While technical writing continues to struggle for recognition as a legitimate academic discipline, English programs are increasingly perceived not only by nonacademics, but by academics in other fields as having little relevance in nonacademic professions. Internships are routine components of technical communication programs, but they can offer excellent professional opportunities to English majors who do not plan academic careers. A technical communication internship program expanded to encompass the nonacademic needs and interests of English majors has benefits for the English department, for English majors, and for the technical communication profession. First, it can enhance enrollments and retention in the English program. Second, it can build the credibility of the English curriculum in the nonacademic professional community. Finally, it can enhance the credibility of technical communication within the English department. It is to our advantage to do whatever we can to support our English department colleagues rather than to undermine their often precarious status in the academy and in society.

This article reviews the data collection process. This process is of crucial importance because data offer empirical answers to theoretical research questions. Although the literature provides a wealth of instruction on the treatment of already collected data, far less has been written about the selection of the data. The present view focuses on this overlooked portion of research methodology. An actual illustration is used to demonstrate the factual decisions and procedures that may be used in any data collection process.

A well prepared Capture Plan can mean the difference between winning and losing an important procurement opportunity. The plan if properly prepared, becomes a tool for use while assembling a proposal team, obtaining sufficient Bid and Proposal dollars, and during proposal preparation to ensure that all facets of the procurement are understood and included in the proposal. This article provides information regarding the content of a typical Capture Plan—from the details needed for a basic program summary to the steps required to conduct post-proposal activities.

As the speed of travel on the “Information Superhighway” accelerates, many small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) do not effectively keep pace. SME computer resistors include 1) the slow-plodding neophyte computer users in the far right hand lane, 2) the firms curious about computerization but who are yet to make a purchase decision, idling in neutral on the access ramps, and 3) the business that purchases improper equipment and/or software and ventures onto the “road” without proper training and support, being run over by the speeding industry. In the information high-tech world of the 1990s it seems amazing that an estimated quarter of all small businesses still do not have their first personal computer. This article calls upon the innovators of the communications field to look in the rear view mirror to see the businesses left behind in the information expansion race. A model utilizing social learning theory defines a framework for road service [1], getting the small business “resister” up to the information superhighway speed limit.

Group class exercises have the potential to provide important lessons for students. However, in completing these exercises, business students may not be getting all of the benefits from group work that a team experience could provide. The challenge to business educators is to provide a meaningful team experience within the limitations presented by the class environment. This article describes organizational communication and marketing classes that applied team formation and team-building exercises to enrich the team experience and differentiate it from typical group work.

Cola Rienzi, the 14th century notary and usurper who briefly resurrected the Roman Republic during the Avignon Papacy, is an important figure in the history of professional writing. The son of an unlettered country innkeeper, Cola combined a passion for classical rhetoric and literature with extensive training in legal documentation to create and sustain a messianic regime. By imitating Ancient Roman memos and reports in his written edicts, Cola convinced the people that he was their tribune and savior. The aristocrats and clerics chafing under Cola's authority, however, considered these documents sortilegio, sheer witchcraft. When Rienzi's edicts became increasingly self-serving and grandiloquent, the mob, sickened by his megalomania, tore him to pieces. Although he was posthumously declared anathema by the Church—partly for having invented the fountain pen—Cola's legislative reforms, and his revolutionary use of the classics to reshape administrative writing, helped pave the way for Renaissance Humanism.

In “Professional Documentation,” a class designed to make Hungarian students of English translation familiar with written genres, that are not translation, abstracting plays an important role. Students get theoretical background to abstracting in a lecture and by analyzing the appropriate chapters of technical writing textbooks. The structure and objectivity of the abstract, the features of its informative variant receive special attention. Practical student activities include analyzing and writing abstracts in different settings. Many of the methods applied can be used in the education of translators in other languages and in technical writing classes in other countries.

The guidelines for the curriculum in English published by the National Council of the Teachers of English (NCTE) and the International Reading Association have been criticized by a number of publications. A new guideline—for writing to convey factual information only—is proposed.

The process of academic peer review—i.e., students evaluating each other's work—can help instructors address a host of higher institutional objectives, not the least of which is the total quality management of collegiate teaching. But more is known about this process from the viewpoint of instructors than from the perspective of students. The purpose of this study was to formally examine student views of a specific peer-review system in which undergraduates assigned final grades to each other's term papers. A survey instrument revealed a high degree of comfort with the process, as well as some insights into why a few students were uncomfortable with it.

When people read silently, they unconsciously translate what they read into a speech-like code that facilitates word identification and the creation of meaning, especially when they read scientific and technical texts. Many studies have explored how this “silent speech” affects the reading process. As a follow-up to a previous article about applying a phonological reading model to technical communication, this article proposes that educators and practitioners of technical communication would benefit greatly from a thorough understanding of the speech instinct. Therefore, the author explores the speech instinct, how humans developed it, and how it has been and still is fostered by reading behavior and pedagogy.

Formalization of cognitive grammar depends in an important way on modeling the process of assessing similarity. This article points out that such formalization is difficult to achieve within the present formulation [1] of the grammar and introduces a modification that will allow modeling the process of similarity. Next, it is suggested that the mechanism of assessing similarity in the modified analogical-operatorial version of cognitive grammar be that of analogical modeling presented in Skousen [2]. Finally, it indicates some consequences of the proposition for the practice of communication. The modification, the analogical-operatorial mode of language use, allows linguistic units, in addition to their function of representing the semantic meaning of these units, to serve as operators differentiating among semantic or other conceptual structures. This introduces inhomogeneity to the content purported with linguistic units and leads to preserving linguistic compositionality understood in a new sense. It also allows one to treat the pragmatic meaning in the same way as the semantic one, and accounts for a compact use of linguistic units. Using linguistic units to differentiate allows one to convey information not contained in the encoded meaning of these structures. This can be utilized to communicate more efficiently but also poses the danger of purporting unwanted meaning.

The 1995 appearance of Microsoft's Bob interface directly poses the question of how anthropomorphic the human computer interface design should be. A historical approach to the question offers three important observations to designers: 1) that the impulse to anthropomorphicize technology has been longstanding and has been employed with artifacts other than computers; 2) that the normal evolution of technologies proceeds through an introductory phase during which a culture becomes acclimatized to the new technology; moreover, one of the methods by which cultures have traditionally become acclimatized to new technologies is through anthropomorphization; and 3) the perception of anthropomorphism in the human computer interface has been complicated by the fact that “computers” were, in fact, first people not machines. An historical approach to answering the interface design question posed by Microsoft's Bob interface suggests that designers productively accommodate the longstanding human impulse to anthropomorphicize new technologies.

Although the passive voice may be overused in legal prose, warnings in legal writing guidebooks against the passive risk undervaluing its many uses. After briefly introducing the passive voice, and some possible reasons for its misuse, this article will outline the many situations when the passive is more appropriate than the active voice.

The two purposes of this article are: 1) to use metaphorical analysis to determine whether or not Max Planck invented the quantum postulate and 2) to demonstrate how metaphorical analysis can be used to analyze the rhetoric of revolutionary texts in science. Metaphors often serve as the basis of invention for scientific theories. When we identify these metaphors in Planck's original 1900 quantum paper, it is clear that Planck did consider the quantum postulate to be important. However, we also see that he does not consider the quantum postulate to be revolutionary.

Policy and procedure documents play an important role in developing and maintaining a consistent quality of interaction in organizations. Unfortunately, the pedagogical and research literatures are weak in this area. Here, we attempt to initiate further discussion by defining and describing policy and procedure documents, and identify a third kind, work instructions. A genre approach is used to outline characteristics based on information type, institutional purpose, and organizational functions. Rhetorical, audience, and functional linguistics analyses are used to describe more specific characteristics.

When people read silently, they unconsciously translate what they read into a speech-like code that facilitates word identification and the creation of meaning. This article examines that phenomenon—known as silent speech—based upon the published research of cognitive psychologists and psycholinguists. The author develops a phonological model of reading based upon published results of experimental investigators to determine the relationship between cognition and silent speech. The author then applies the model to technical communication. The applications include the use of punctuation, pronouns, and abbreviations, as well as introducing new words, writing to satisfy the speech instinct, cultivating a human voice, and revising technical documents.

Successful rightsizing requires that managers preserve the morale and productivity of the remaining employees. A communication consultant can offer invaluable guidance on how to 1) maintain employees morale, 2) help employees perceive the layoffs as fair, 3) take care of employees who have lost their jobs, 4) assist management with layoff decisions, 5) help remaining employees cope with change, and 6) maintain effective communication with workers. On these sensitive topics, management will benefit from advice which is external, expert, and soundly based.

The only way to judge a product's acceptance in the workplace is through its use. However, before a product is released into the marketplace, its developers would like to predict its acceptability in the target market. One predictor of acceptability is usability test results. Typically, usability testing takes place outside of the user's natural environment in a usability test lab, an artificial environment. This article suggest ways in which ethnographic principles, historically used to describe a culture from the point of view of someone within that culture, can be used along with traditional usability testing to predict a product's acceptability in the marketplace.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe the use of the Black communication style by African Americans in an organized environment. The research method which was used involved a multimethod approach of data collection in the field using direct observation, and obtrusive observations, as well as semi-structured interviews. This investigation has shown that although the Black employees in this organization felt, in general, as if they were changing their communication style to fit the organizational norms, they continued to rely on the cultural norms underlying the Black communication style. U.S. demographics are foretelling a future that will require innovative organizational communication strategies. According to Fine, two facts about the U.S. corporate environment which are uncovered by demographic trends are that the workforce will be comprised of a “greater diversity of gender, race, age, culture, and language” and that the demand for qualified workers will exceed the supply thereby “creating intense competition among organizations for workers” [1]. These changing demographics are not going unnoticed by the U.S. corporate leaders. Specifically, the issues of most concern to organizational executives, according to Workforce 2000, center around linguistic and cultural differences. Most organizations have no innovative strategies for meeting the demands of a diverse workforce. Traditional programs, such as day-care provisions, flexible work times, and hiring and recruiting more people of color are being implemented by corporate America in an effort to meet the demand for diversity. However, organizations are often lacking in creative programs which will provide for this emerging diverse workforce an environment that will accept and nurture their diversity. Certainly these corporate executives are receiving little in the way of guidance from organizational researchers.

Over a quarter century ago, James W. Carey and John J. Quirk questioned the prevailing belief that technology would revolutionize communication. Now that we have begun traveling on the information superhighway, we are bombarded more often than ever by what Carey and Quirk called “the rhetoric of the electronic sublime.” Yet an exploration of some fifty award-winning health messages on the World Wide Web suggests that our well-worn maps—that is, the traditional concepts of source, content, purpose, audience, and presentation—can give us a sense of direction as we begin our fall down the rabbit-hole.

Acupuncture is increasingly popular as an alternative medical therapy. Its description presents a challenge for technical communicators. Traditional Chinese medical explanations of acupuncture are unscientific, and scientific explanations of acupuncture are inconclusive. Technical communicators must translate acupuncture theory (traditional and scientific) for not only lay-people, but also for both traditional Chinese and Western health practitioners. Further research is needed.

This article discusses the adequacy of two modes of presenting information on a computer screen, i.e., the alternating screen presentation in which information is presented “screen by screen” and the simultaneous screen presentation that shows different sources of information simultaneously on the same screen. Using a simultaneous or an alternating screen presentation, subjects had to perform short writing tasks, half of which required the use of one on-line document, the other half required two documents. The subjects' task performance as well as their appreciation of the task and the presentation mode were measured. The results show that performance and appreciation data do not run parallel. While all subjects clearly prefer a simultaneous mode of presenting information on the screen, performance data are much more varied and less clear cut: when reading, subjects performed significantly better in the alternating mode; when producing a text, subjects slightly benefited from simultaneous screens.

Document designers who present procedural instructions can choose several formats: prose, table, logical tree, or flow chart. In all cases, however, it is essential that the instructions are ordered in a way that allows users to reach the outcome in as little time as possible. In this article two formal methods are discussed that help determine which order is most efficient. The first method is based on the selection principle. The second method is based on the principle of the average least effort.

Metaphors and analogies can be helpful for people when they have to learn or learn to use something. Some empirical studies into the effect of metaphors in software manuals showed a positive influence on computer task performance, although this influence proved to be a conditional one. A necessary condition must be that readers understand the metaphor used; readers must have knowledge about its source domain. The most understandable concept for all humans seems to be a human being; the metaphor with human beings as a source domain is called personification or anthropomorphism. Up to now, no coherent theory has been available about linguistic expressions that can be labeled as anthropomorphism, and no empirical data have been gathered about expressions in software manuals that are perceived as such by readers. Therefore, an explorative experiment with real manual material was carried out. Expressions suggesting that computers or programs have feelings or an affective relationship to the user, that they are able to perform non-routine (mental) activities and communicate their intentions through human language use, appear to be perceived as anthropomorphistic. Such expressions might help readers to use a computer (program) more easily.

This article examines the genre of visual manuals by discussing the main forms and functions of two types in detail: step-by-step and guided tour manuals. Step-by-step manuals have a one-on-one correspondence between picture and text (explanations and instructions), reflecting the action-reaction mode in which users tend to interact with computers. Guided tour manuals give users a visual impression of the program. The pictures, mostly full-screen captures, are annotated with several paragraphs of text. An experiment is reported in which we examined whether a visual manual helps users realize tasks faster and more accurately than a non-visual manual. No effects on accuracy were found, but the visual manual did increase the speed of task execution with a significant and substantial gain of 35 percent. The conclusion draws attention to the fact that there is no single best type of visual manual, but that each has its own strengths and weaknesses.

Are technical writers able to predict the results of a reader-focused text evaluation? In this article we report a study with fifteen technical writers, who were asked to point out the reader problems in a public information brochure. The brochure was also evaluated with thirty readers from the target audience (using a combination of the plus-minus method, a questionnaire, and user protocols). The results of both kinds of text evaluation show little overlap. The technical writers only predicted a small proportion of the reader feedback, and produced a lot of new problem detections. In addition, there was little agreement among the technical writers with regard to their problem detections.

With elderly people becoming an ever larger part of our society, the usability of modern technical products for these people is becoming an ever more important issue. Instructions that optimally fit the needs of this elderly audience could enhance the usability of the products they belong to. The study described in this article is aimed at an investigation of this gerontological research literature to find out what is already known about age deficiencies in cognitive processes which might adversely influence instructional text processing. On the basis of the findings from this research, tentative guidelines could be given on how such manuals could be designed and written. Moreover, we propose several kinds of follow-up research that still have to be carried out to gather more knowledge on the topic of manuals for the elderly.

Using new media in supporting students learning to write is a challenge for technical writing teachers. In this article we describe our effort to convert the paper course material to an on-line advisory system, called Ganesh Helper. Through the logging of students' actions and observations it was possible to assess some aspects of the use of Ganesh Helper (searching, browsing, and switching between writing and reading) while the students were writing part of a report. A questionnaire taught us that a majority of the students found the helpviewer easy to use and useful. But in the case of Ganesh Helper most of the students still preferred the textbook to the helpviewer.

To test the relative efficiency and learning effect of text, pictures, and animation in on-line help systems, six versions of an on-line help system for telephones were designed. The operational information was presented in either text, pictures, or animation and presented either with or without spatial information (in pictures). Subjects were asked to perform thirteen tasks, using these six versions of the instructions and to do the same tasks again, using the same version of the instructions, one week later. The results show that only presenting the operational information via text is the most efficient. Subjects using instructions in animation needed significantly more time than those using the text or picture versions. Adding spatial information (in pictures) was counterproductive: without this information subjects performed better in all versions. Performing the same tasks with identical instructions one week later produced the same results, but the differences were much smaller. Therefore, it has been concluded that text remains the most efficient medium as long as users have to apply the instructions immediately. If the time needed to read/see the instructions is deducted, animation turns out to be the most efficient medium. It is therefore concluded that animation could be the best medium for learning how to operate a device.

How have Dutch instructive texts changed in the course of the last century? This question is the topic of a research project presented in this article. First, we give some insight into the kind of documents we have collected in our corpus. The oldest instructive texts date from the beginning of the nineteenth century. But for most technical devices, the tradition of adding an instructive text starts about 1925. After that we present a few results of the investigations: the disappearance of persuasive passages and of realistic representations of human beings. Finally, we give a more detailed sketch of the development of the algorithmic style.

Three formats for presenting a number of similar procedures in printed instructions were compared in an experiment: separate lists, an integrated list, and a table. Participants had to operate a device on the computer screen, following procedures that were presented in one of these three formats. The integrated list format and the table format were expected to provide an overview of the features common to the similar procedures, which would help incidental learning of the procedures. However, the experiment did not yield such results. None of the formats scored significantly better than the other in the augmentation of incidental learning. Since instructions in integrated list format take more time to read in the beginning than the other formats, the integrated list format can be considered as the least favorable format.

This article is about the profession of technical writing in the Netherlands. The data are mainly based on two studies. The first was directed at technical writers who work as freelancers (external writers). It was done with the objective of learning about the characteristics and backgrounds of external technical writers and about their wishes concerning the development of the profession. The second study was directed at technical writers who work inside organizations (internal writers) and focused on questions about text quality and the writing problems that threaten this quality. We will focus on three issues. After the introduction in the first section and the description of the design of our studies in the second section, we will give a global profile of technical writers in the Netherlands. In the fourth section we will give an impression of the writing problems internal technical writers have to deal with. In the fifth section opinions concerning more professionalism in the field of technical writing are discussed. Also attention is paid to current developments in professionalism.

Some research results suggest that declarative information in a software manual is of little value to a user. However, most research methods are aimed at measuring specific information effects. They hardly ever yield data about what users select and use if they have a choice. Also, the concepts of procedural and declarative have not been operationalized consistently. Finally, one type of user has been the main focus of investigation so far: the tutorial user. In an attempt to specifically investigate the selection and use of procedural and declarative information, a new approach is described. In an experiment based on this new approach, special attention was paid to the operationalization of the information types and three different user types were included. The results show that users use more declarative information than is often assumed.

Beginning in the 1850s, authors of American and British scientific and technical publications began to integrate photographs into their texts. These chemical and photo-mechanically reproduced images often functioned as the basis for carefully defined claims for truth. In the natural sciences, in microscopy, in medicine, in the emerging studies of psychology and the social sciences, and in the dissemination and promotion of technological accomplishments, the verity of early published photographs led authors to claim that an image could be equal to its referent in nature, or even exceed its referent when conveying scientific and technical information. This article presents a technological, cultural, and rhetorical history of published photographs based upon twenty-three images selected from a review of forty photographically illustrated texts published between 1854 and 1900.

Consulting engineering firms that produce reports for clients benefit from having engineers who can write clear, well-organized, grammatically correct descriptions of the work they perform. Despite the obvious value gained through engineers who can write well, universities and the firms themselves do not as a rule train engineers in business technical writing. A typical program a firm can institute to promote writing skills would include developing a house style guide as well as concise examples of writing engineers should emulate and screening and practice exercises. The ability to first organize material in an outline is critical to efficient composition. Engineers with limited English skills can be instructed in building clear, logical lists that can be efficiently converted into narrative form by an editor.

Can technical writing still be taught credibly by teachers with only academic experience? This article draws a distinction between courses designed for students expecting to be full-time technical communicators and general-purpose service courses designed for students in a variety of fields. The article then argues that teachers of service courses can teach credibly without having worked as writers in nonacademic workplaces if they fulfill these conditions: they should have a critical command of research into nonacademic writing, rhetorical theory, and reading theory; they should define technical writing broadly enough to see themselves as technical writers; they should seek and take advantage of everyday opportunities to practice technical writing and reading; and they should carefully consider the sense in which their courses reflect reality.

Engineering students, faculty, and administration all agree that instruction in writing is an important component of engineering education. And since engineering students will take up technical matters in their careers, it seems only natural that a writing class will require them to write papers about technology, that is, to practice technical writing. While this approach may indeed be of value, the following article presents an alternative to the teaching of technical writing per se. The author suggests that if students learn how to approach an issue they care about, form an arguable idea from this issue, then logically prove it in subsequent paragraphs, that this deep level of writing and thinking comprehension can then be used to enhance any piece of writing, especially the technical document.

In learning how to write, one has to cope with many demands on language proficiency, organization skills, and intellectual ability. A checklist of what is required can help to clarify all these demands and to turn them into manageable items or units for practice, implementation, and evaluation. The skills involved in designing and applying checklists resemble those required for dealing with the writing tasks on campus and/or at work. The focus of this article is on using checklists to improve the skills of one kind of writing—the report, among students from two faculties in a tertiary institute. The reports are for different purposes, situations, and readers. The article will discuss the different approaches in adopting a checklist to facilitate the report-writing process. It will highlight using students' work or authentic materials as an input to their own learning and helping them to integrate the skills learned with their work on the campus and in the workplace.

Storyboarding, long associated with scriptwriting, advertising, and more recently with technical manuals, can be successfully applied to an even broader variety of technical documents. In this article, the application of storyboarding techniques to designing technical proposals suggests methods of incorporating more visuals into documents, as well as better meeting clients' needs.

Promotional writing for industrial and high-tech products, or technical copywriting, is gaining more and more attention in the profession of technical communication. In contrast, higher education has largely neglected to prepare students for this major form of written communication. One reason for this neglect may be that some academics do not well understand the role and importance of technical copywriting. Another reason may be the stigma of unethical writing associated with copywriting for consumer products. This article testifies to the significance of technical copywriting and suggests that dialogical audience analysis and an emphasis on the rational appeal will contribute to ethical writing performance. Also, resources are cited of common interest to instructors, beginning practitioners, and researchers. Last, these groups receive recommendations appropriate for their individual activities.

The textbook is the main teaching tool for instructors. Typically, teachers select a text based on how well it supports their views of and approach to the subject. Looking at texts suggests how the subject has been taught over the years and what assumptions are made about students. This informal look at pre-1970 textbooks characterizes the early teaching of technical writing by examining such features as author's background, contents, assumed reader, and focus.

Le CPTSC (Council for Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication) cree dans les annees 1970 a pour objectif de promouvoir les programmes en communication scientifique et technique, de developper les possibilites pour echanger les idees et les informations concernant les programmes, la recherche et les opportunites de carriere en communication scientifique et technique, d'aider au developpement de nouveaux programmes, de promouvoir l'echange d'information entre l'organisme et les parties interessees. L'A. propose un historique de ce conseil

Drawing upon eleven volumes of articles published between 1890 and 1990 in The Auk, journal of American ornithology, this study shows the path to professionalization through four phases of ornithological discourse history. In the science of ornithology, the interests of conservationists, science students, and scientists themselves were originally served by a single discourse form—the personal narrative of natural history. But, with professionalization, scientists increasingly associated such narratives with amateur performance. The resulting gap between professional science and public understanding of science was reinforced by the establishment of a university program of study in ornithology, by an emerging sense of a scientific community, and by the forces of environmentalism.

Recent studies identify gendered differences in communication and collaboration styles which suggest consequences for professional writing classrooms. If, indeed, men tend to stereotype women as clerks, prefer hierarchical collaboration, and value product over process, and, too, if gendered differences tend to increase counterproductive dissent, then the gender balance of writing groups might affect their dominant styles in those respects. However, when I analyzed the behaviors of over sixty student groups in my professional writing classes, I did not find gender balancing to have such effects. Instead, however, I observed other gender-related effects on collaboration: tendencies to stereotype men as technical experts and to self-segregate into gendered working teams. These findings suggest new perspectives on the role of gender for collaborative groups in professional writing classrooms.

How has technical communication changed over the past twenty-five years in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe? As a task, it has not changed at all; as a professional occupation, it has evolved slowly; as a procedure, it has changed dramatically.

This article examines the question “Are the same good writing and speaking skills required in general management positions also important in computer jobs?” The first part of the article examines the historical marriage between “communicating” and “computing,” while the second part examines what roles, if any, good communication skills play in advancing IS career paths. Finally, the third part describes an empirical survey to test the hypothesis that communication skills are important to computer professionals. The results of the survey strongly support the hypothesis.

Focusing only on the famous and celebrated has skewed military and political history; focusing only on Oliver Evans, Lauchlan McKay, John W. Griffiths, Joseph Crane, and John H. Patterson could similarly skew our sense of American technical communication in the nineteenth century. Exploring the written work of an ordinary American mechanician of the nineteenth century, William Stillman of Rhode Island, could help balance our appraisal of nineteenth-century American technical communication. Reviewing the writing and graphics in his 1851 Miscellaneous Compositions, as well as his 1839 lock patent and 1836 bank lock instructions, reveals Stillman's ambidextrous abilities in using both text and graphics to communicate; abilities similar to his more famous fellow citizens. However, the three-dimensional qualities of his 1839 patent graphic reveals an unusual ability to mimic the biological methods in which the human eye sees three dimensions.

Participants in a qualitative case study of nonacademic R&D authors were uncomfortable with the idea of persuasion in their writing. The participants thought their reports were more informative than persuasive. Three definitions for “persuasion” emerged: discourse intended to push a reader toward an action; discourse written in a clear, compelling style; and shady, manipulative discourse. When asked whether they owed a greater debt to their audience or to their subject matter, most participants chose subject matter. However, some participants argued that my question posed a false dichotomy, in that serving subject matter was the best way to serve audience.