Teaching Writing in Public Administration Education
| DOI | 10.1177/014473940602600103 |
| Published date | 01 March 2006 |
| Author | Brian A. Ellison |
| Date | 01 March 2006 |
Teaching Public Administration, Spring 2006,
Vol.
26,
No.1, pp.25-31
TEACHING WRITING IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
EDUCATION
BRIAN
A.
ELLISON,
College o/Charleston and the University o/South Carolina
We
public administration educators have spent remarkably little time thinking
about the writing skills
we
impart to students or reporting our techniques
although
it
is
arguably the most important professional skill we can develop
in
our students. After reading Catherine
F.
Smith's excellent book, Writing Public
Policy: APractical Guide to Communicating
in
the Policy-Making Process
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), Iconducted asearch for articles
and books on writing for public administration and policy courses at various
libraries, Amazon.com, and several journal databases (such
as
PAIS
International) and found none. This
is
surprising because Iknow that most of.
my
colleagues stress writing in their courses.
The purpose
of
this essay is to present some ideas about the teaching
of
writing skills in public administration and policy courses and to provide a
review
of
Writing Public Policy. Irealised while reading Smith's book that I
have developed my own writing pedagogy after ten years
of
service to Master
of
Public Administration programs. Although Irisk offending professional
composition teachers, professors
of
rhetoric, journalists and editors, some
of
these ideas may be useful to those
of
us committed to teaching both public
administration and writing. Imust also stress that the essay does not address the
role
of
writing in public organisations, or strategic communication (see Raphael
and Nesbary, 2005). Instead, Ifocus on writing as acomponent
of
professional
development: how we can help writers improve their skills rather than how can
we
make better intra- and inter-organisational communicators (though both
clearly go hand-in-hand). Iwill begin by providing ageneral discussion on the
relationship between writing and professional development, and will conclude
by
describing three aspects
of
writing in public administration education.
Writing
and
Context
While there are aplethora
of
books available that offer tools, techniques and
advice for good writing, there are not many that place them in context: probably
because it would limit book sales and legitimise the idea that teaching writing
and teaching substance can go together. Smith's book does both. It offers a
guide to the types
of
written products that are produced at each stage
of
the
25
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