This article discusses an attempt to match the student characteristics in sections of technical report writing in a community college setting so as to determine if different teaching methodologies affected performance and/or attitudes. As many similarities as possible in the general characteristics of age, background field of study, and initial attitude towards the course were sought in order to measure the effect of a variance in presentation of material. The first class was taught by the traditional lecture technique; the second, by individual consultation.

The technical writing course has the potential to be one of the most valuable and relevant classes that a student takes, but before his rhetorical skills can improve he must overcome his reluctance to write. The formal technical report, the most challenging and the most rewarding assignment, offers the technical writing teacher a unique opportunity to bring his course to life and to enrich each class member's learning experience. The author has developed an approach to the major report that allows the student to assume the role of a consultant in his field while simultaneously permitting him to feel independent and creative. The inexperienced technical writer must create a realistic situation in which someone would require the technical information he wishes to convey. Placing the student in the role of a consultant makes him more aware of his audience and its needs. This problem-oriented approach effectively increases the writer's liberty to choose an appropriate topic and his responsibility to present it in a coherent and professional manner.

The following treatise surveys the issues and approaches for designing a computer system capable of reading, understanding, and writing technical reports. Recent progress in computer science and artificial intelligence research is used to specify the nature of the modules in the system. The processing of a sample text is observed during the phases of reading and writing a report on the origin of sunspots. The author advances some proposals for correlating syntax and semantics of English from a procedural standpoint. The discussion is illustrated with structural diagrams.

Authors of technical papers have many visual/graphic aids available to them. The most common are: grid graphs, tables, bar charts, flow charts, maps, pie diagrams, and drawings and sketches. Grid graphs are used to show relationships. Tables allow the reader to make comparisons of data. The bar chart is another form of the grid graph and is used for the same purpose. A flow chart gives the reader a visual description of a process. Maps show the location of specific features. Pie diagrams show the proportional breakdown of a topic. Pictures and sketches show the reader exactly what is being talked about in the report. Visual/graphic aids allow the technical writer to condense and present his information in an aesthetically pleasing manner; in addition, these aids serve as psychological white space.

Several innovative methods were used to help technical writing students to write more purposively, professionally, and effectively: writing a paper on the improvement of style in technical writing; reading science literature and writing critiques; editing a technical report; writing a professional technical report; writing science books for children; and writing for publication.

At Texas A&M, the technical writing faculty discovered that the biggest weakness of students' long technical reports was lack of research. To remedy this weakness, a library instruction plan, here described, was developed. Because of the intensive nature of the library instruction, devised to aid approximately twenty-one different majors, a followup procedure was necessary. The library research report, also described, was designed to require students to examine the research tools shown them during library instruction. After this report is complete, students can draw from it information necessary to write their proposals for their long reports. Thus, library instruction, the library research report, and the proposal can be made interrelated studies which have both immediate and long-range instructional value for students.

In this article, the discussion centers around a changing and expanding definition of technical writing. An early definition was restrictive. Later, as courses for a number of disciplines were designed, technical writing became more diversified. A distinction is made between technical reporting and technical writing in other forms. The relation of graphics to technical writing is explored. The author gives a number of examples of the expanding subject matter and forms of technical writing.

This article describes a practical rationale for the use of documentation in technical or business reports and articles based on a definition of documentation which emphasizes its role in providing support for theses. Stressing the “evidential” aspect of documentation, and the importance of “verifiability,” the article shows how the concept of documentation is relevant to both primary and secondary research reporting. Advantages which follow from this approach are pointed out. The approach described is one formulated for and currently being used in technical and business writing courses at Auburn University.

Because today's emphasis on equal opportunity employment has created a multiethnic business community, every advanced business communications course should include a unit on transracial communication. Arthur L. Smith's Transracial Communication is a useful text for such a three-week unit [1]. Supplemented with several additional articles, it provides material for individual projects and for class discussions on Black dialect, slang, and body language; symbolic imperialism in America; and interracial credibility blunders. While participating students will not immediately become skilled transracial communicators, they will become more aware of the assumptions underlying their words and less likely to reveal ethnocentrism in their business communications.

The advancements of science and engineering which are reported by oral and written modes have become overcomplicated. The message of reporting clearly defines the problem at hand; however, reporting inadequacies have prevented that message from reaching the public. Reporting in the past has suffered due to strong censorship and ignorance from learning about technical contributions in society. Progress has been made through art and increased faith in scientific discoveries which were monumental enough to have wakened man's mind. Through the institutional changes in our education programs, technical reporting will become adequate and allow mankind to live with a mutual understanding.

For the purpose of continually improving an English teacher training program, an attempt was made to research the expected competencies of reading instructors in relation to technical report writers. Interviews were conducted with those involved in the teaching of technical report writing. The interviews reflected very little familiarity with reading instruction at the college level. The results were coupled with current research findings on training and duties of college reading instructors. This suggested a possible strategy for improving services to technical report writing students.

The traditional instruction of technical report writing leans heavily on the conventions of English grammar and on principles advocated by grammarians, journalists, and literature scholars. The effect has been so strong—particularly in North America—that the word “technical” in technical writer, technical writing, and technical reports has literally become almost meaningless. This article discusses a few important differences between technical and nontechnical writing. It also explains some shortcomings of the traditional instruction and suggests methods of improvement.

The use of cassette tape recorders in evaluating technical reports is spreading in college technical writing classes and may have application outside the classroom as well. The technique, which enables instructors to make more effective critiques of student papers, meets with favorable student response and need not be expensive. This report describes the use of cassette grading at the University of Idaho and makes suggestions for those who wish to try the method themselves.

There are estimated to be 600–800 Ph.D. psychologists teaching in today's Colleges of Business Administration (CBA). These behavioralists' influences may account for the rapid emergence of “communication theory” in both CBA curricula and business communication texts. This article suggests an approach that can be useful to those faculty teaching “communication theory” as a new experience and those experienced faculty who may consider it “food for thought.” A case method relating “communication theory” to the students' real world and a multiple-choice testing procedure that forms a theoretical base on which students can build are presented and analyzed.

Of graduating seniors, businessmen assume basic writing skills. Graduates of business administration curriculums are assumed to have, additionally, not only basic language competence but also some expertise in report writing. Experience, both in the classroom and with personnel in formal organizations, bears out that neither students nor practitioners have a real grasp of organization, rhetorical techniques, and reader devices. Consumerism in Communication suggests what is being done in the College of Business Administration's undergraduate communications course to prepare students to meet realistically, confidently, and competently the expectations of their employers. Based on both research and experience, the course design pragmatically aims at reducing frustration on the part of employers who are dismayed at the verbal deficiencies of college graduates.

The proposal is an essential step in securing financial support for a research project. Sponsoring sources, government agencies, and private funding groups use the research proposal to determine the merit of the proposed work, the competency of the investigator, and the reasonableness of the estimated cost. Because research is usually considered essential for a well rounded graduate program and because funds to support research projects at an academic institution often account for a significant portion of its total annual budget, the importance of proposal writing in the academic community is clear. The material presented herein is intended to provide a synopsis of the salient features of a research proposal generated by an academic institution.

Research in communication is continually underway in universities and colleges. This paper presents one project carried out in the stylistics of technical writing. A number of technical articles were examined; they ranged from report writing to professional and trade publications. The conclusions, while not definite, do shed some light on the difference between technical and nontechnical writing.

Educators' experiments in cassette critiquing of college student papers have met with considerable success. After discussing the potential advantages, the Department of English at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado, conducted a pilot program of cassette critiquing during the 1971 Fall Semester in the English 430, Technical Writing, course. Two course-wide surveys were made during the program to determine 376 students' reactions to cassette critiques as compared with conventional critiquing (written comments, handbook cryptographics in the margins, student-instructor conferences, and in-class discussions) methods.

Much like a sentence or paragraph, the table of contents for a technical report can be designed systematically on the basis of a logic and rhetoric developed from experience. Being true to technical subject matter requires a full use of four basic logical techniques normally employed in scientific problem solving: classifying, partitioning, causally subordinating, and comparing. The logical approach that uses these techniques for the division and subdivision of topics is necessary, but not sufficient, for structuring the outline of a report. As can be shown in a typical library research report, the logical approach must be supplemented by three other approaches to the problem of topic arrangement that are more distinctly rhetorical: the conventional approach that depends on the convenient habituation rendered by standard format, the pedagogical approach that depends on the effective methods and order of technical presentation suited to the reader's level of comprehension, and the empathic approach that depends on the need to keep the reader from enduring topics of excessive length or complexity. These four approaches together provide for a strategy of topic outlining.

His knowledge of rhetorical principles enables the English teacher to criticize the content as well as the form of a technical report because the report is a verbal model of an object, process, or product. This relationship between content and rhetoric means that the English teacher can base his evaluation of the written work of science and engineering students on these three axioms: Axiom I. Poor rhetoric signals poor technical knowledge. Axiom II. Poor rhetoric manifests unscientific thinking. Axiom III. Poor rhetoric demonstrates a lack of concern for engineering values.

Esso Production Research Company has found that video tape is an effective means of conducting technical training and transferring technology. Use of video tape reduces the cost of conducting technical schools. Engineers and scientists using video tape information seem to retain it about as well as they do when they get it by other means (live schools, technical reports). Limited results indicate that video-taped technical reports convey information about as well as do written technical reports. Some users prefer audio-tape cassettes and recorders for automatic audio synchronization with 35 mm slides. The general conclusion is that video tape is one more communications medium, but a good one, at the disposal of people concerned with technical training or technology transfer.

In a technical writing course, students analyze the classics of engineering literature, prepare annotated bibliographies of articles concerning engineering writing, write an in-depth technical report on a civil engineering topic, and analyze the various articles in science and engineering magazines. To acquaint the students with the different magazines to which they may submit manuscripts, they also analyze a professional magazine. In this way, they are prepared for publication. After having reviewed science books for children, the students prepare their own manuscripts of science literature and submit them to consultants at the Writers' Conference held annually at Newark College of Engineering during April.

While the field of report writing has assumed an increasingly sophisticated status in recent years (reflected even in textbook titles), the “old verities” continue to be an important center of attention for those who write or edit material in the field. In addition to keeping uppermost in mind the age-old, sound principles of rhetoric and composition, we need, today, to ask ourselves relevant questions regarding problem areas created by technological advances and linguistic developments. If we can strive always to be lucid, accurate, and succinctly informative, human communication will continue to keep pace with technology.

Whether engineering students should be taught English and the communication skills in separate classes is a problem that has plagued teachers for many years. The author thinks that no distinction should be made between English for engineers and English for other students. The Kitzhaber Report is cited as an argument for anti-separatism and is set off against the views of the separatists. More specific statements are examined through the evaluation of a currently used anthology of technical and professional writing.

Formal training in technical report writing is virtually non-existent in Australia. The technical colleges in the State of Victoria are the only tertiary institutes which have provided this sort of training for their graduates. The courses provided at the Swinburne College of Technology incorporate an unusual feature, in that the classes are conducted by two lecturers; one from the appropriate technical faculty and one from the General Studies faculty, each having supervisory control over different aspects of the course, but working together in close cooperation. This system, which has now been used for about ten years, has been remarkably successful, not only in the quality of reports produced by the students, but in breaking down the barriers between the staffs of the technical faculties and the humanities lecturers.

Report writing is often inadequate because misunderstanding arises over what the supervisor thinks he assigned and what the writer thinks he was asked to do. The responsibilities of the supervisor are examined in relation to the writing process with emphasis on directive and feedback techniques. The author cites four points at which the supervisor can bring direction to the writing process—assigning work, when the technical work is on the way to completion, before the report is written, and when the report is reviewed.

Trade journal writers should remember that behind the story of sales promotions, new processes, short cuts, and industrial developments of all kinds there are people for whom the new development is exciting, challenging, and filled with crisis. Trade articles that include such human interest are more appealing to the readers without distorting the factual information the articles must convey.

The conference is looked upon as a nearly magical device for problem-solving, decision-making, strengthening intra-organizational communication, and building morale. These intended functions place a heavy burden on the conference leader and bring about a dichotomy in the conference between progress towards a goal and total member participation in discussion. This dichotomy can only be eliminated if a more realistic view of the conference is taken, a view which takes into account the impossibility of the conference fulfilling all of the functions which it is now expected to fulfill.

This paper discusses an interdisciplinary program at Kalamazoo Valley Community College in which the student is trained in several communications media: data processing, engineering graphics, technical reporting (oral and written), as well as various options. Additional work in computer graphics and technical illustration is included.

Lack of unity and logic, wordiness and repetition, and lack of coherence are the most prominent weaknesses in technical writing. Adherence to the six C's—conciseness, completeness, concreteness, correctness, coherence and carefulness—will improve report writing. A list of periodicals and books useful in the field is given.