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For what it's worth, he was probably a SOB long before earning his PhD. I work in a bleeding edge high tech company. In my orientation on my first day, there were six of us, four of whom had PhDs. And here, as elsewhere, I've found that the brightest people, PhD or not, are usually the kindest and most reasonable. Three of my closest friends have PhDs and are full professors at various leading universities. Another friend with a PhD is a director at a multinational biotech company. Education seems to have humbled more than inflated their sense of self-importance.
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+lporrello=illumina -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+lporrello=illumina -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Chris Morton
Sent: Friday, September 16, 2011 9:53 AM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: A PhD for Technical Writing?; was, "starting on page 2?"
Trust me when I state that his was truly a state of "*p*iled *h*igher and *d
*eeper." Not only was he one of the most ignorant guys I've ever met in my
long career, he was also one of the most arrogant. Although married, his
role caused him to take an apartment two hours from home and his perceived
"bachelorhood" awarded him carte blanche (so he thought) to prey on willing
females that were on his client's staff. He fooled no one and was an
embarrassment to all.
However, the young woman who brought him in to said consulting arm of the
Big 8 accounting firm made every effort to save face by writing him *glowing
* reviews and kept him on the company staff LONG after he should have been
sent walking.
> Chris
On Fri, Sep 16, 2011 at 9:38 AM, Porrello, Leonard
<lporrello -at- illumina -dot- com>wrote:
> Phil, I totally misread your original message. I thought the gist of your
> message was to suggest that the likes of Christ Morton shouldn't presume to
> judge the knowledge of his betters, "his betters" in this case being the
> greenhorn PhD who was set to oversee his group.
>
> Scientific disciplines and possibly engineering excepted, I tend to think a
> PhD is a disadvantage when it comes working in the trenches. As we all know,
> "PhD" stands for "Doctor of Philosophy." Philosophy is a predominantly
> theoretical endeavor that doesn't necessarily translate into practical
> ability. And as far as technical writing is concerned, I think a PhD is
> counterproductive, on several levels, for anyone not interested in a career
> in academia. Having a PhD in English or technical writing proves that one
> has mastered at least one facet of English or technical communications
> theory. It in no way proves that one can work competently as a technical
> writer or manage a technical writing group.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+lporrello=illumina -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:
> techwr-l-bounces+lporrello=illumina -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of
> Phil Snow Leopard
> Sent: Friday, September 16, 2011 8:03 AM
> To: Fred Ridder
> Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: Re: starting on page 2?
>
> Fred, with all due respect, you seem to be contradicting yourself.
>
> On the one hand you agree with my point that a style guide is specific to a
> context, and on the other you suggest that Chicago is the "most broadly
> applicable".
>
> In any given context, a stye guide is either applicable or not. How large
> the domain of applicability is outside of that context is irrelevant as to
> whether it should be used or not in any given situation.
>
> Best
>
> Phil
> On 16 Sep 2011, at 21:58, Fred Ridder wrote:
>
> > Phil Snow Leopard wrote:
> >
> > > APA is for academic writing, Chicago is for 'trade' or 'professional'
> writing.
> > I have to disagree with both parts of this statement.
> >
> > The APA (American Psychological Association) style guide is only
> appropriate for a small segment of academic writing, namely psychology and
> the social sciences. It is basically useless and inappropriate for other
> types of academic writing.
> >
> > And while the Chicago Manual of Style is used in "'trade' or
> 'professional' writing", it's foundation is *academic* writing, since it is
> the house style guide of the University of Chicago Press, the largest
> university press in the US.
> >
> > The point is that there are many different types and subtypes of writing,
> not just a broad division between "academic" and "trade or professional".
> And because of this, there is a large number of style guides specific to
> many of these different types and subtypes. There are at least a half-dozen
> well known and widely used style guides for academic writing in specific
> fields (ACS for chemistry, ASA for social sciences, CSE for life sciences,
> MHRA and MLA for the arts and humanities, IEEE for computer science, etc.).
> The most comprehensive and therefore most broadly applicable academic style
> guide is Chicago, largely because the press that compiles it publishes such
> a broad range of academic and scholarly books and journals. But even Chicago
> is only partly appicable to most types of technical writing.
> >
> > -Fred Ridder
> >
> >
>
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