from colleagues or clients and insufficient management support.

Lack of cooperation from colleagues or clients. Because interns are new on the job, getting cooperation and respect from colleagues or clients is inherently a challenge (Sitts, 2006). For the interns in my study, this problem was exacerbated by the nature of their work, because many of their colleagues or clients were subject-matter experts (SMEs) from whom the interns needed information. For example, intern 1984-01 struggled to get programmers to find the time to meet with him because they viewed it as taking away from time that could be spent programming. Similarly, intern 1985-01 was assigned to write SOPs mandated by upper management, but the scientists she needed to work with were not motivated to assist her because in their high-pressure “publish or perish” environment, they preferred to spend their time on research. Some interns seemed frustrated and upset by having requests for information met with delayed, minimal, or no response (1985-01, 1994-02), while others took the situation as a given and adjusted. For example, interns 1995-01 and 2009-02 attributed the delays to timing issues that were simply part of the process.

Insufficient management support. A perceived lack of management support is also common to interns in general. In their empirical study of the internship satisfaction of 261 undergraduate business students, D'Abate, Yount, and Wenzel (2009) found that the availability of feedback and mentoring from supervisors affected an intern's overall contentment (p. 534). This finding held true in my study as well. Some of the interns mentioned being expected to carry out complex projects without supervisory support. For example, intern 1984-01 was assigned to write a document that upon further investigation (while the supervisor was away), was determined not to be needed, and intern 2004-03 felt a “sense of abandonment” (p. 29) when her supervisor took an extended leave, providing little instruction on how to proceed during this absence. Intern 1985-01, who was trying to write management-mandated SOPs, believed that her supervisor should have intervened more on her behalf, saying, “if the importance of my work had been communicated … by the Director rather than by me, the [research scientists] might have taken their part in my assignments more seriously” (p. 59).

Status Issues Related to Being Technical Communicators Other status issues within the reports relate specifically to the nature of the technical communication field: expectations of low status, lack of subject matter knowledge, and differences in goals.

Expectations of low status. Interns at both ends of the time range reported being advised to expect to encounter problems with status—not because they were interns, but because they were technical communicators. For example, the colleagues of intern 1984-01 explained that “gaining respect and cooperation from professionals such as systems analysts was a problem throughout the technical writing profession” (p. 64). And several years later, intern 2007-01 wrote that she learned in graduate school that “the role of the technical communicator is for the most part underappreciated” (p. 49). Perhaps technical communicators are being conditioned to expect this situation, thus creating a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Lack of subject matter knowledge. Technical communicators are sometimes perceived to have a “lack [of] sufficient technical or scientific background in the eyes of technical and scientific colleagues” (Zimmerman & Muraski, 1995, p. 622). For example, intern 1984-01 indicated difficulty in getting a programmer to meet with him, and then when they finally met, experiencing problems because of the difference in subject matter knowledge. Intern 1985-01, a lone writer working with scientists in a research organization, felt inherently lacking in status because she did not share their background, and observed that they “seem to have little interest in or patience with people who do not ‘speak the language’ of professional scientists, particularly neuroscientists” (p. 53). Most of the interns, however, rather than being hampered by a lack of knowledge, took steps to remediate it by investing significant time in learning more about the subject matter, the project, or the organization.

Differences in goals. Often status issues seemed to result from differences in goals between the technical communicators and their colleagues or clients. For example, the research scientists who worked with intern 1985-01 were not motivated to help her with her project because they did not see the SOPs she was writing as essential to their work. Yet when she offered editing services, they were much more enthusiastic about working with her because editing related directly to their own professional goals. Clients sometimes have different goals as well. As an audience-centered technical communicator, intern 1995-03 strove to prepare high-quality documents; however, she sometimes found that a client was not interested in her suggestions and just wanted a “finished product to show his/her boss or to complete an agreement” (p. 29). At the same time, this intern found that other clients did demand quality (p. 30). Given these important differences in client motivations, she soon learned to view the client as an important primary audience whose needs often took precedence over those of the actual users of the communication.

Not all technical communicators have status issues. While none of the interns in my study reported flourishing to the extent of the new technical writer whose coworkers made her feel like a “goddess,” (Rutten, 2001, p. 43), some did report minor triumphs. Intern 1984-02 describes a successful internship as an embedded medical writer on a product team. Intern 2004-02, while initially feeling that his colleagues had a limited understanding of his role, describes successfully teaching them what he could do.

Demonstrating Value Added

Sometimes technical communicators are in positions in which there is a question of whether they are needed at all. Interns in this type of situation included 1984-02 (employed by an organization that had one medical writer but was contemplating hiring more writers and embedding them on teams, as was done with this intern); 2004-02 (hired as the first technical communicator on a new team); and 2009-01 (working for a consulting firm that was evaluating the need for a permanent technical communicator). The interns in these test case roles seemed especially motivated to demonstrate that they could add value. As intern 2009-01 stated, “I knew that virtually everyone in the office viewed my role as superfluous and a type of added luxury” (p. 54).

In identifying the strategies the interns used for demonstrating value and, in turn, laying the groundwork for effecting the change that could ultimately enhance the professionalization of the field, I looked in the reports for discussion around themes such as adding value, measuring costs, and self-promotion. Three areas appear to contribute to the ability to demonstrate value: organizational fit, proactive self-promotion, and financial awareness.

Organizational Fit To “move from the periphery,” Sullivan, Martin, and Anderson (2003) suggest that new technical communicators have “a realistic view of one's position in the team's or organization's hierarchy” (p. 125), while simultaneously attempting to put themselves on a “social trajectory” (p. 127). Intern 2004-01, who worked for an office within a large government agency, recommends that understanding how technical communicators' work fits into the structure of the larger organization can help improve the ability to “appropriately write and frame the information in their communication products” (p. 27), thus enabling the communications to be perceived as more valuable. Obviously, learning this takes time, and many of the interns reported devoting significant percentages of the total time of their internship to training and self-study.

Before accepting a position within an organization, technical communicators need to determine whether their individual values and goals mesh with the organizational culture. For example, intern 1985-01 realized too late that her scientist colleagues in the research organization where she interned did not believe that the work she had been assigned to do added value. They perceived it as busywork and, given the limited time of her internship period, this attitude was difficult to change, especially without management support. Another intern, 2007-01, discovered that she was the only female in a small organization and did not fit well into the culture. Intern 2004-03 reported struggling with ethical issues relating to the animal research about which she was writing. Situations of poor organizational fit are best avoided at the outset, as they will just make the challenge of proving one's value even more difficult. In contrast, intern 2009-01, a test case technical communicator, displayed a positive attitude by saying that “explaining my role, demonstrating my skills, showing my value to the organization, and learning the technical subject matter, continued to pose challenges to my role and position within the organization, and they are challenges that I think anyone who is carving a new path and changing the traditional roles within an organization is going to face” (p. 10). However, depending on the situation within the organization, these efforts still might not have been successful. Technical communicators need both a positive attitude and the right environment to be able to effectively demonstrate their value.

Proactive Self-Promotion Kynell-Hunt (2003) argues that to “extend the creation of power, status, and legitimacy,” technical communicators need to “become proactive rather than reactive to the specific requirements or needs of industry” (p. 65). Doing so could be challenging, however, as they often serve in roles that support those in other disciplines, such as engineers or software developers. Intern 2009-01 stated, “I knew that simply sitting and waiting for work to fall into my lap was not going to show my initiative or justify the need for a technical communicator. However, if I could say, ‘I noticed that I could help with X, is that something I could get involved in?’ I knew that they would see that I was proactively trying to make myself more visible and valuable to the organization” (p. 56). Intern 2004-02 earned respect by taking initiative in creating a newsletter to promote the new web-based learning group of which he was a part (p. 29). Additionally, intern 2007-01 stated, “I was my best advocate” and would “seek out the areas where my expertise would be valuable—especially looking for those that may have been overlooked by management” (p. 45). Furthermore, to make herself more well known, intern 2009-01 tried to find opportunities to work with colleagues nationally and globally because “[g]etting involved in projects beyond the [local] office helps to illustrate that I am adding value to the entire organization in ways that no one at [organization] would have predicted” (pp. 56–57).

Some interns found that an effective way to demonstrate value was to assist colleagues with technical editing. For example, intern 1985-01 struggled to get her research scientist colleagues to appreciate her work. She eventually noticed that she could show value through editing their writing, but she struggled to move beyond that. Another intern had more success with this approach; when intern 2004-02 edited content that had already been edited several times by others, he made significant improvements to it (p. 27), greatly impressing his teammates. Although some technical communicators may resist this tactic, adding value in small, yet tangible, ways may be an effective starting point.

Financial Awareness As Mead (1998) puts it, “if technical documentation cannot be shown to contribute to the bottom line, it has no reason for being, regardless of its efficiency or the quality of the documents themselves” (p. 353). Several of the interns specifically mentioned budgetary considerations. Intern 2004-04 was thinking in the right direction when she wanted to “get a better sense of how technical communicators help [the company] meet its primary goal of increasing profitability” (p. 7). Intern 1995-03 ultimately added value to her firm by realizing that with “fixed contract projects” such as the environmental report she was working on, there was no point in trying to persuade the client to accept changes that would make the document more user-centered because this would generate additional work with no additional revenues (p. 24).

While many made some reference to considering billable hours and total revenues, most of the interns did not mention using specific rubrics for measuring value. However, intern 2004-03 mentioned that a goal of her work was “reducing the number of technical assistance and support calls” (p. 12). Additionally, intern 2007-01 indicated a bottom-line focus by mentioning that she learned to always think of her client's financial backers as “the most important audience for the documentation and for the software” because “if the investors pulled their funding … [the client] could potentially collapse because it was a start-up company that relied on its investors for financial support” (p. 24). While she did not elaborate on the specifics of how she demonstrated value, intern 2009-03 (employed by a division of an international consulting firm) stated that value-creation is one of the organization's core values—“ensuring that our products and services provide measurable value and meet or exceed client expectations” (p. 4).

While none of the interns reported making vast strides towards adding value by effecting change within their organization, some reported small successes. For example, intern 2004-02 convinced his colleagues of his relevance to the work group by displaying his wide array of skills, such as “content management, problem solving, and instructional design” (p. 28). Intern 2007-01 took the initiative to prepare “status reports” for her manager and her client to show the value she was adding and to “foster effective communication” (p. 40). Most happily, intern 2009-01, a test case technical communicator, was offered a full-time position.

Not all interns were as victorious. Intern 2004-03 attempted to change the organization's writing style to what she had been taught in school—always using serial commas and active voice—but was not successful (p. 24). She also tried to provide design suggestions for the report templates, but her “suggestions were sidelined to keep the focus on the prose” (p. 29). Intern 2004-04 was a bit dismayed when her proposal to having a style sheet for naming icons consistently was not accepted, as “sadly only issues that directly affected functionality were immediately or eventually addressed” (p. 23). This intern further explained that her attempts to add value by making documentation more user-centered were hampered when “the SMEs proposed that I write system-centered documentation” and “it was difficult to reach a compromise that we knew users would appreciate” (p. 23). In some cases, these suggestions might not have moved forward because general rules learned in academic environments cannot always be applied within the complicated tangles of constraints present within workplaces.

Despite varying degrees of success, these interns were all attempting to apply similar audience-centered principles. In doing so, they were drawing from a common body of knowledge, which is part of another important aspect of professionalization: a professional consciousness.

Professional Consciousness

Because most of the interns in my study were new employees without prior work experience, they faced challenges common to any new employee. Sometimes, however, these challenges were compounded by the lack of professional identity in the technical communication field. Savage (1999) observes that some technical communicators “do not see themselves as members of a category of workers who are distinguished by specialized knowledge and practices, nor by a professional history in terms of which they can identify themselves” (p. 161).

Two kinds of issues pertaining to professional consciousness relate to my examination: ambiguity of career paths and an evolving common body of knowledge.

Ambiguity of Career Paths Savage (1999) argues that the opportunity to have “a long-term career in the field” (p. 142) is necessary for a professional consciousness: “practitioners should be able to expect to advance in the field, earning increasing rewards and recognition, without having to leave the profession” (p. 142). Indeed, several interns indicated that they were planning this path, although they did not seem to subscribe to a narrow definition of the field. For example, intern 2007-01 described her internship as follows: “I was an editor, a communicator, a printer expert, an MS-Office guru, an application whiz, a programmer, a writer, a trainer, a graphic design specialist, an information architect, and an instructional designer to name a few. To explain how I fill all of these roles each day as a technical communicator would never do the field justice” (p. 49). Intern 2004-01 stated that he learned to educate coworkers “about the breadth of technical communication and all of the ways that [he] could contribute to [the organization] beyond writing and editing documents” (p. 27). He believed this internship was a good step toward his “future endeavors as a technical and environmental communicator” (p. 10). Intern 2004-02 demonstrated a professional identity by stating that a goal for his work was to “model the importance of the technical communication profession” (p. 29).

Some of the internships had designations other than “technical communication.” For example, intern 2009-03, who had an instructional design position with a large consulting firm, explains the overlap between the two fields but also notes that “there were some areas where I needed to develop new skills that I had not learned during my study of technical communication” (p. 56), including writing training genres (such as scenarios and case studies) and using software tools for instructional design software (such as iAuthor and Adobe Presenter). She explains that the instructional design development process she used is similar to the technical communication problem-solving process she learned in the MTSC program. The audience-centered approach also overlaps, as do the writing skills (2009-03, p. 60). As a community health worker, intern 2009-02 performed many technical communication tasks, such as writing grant proposals (p. 29). She indicated that in this position she was able to “function as a technical and scientific communicator in multiple ways: as a knowledge manager, writer, editor, project manager, information designer, trainee, trainer, and subject matter or software expert” (p. 39). Intern 1984-01 mentioned that after his internship in a technical communication department of a large company, he moved into a different department but continued to write documentation while also having increased responsibilities. These examples indicate that in contrast to degree programs such as engineering or accounting, where most graduates do go on to become engineers or accountants, not all graduates of technical communication programs go on to specifically designated technical communication positions. This issue complicates the idea of the professionalization of technical communication because the overlap that the field has with others may hinder it from becoming a distinct and differentiable profession.

Evolving Common Body of Knowledge Savage (1999) supports the need for a common body of knowledge for technical communication, saying that “an attitude prevails that our field has no content, no ‘higher world of ideas’” (pp. 156–157). The authors of the internship reports, however, draw from a common body of knowledge—that which they received from their technical communication master's degree program.

A few of the interns expressed disappointment that their internships did not allow them to apply all of their skill sets. Intern 1984-01, for example, felt limited in the technical communication department of a large data processing company and moved to a different position within the company that gave him more leadership and decision-making opportunities. At the other end of the time range, intern 2004-03 also felt limited in terms of being able to use her design skills. She felt constrained by being restricted to working with report templates and boilerplate and stated, “I will search for jobs in the future that will let me apply a balance of writing and design techniques to help my communications accomplish their objectives” (p. 29). In contrast, intern 2004-04 was pleased that she could display a variety of skills, saying that “technical communicators are also required to be learning strategists, project managers, and Web site developers” and believed her master's program prepared her accordingly (p. 24).

Trends in the Professionalization of Technical Communication

Using the same five themes as in the analysis in the previous section, the following reviews what the reports suggest about the progress made toward professional status for technical communication over the last quarter century and how that status may be enhanced.

Educational background

The trend toward more degree programs in technical communication is a positive step in the direction of professionalization. Only one of the earliest interns in my sample expressed difficulty in working with technical communication colleagues who lacked training in the field.

However, academic programs in technical communication vary in curricular requirements (Harner & Rich, 2005; Meloncon, 2009). For example, some require internships and some do not, in contrast to established professions such as social work, nursing, and education, where internships are required and standardized (Savage & Seible, 2010). The difficulty of standardizing academic programs is an issue that will need to be addressed as technical communication moves toward professional status.

Another issue that has persisted over time regarding education is that because technical communicators typically work in conjunction with colleagues in other fields, they somehow need to develop expertise in those fields. In fact, in this age of distributed work, technical communicators are frequently lone writers working with a variety of colleagues who have different backgrounds. Because technical communicators are commonly charged with compiling, or “undistributing,” this work (Slattery, 2007), they often need expertise in other fields. In my study, this issue was identified by interns across the entire time period. While the MTSC program required some coursework in a specialty area, other programs may not. In standardizing degree programs, this issue of subject-matter expertise will need to be addressed, possibly by requiring that technical communication degrees be accompanied by minors or double majors in the field the individual chooses to enter.

Identifiability

The issue of technical communicators' colleagues and clients not understanding what they do persists. For example, Hoeniges (2001), one of the interns profiled in Savage and Sullivan's (2001) Writing a Professional Life: Stories of Technical Communicators On and Off the Job, said to her employer in her exit interview, “I think that you underappreciate the contribution that your writers could make on your software projects …. Often, my role on the so-called team is to … do some kind of grammar magic …. But [we] can bring so much more. We can help with logical thinking, project management, GUI design … I'm leaving … because I don't want to spend every day frustrated at knowing that I could make a difference …” (pp. 53–54).

The reports across the entire time span of my study reflect this sentiment as well. When people think of technical communication, they often think of writing and editing technical documents. However, technical communicators can, and desire to, do much more. Additionally, as technology has evolved, so has the technical communication skill set. For example, the first intern listed in Table 3, 1984-01, performed what might be thought of as “traditional” technical communication tasks—editing and gathering information to create technical documentation. Also, interns 1984-02 and 1985-01 edited and assisted with writing documents such as brochures and SOPs. At the other end of Table 3, while the interns were still writing documentation and large reports, they were doing a wide variety of other things as well, such as updating websites, creating online demonstrations, designing online training, and doing project management activities, such as developing timelines, status reports, and checkpoints.

One might argue that identifiability is a problem for interns in any field, because it is often unclear what type of work interns should do, given that they have limited experience. In fact, O'Neill (2010), a former director and counselor at a large university's career services office, states that she “met many students who landed in my office precisely because their internships lacked direction and meaningful work” (p. 4). Additionally, Tovey (2001) explains how writing interns she supervised were given childcare duties by the director of a shelter because those assignments were perfectly acceptable for the social work interns the agency also employed. Like Tovey's interns, the interns in my study faced problems that have more to do with their being technical communicators than their being interns.

What makes technical communication different from professions such as social work, law, and accounting is that these fields involve relatively easily defined concepts, in that regardless of the specialty (e.g., children's services, intellectual property, auditing), the social worker, lawyer, or accountant is easily identified. However, “technical communication” is nebulous because technical communicators can work in any profession.

Therefore, perhaps one way of moving toward professionalization is that rather than aiming to professionalize technical communication positions, which are inherently difficult to identify, we should focus on professionalizing the skill set. This way of thinking might add further credence to the Technical Communication Body of Knowledge project (Coppola, 2010), which is an attempt to codify the knowledge that one claiming to have the expertise of a technical communicator should have, regardless of the nature of the technical content to which one applies these skills or the job title one holds.

Status

The issue of status has long been a complaint among technical communicators, but it is also a common problem with interns. Status issues were evident across the entire range of my study. While some of the status issues the interns experienced may have resulted just from being interns, others resulted from the nature of technical communication. Some mentioned that they had been cautioned throughout their academic career to expect status problems, indicating that this expectation could at least partially be a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Rather than perpetuate this mind-set, technical communication programs should educate students to think of themselves as professionals deserving of status. However, students also need to be equipped with strategies for promoting themselves and selling their skill set. Obtaining technical subject matter knowledge or having a degree in another field may also help increase status. While the movement toward professional certification of technical communicators may be a step in the right direction, certification in itself may not improve status unless employers understand its significance. Like some of the interns in my study, rather than waiting for status to be granted them, technical communicators need to use their rhetorical skills to understand and work with the difference in goals that colleagues and clients may have.

Demonstrating Value Added

Adding value goes hand in hand with status. Technical communicators need to take the responsibility of proving their worth to others within organizations, being aware that others are often focused on the bottom line. By taking a bottom-line focus, technical communicators should be able to identify strategies for adding value, as many of the interns in my study did.

Part of being able to demonstrate added value depends on having the right organizational fit in the first place. Those interns in my study who struggled with convincing clients and coworkers of their worth were likely not in the right organization. While it may be difficult to do, especially for those with little workplace experience, technical communicators should strive to seek employment in organizations that value communication and have needs matching the technical communication skill set. Additionally, once within an organization, technical communicators should seek opportunities for self-promotion, as several of the interns did.

As with many of the other characteristics of professionalization, the need to demonstrate value added was present across the entire range covered by my study. However, it is common for members of professionalized fields to work on a contract basis as outside consultants inherently responsible for convincing others of the need for their services (e.g., accountants, lawyers, engineers), so the need to prove value added is not unique to technical communication and will likely become even stronger if professionalization is achieved. The difference between technical communication and other professions may be that technical communicators are often not academically trained to think in a profit-oriented way—something that will need to change as the field moves toward professional status.

Professional Consciousness

The professional consciousness of technical communicators seems to have eroded over time. Of the three most recent interns in my sample (from 2009), two were not employed as technical communicators (one was an instructional designer and the other a community health worker), and the other, although called a technical writer, was in an experimental position in which she largely needed to create her own work. In contrast, the earliest intern (1984-01) was employed preparing documentation in the technical communications department of a large company. In the 1980s, when the MTSC program and many other technical communication programs were established, graduates could expect to find jobs as technical writers, much as graduates of engineering programs expect to find jobs as engineers. However, as time went by, those positions were downsized, outsourced, or merged into other positions. With the advent of the Internet, additional roles in which technical communicators can employ their skills sets have arisen. While the lack of professional consciousness is not necessarily a bad sign, it may be partially remedied through the body of knowledge project and STC's move toward certification. These efforts should help both technical communicators and those they work with develop a clearer understanding of the work they can do and the value they can provide.

Recommendations Regarding Professionalization

The analysis of these internship reports supports the following recommendations for students, employers, and faculty. Building on Munger's (2006) advice regarding technical communication internships in general, these recommendations should help interns to be perceived as professionals and to improve the professionalization of technical communication as a whole.

Advice for Interns

Before accepting the internship, ask about the tasks you will be assigned and their importance to the organization. Some of the interns were surprised that the organizational culture did not place much value on their projects or on writing in general (1985-01, 2004-04).
Try to choose an internship in which you will be dealing with subject matter with which you are comfortable and conversant. Some of the interns (1984-01, 1985-01, 1994-01) encountered obstacles by not having a technical background as strong as that of their clients or coworkers (e.g., computer programmers, scientists). Also, most of the interns mentioned the need to be willing to invest significant time in becoming familiar with the subject matter.
Before beginning the internship, ensure that you will have a supervisor and/or a mentor who understands the competencies of technical communicators and the value they can add. If there are no mentors available within the organization, use your professors and other contacts to help you find one outside the organization (2007-01, 2009-02). Also, be sure your mentors and supervisors will be available during your internship period.
Be prepared to network within the organization. Several of the interns built trust through networking. For example, intern 2004-02 took the initiative to participate in various projects to make new contacts and demonstrate his value, and intern 2009-01 found that “Getting involved in projects beyond the [local] office helps to illustrate that I am adding value to the entire organization in ways that no one at [organization] would have predicted” (pp. 56–57).
Realize that the subject-matter experts from whom you seek information have their own goals and deadlines; do not take delays or oversights personally, and use your rhetorical skills to show how your work can benefit them. Be prepared to work with a wide variety of specialists of all levels of experience. Intern 1995-01 explains the need to be able to “work as an equal with doctoral scientists, physicians, and other highly trained and experienced individuals” and to be able to motivate them to provide what is needed (p. 26).
Take initiative and apply a wide range of skills. Many of the interns capitalized on opportunities they would not have been given if they had not sought them out (e.g., 2009-01).
Realize that there is often not enough time for the kind of evaluation and feedback from your supervisors that your professors likely provided you in school. As intern 2007-01 says, “oftentimes no response or feedback was a sign that I was meeting or exceeding [my supervisor's] expectations” and that in some cases “no feedback is good feedback.” This intern found that the “lack of feedback meant that [her supervisor] was very impressed and relieved he did not have to offer me feedback to produce good, quality work on time” (pp. 43–44).

Advice for Employers Sponsoring Internships

Realize that interns and new employees desire and appreciate feedback—both praise and constructive criticism. Interns may initially be confused by the “no news is good news” approach described by intern 2007-01. They also may feel uncomfortable asking for feedback, so offering frequent feedback, even if brief, helps interns better align their work with your expectations.
Have a clearly defined and present supervisor. Because the environment is new to interns, be sure supervisors are available throughout the internship period. Some interns became frustrated and confused when their supervisors took extended leaves of absence (1984-01, 2004-03).
Have appropriate and relevant work for the intern to do. Ask interns for input. A number of interns found that their skill set was not being fully used. Before finalizing the internship, explain the work as specifically as possible. If work plans change, develop adequate alternatives. For example, a widespread economic downturn affected the work plans for interns 2009-01 and 2009-03, when clients of the consulting firms they worked for scaled down or canceled projects. Even in-house administrative work can be mutually beneficial; for example, intern 2009-01 worked on improving the firm's résumé book.
Provide opportunities for interns to display their professionalism and coach them in doing so. Allow and encourage interns to interact with clients and other professionals, but also realize they will not yet have built the network needed to know whom to go to with particular questions. Introduce interns to relevant contacts and encourage them to demonstrate and sell their entire skill set.
Increase contact with faculty. Academic programs related to technical communication are always looking for internship opportunities for students. If you have such an opportunity, contact relevant faculty. The STC website includes a database of academic programs (http://stc.org/education/academic-database).

Advice for Faculty

Increase contact with organizations that could benefit from technical communication interns. Using your school's career services office and your own network, find appropriate contacts within organizations that could potentially employ interns. Ask students to do the same. If a student has a successful internship experience, maintain contact with that employer so that future students can be placed there. If a student has an unsuccessful experience, try to identify the reasons so that changes can be made for future placements.
Help students learn to develop social knowledge and authority. Because a common problem among the interns was the failure to fit into the organization's culture (1985-01, 2004-04, 2007-01), teach students to critically evaluate how well their values and skill sets might mesh within organizations with which they are considering employment. Sullivan, Martin, and Anderson (2003) say, “Not only should our students be learning subject-matter, rhetorical and production skills, they should also be learning social strategies that will enable them to create identities of belonging” (p. 132).
Help students understand that principles of style, punctuation, and usage—such as writing in the active voice or using serial commas—are understood and applied differently among organizations. Some interns expressed frustration that writing guidelines they had learned in school were not followed in the workplace. For example, when intern 2004-03 suggested that the scientific research organization where she was working review its policy of not using the serial comma, she was “informed that this was a long-standing practice that was not going to change” (p. 24).
Try to prepare students for the reality of financially related workplace concerns such as managing budgets, tracking billable hours, maximizing revenues and profits, and making accurate estimates. In school, the financial aspects of projects are often ignored. In the workplace, however, such issues are typically of primary concern. Students should be equipped to handle the financial aspects of project management, particularly as many technical communicators now work for consulting firms. Many of the interns reported needing to be concerned with billable hours, project budgets, and revenues. For example, intern 2009-03 mentioned that while designing training, she had to keep the project budget in mind when deciding which features to include (p. 47). Intern 2007-01 explained that it was undesirable for employees to be in the office or “‘on the bench’ and not actively billing at a client site” (p. 6). Intern 1994-01 realized “the critical importance of learning how to make accurate work estimates” (p. 40) and how these estimates affect both coworker and client expectations.
Encourage students to make meaningful and explicit connections between their internship work and their coursework. Through internships, students should “learn to integrate theory and practice, classroom learning, and professional experience” (Clark, 2003, p. 475). Because they had completed their coursework and were away from campus, the interns in my study were instructed to make these connections in their reports. Integrating internships with classes where students meet online or in person with the instructor and other interns can allow them to make these connections more immediately and, perhaps, deal with challenges more quickly.

Conclusion and Future Research

This article has examined the professionalization of technical communication from the perspective of a sample of internship reports of technical communication graduate students. These reports have been used to provide insight into the progress (or lack thereof) toward professionalization of technical communication. I have used these firsthand studies of interns over the recent quarter century to look at professionalization of the field and provide recommendations for students, sponsoring organizations, and faculty to design internship programs that will help contribute to the professionalization of the technical communication field.

This initial investigation indicates that while there have been changes in the nature of technical communicators' work and the environment in which it is conducted (such as changes in technology and the movement toward distributed work), many of the same issues regarding the professionalization of the field have existed throughout the entire range of my study. These results seem to verify what many of us already know: There is still work to be done in terms of making technical communication a viable profession now and in the future.

My hope is that further study of these reports will provide more insights into how we can improve the visibility of the contributions of technical communicators and the value that they provide. This article argues that steps toward enhancing professionalization can be made in the earliest work experiences of a technical communicator's career, by all involved—interns, employers, and faculty.

Acknowledgments

The author is grateful to the Council for Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication for providing a 2010 research grant in support of this project, to Northern Kentucky University Master of Arts in English graduate student Amy Jones for her assistance with this research, and to her colleagues Andrea Gazzaniga, Tonya Krouse, and Tamara O'Callaghan for their comments on drafts of this article.

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About the Author

Janel Bloch is an assistant professor specializing in technical, business, and professional writing in the Department of English at Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights, Kentucky. Her current research interests include technical communication career paths, editing, social media, and workplace communication. She is a Senior Member of STC and can be reached at blochj1@nku.edu.

Manuscript received 14 February 2011, revised 14 June 2011, accepted 16 August 2011.

Appendix A: Internship Reports Included in This Study

Allen, A. R. (2004). A technical communication internship at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. Retrieved from OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center.

Baker, W. E. (1984). A communications internship with Mead Data Central (Unpublished internship report). Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

Byrum, S. (2006). A technical communication internship with WIL Research Laboratories Inc. Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. Retrieved from OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center.

Clark, M. E. (1984). Internship as a medical writer at Stuart Pharmaceuticals (Unpublished internship report). Internship. Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

Denman, C. (2004). Defining the role of the technical communicator: An internship with the web-based learning group at the Kroger Company. Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. Retrieved from OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center.

Farah, V. (1988). An internship in technical communication with the Neurotoxicology Division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (Unpublished internship report). Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

Krugh, L. (2009). Report on a MTSC internship at Golder Associates Inc. Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. Retrieved from OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center.

Pegue, M. (2010). Practicing technical and scientific communication in a community health center: An internship report. Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. Retrieved from OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center.

Pochydylo, A. (1994). Report on a MTSC internship at Servantis Systems, Incorporated (Unpublished internship report). Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

Popp, S. M. (1994). Writing and editing technical and scientific documentation at The Oxford Associates, Inc. (Unpublished internship report). Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

Scott, S. P. (2004). Developing online help at Bluespring Software: An internship. Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. Retrieved from OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center.

Slusher, K. L. (1994). A medical writing internship with Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals (Unpublished internship report). Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

Wheeler, D. K. (2010). A technical writing internship in instructional design at Accenture Learning. Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. Retrieved from OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center.

Wier, K. (1996). An internship as a technical writer at Techcomm, Inc. (Unpublished internship report). Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

Zadik, J. E. (2008). Report on an MTSC internship at the Normandy Group. Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. Retrieved from OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center.

Abstract

Practitioner's Takeaway

Introduction

Methodology

Professionalization Issues

Educational Background

Identifiability

Status

Demonstrating Value Added

Professional Consciousness

Analysis of Internship Reports

Educational Background

Identifiability

Status

Demonstrating Value Added

Professional Consciousness

Trends in the Professionalization of Technical Communication

Educational background

Identifiability

Status

Demonstrating Value Added

Professional Consciousness

Recommendations Regarding Professionalization

Advice for Interns

Advice for Employers Sponsoring Internships

Advice for Faculty

Conclusion and Future Research

Acknowledgments

References

About the Author

Appendix A: Internship Reports Included in This Study

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