WSU一位香港教授（MASS COMM）给我的建议（选校，PS写作），真的极有用 [复制链接]

kooleo
UID: 161774

寄托新兵

Rank: 2

声望: 0
寄托币: 176
注册时间: 2004-4-16
精华: 2
帖子: 0

电梯直达

楼主

发表于 2004-5-17 14:41:46 |只看该作者 |倒序浏览

教授叫LEE TIEN-TSUNG，人真的非常非常好，我写100字他回了我1000字，真想当面拜谢他。我去年申请8个，5个OFFER1个AD，2个句，应该讲他的建议帮助很大。虽然是说传播的，但他所说的写PS的经验，可能对其他文科专业也有参考价值。下面是他给我两封回信的摘要。
一，主要谈传播专业选择
Thank you very much for your interest in our program and my research.

Ideologies in my research are about being liberal/conservative in U.S. politics (and how they affect media evaluation and consumption),
journalistic values such as objectivity and autonomy, and the
concentration of media ownership due to capitalism.

Given your interest in cultural/critical studies, you may want to
consider the following U.S. programs in mass communication:

1. University of Illinois-Urbana (the Institute of Communication
Research) (That is where James Carey used to teach -- too bad that Columbia University's Journalism school --where he is  now, doesn't have a Ph.D. program.)
2. University of Iowa (School of Journalism) (note that Hardt has
retired)
3. University of Oregon (School of Journalism and Communication) -- you
may want to contact Professors Carl Bybee and Janet Wasko in particular. (I took a class with Carl and think that he is brilliant. Unfortunately I never studied with Janet.)

The research interest of Professor Jian Wang at Purdue University may
be related to yours as well. (He would be a great mentor to work with.)
Another top person you may want to check out is Professor Ted Glasser
at Stanford University.

You can also contact Dr. Drzewiecka in our program (jolanta@wsu.edu).
She will know a lot more about cultural/critical studies in the U.S. than I
do.
To answer your question, yes, there is a huge gap between mass comm.
and speech comm. in the U.S. Therefore, I recommend that you focus on the latter.

If you have access to a journal called Critical Studies in Media
Communication, check out where the authors teach (I'd bet that most of
them teach in a communication or speech communication program, rather than a mass communication/journalism school/department). The former came out  a humanities tradition, and the latter a social Science/quantitative tradition. There are quite a few reputable speech communication programs in the U.S. (e.g., University of Minnesota, University of Utah, Arizona State University, University of Georgia).

Also, please check out the web page of the National Communication
Association.Again, I think my colleague Professor Drzewiecka will be a better person to offer you advice about speech communication -- especially about cultural/critical studies. She is a very bright and productive scholar erself. If you are interested in her research, she would be a great person to work with.
If you are considering a Ph.D. program in a mass communication/journalism school in the U.S., please keep in mind that most such schools expect their teaching assistants to teach production/skills classes such as news reporting and advertising copywriting. That means you would be less likely to get an offer from such programs. Therefore, again, "speech communication"  "communication studies" are the keywords you should focus on in your search for a suitable place.

If you want to live and teach in the U.S. eventually, I'd guess getting
a Doctorate (and doing research) in a mass media/quantitative fashion
would improve the odds for finding a job. There are much fewer faculty
positions in cultural/critical studies in the U.S. (The WHY would be the topic for a dissertation.) I am not suggesting that you should give up what you are interested in. Plus my observation is influenced by my own bias (I am a quantitative researcher).
Nevertheless, and if you have not done so but will have the
opportunity, I'd suggest that you take a class or two on quantitative research methods.
I personally think that the best kind of scholars should be good at
both qualitative and quantitative approaches (and I wish I could become one someday). My view is, the more tools one masters the better.

二，主要谈PHD/MA和写PS
It is always easier for doctoral students to receive funding (scholarships and/or assistantships) than masters students. You'd be paid more, too.

In case you are not familiar with the terms (used in the US), a scholarship or fellowship means you don't have to work and they will just give you the money. An assistantship (for being a teaching assistant or research assistant, or TA or RA) means you'd need to work a certain number of hours every week (usually up to 20). They will pay you a salary and (normally) waive your tuition. You may still need to pay a student fee (not part of the tuition) and your student health insurance. Normally you don't get paid in the summer.

Some GREAT financial packages may cover all fees and health benefits, plus pay you over the summer. This is one of the reasons you should apply to older/bigger programs (or private prestigious universities like Stanford) because they are more likely to offer this because they have more money.

In most US doctoral programs you'd be required to take classes in both qualitative and quantitative methods. If the latter is not offered in your own program, you can always take it in a different department. In fact, all doctoral programs will require you to take a certain number of outside classes. Sociology, Psychology, Educational Psychology, Political Science, and Decision Science (in business) are usually good places to find quantitative and statistics classes.

However, keep in mind that some critical/cultural scholars probably wouldn't like it if you take more than 2 quantitative research methods OR statistics classes because they think numbers are useless or evil. (Some quantitative scholars may not want their students to take cultural studies or political  economy classes either.) I hope you will be able to find scholars and programs who are open-minded and think all methods and approaches are valid and useful.

I took a few stats in Educational Psy when I was a master's student at the U. of Minnesota. While in Oregon I did the same in Pol Sci and Sociology.

Anyway, you should have a very good idea about what you want to study, whom you want to study with, why you are interested in their program (classes offered, research conducted), what classes (normally large undergraduate classes) you'd like to (be a) TA for, etc. when you apply. Otherwise you may get rejected. Programs determine admission based one whether an applicant is a good "fit." They need to be sure that they offer what you want. Also, they want to know that you can offer something that would benefit them. In other words, you need to convince them that you are useful.

For example, if you have a specific class (to TA for) in mind, explain your qualification (e.g., you wrote a paper on this topic; you took a similar class elsewhere). Also, professors pick RAs because those RAs know enough about a subject area, a specific research method, etc.

Be honest about your interest and intention. Whatever you say in your statement of purpose is a commitment. Of course, if for some reason a year later you change your research interest, it's fine (although it may mean that you'd need to find a different chair/advisor, or even to transfer to another program).

[B]Let me give you one example about how to market yourself. Let's say you want to apply to Oregon's doctoral program. An ideal statement of purpose would explain that you want to study with them because you are interested in political communication from a power viewpoint as well as political economy. You ran across Dr. Bybee's article on women politicians in Critical Studies in Media Communication, and would like to learn more about his approach. You would like to apply that approach in your own study of the political transformation in China. At the same time, you would like to continue your research in Political Economy in the context of the entertainment industry. Therefore, you'd like to study with Dr. Wasko. Your MA thesis, entitled....., was greatly benefited by her research on Disney. A possible dissertation topic is to examine China and Hong Kong's entertainment industry from a political economy and power struggle point of view. Specifically, you think Dr. Wasko's research questions #3 and 4 in her book entitled ...., and Dr. Bybee's article  on ......., would be very useful for your investigation. [/B]
[B]You don't want to go too overboard because no one would expect a doctoral applicant to know that much or to be that specific. However, the clearer your objectives/goals are, the better. Also, tailor (within reason) your statement of purpose for EACH program you apply to. Naming a few names (of professors) wouldn't be very persuasive because many applicants do that. Show that you truly understand and appreciate their research. This means you may need to do some reading.[/B]

As for books on research methods, there are a few popular ones that I will list bellow. But I'd also suggest another approach: to read a classic (e.g., Deciding What's News by  Herbert Gans; The Whole World is Watching by Todd Gitlin) carefully and figure out how the authors did their research.

1. Paula Poindexter and Maxwell McCombs: Research in Mass Communication: A Practical Guide.

2. Wimmer, R. D. & Dominick, J. R. Mass media research: An introduction.
Hope this helps. Let me know if I can offer more assistance.

希望能对想申请MASSCOMM或COMMSTUD的朋友有帮助。

5 0

WSU一位香港教授（MASS COMM）给我的建议（选校，PS写作），真的极有用 [复制链接]

荣誉版主

Aries白羊座