Effective use of graphics and skills in analyzing information are two topics that need to be covered in depth in the basic technical writing course. Many kinds of computer printouts can be understood by students from various disciplines. From these printouts, problems, like the ones described here, can be developed to teach graphics skills and analysis concomitantly. Using computer printouts to teach these two important topics has four specific advantages: 1. students become familiar with reading and interpreting computer printouts and learn to separate essential from nonessential data in defining a problem; 2. they learn to write analytic or information reports using computer data only; 3. they gain practice in determining what kind of graphic is best for a specific kind of information; and 4. they gain practice in correlating verbal discussion with visual presentation.

This article emphasizes four syntactic-rhetorical imperatives which make written messages easier to read. 1. Keep subjects and their verbs close together. Since native speakers of English expect verbs to follow subjects closely, any intervening element makes the processing of information difficult. The longer the intervening element, the more difficult the comprehension of the message. 2. Use appropriate prepositions between nouns to explicitly indicate their semantic relationships. Long nominal phrases are hard to understand because these implicit relationships create ambiguity. What compounds the difficulty of the message is that all the nouns in the phrase, except the last one, assume the function normal to adjectives namely, modification. 3. Help readers to segment syntactic units correctly. The obstacles to readability in this area are the omission of commas and of the signals of subordination, and the misplacement of modifiers. 4. Match textual sequence with chronological sequence. If the sequence of the events does not match the sequence of their reporting in a piece of technical writing, that piece of expository prose is bound to communicate poorly.

These recommendations combine time-tested advice to writers with the Editor's preferences. Used with our Information for Authors (published in each issue of the Transactions) and the reference material in the June 1977 issue (PC-20/1), this miniguide to technical writing should help any author whisk his paper through the editorial process-provided, of course, that its technical content survives the refereeing process.

subjects the reader to such gems as these."To repeat, the sins in the world at large-at least, of the sort I'm talking aboutoften don't matter much.And sometimes, too, they don't matter in technical writing": and "-as I need hardly reiterate to this audience-."Moreover, the essay says nothing that other essays in the collection do not say with motivating verve.Mr. Harty assures us that these essays "have survived the most rigorous kind of scrutiny-that of my students ... at

of writing: the use of abbreviations, the division of compound words, some rules for spelling properly, among other things.This comprehensive book is aimed at students of technical writing and of English in two-year colleges.It is devised as a typical textbook: The margins are wide enough for notes, the terms likely to be new to students are printed in expanded boldface type and their meaning in light italics.Also printed in light italics are points the author thinks worth emphasizng.The book is easy to read: physically because the print is on non-glare paper, conceptually because it is well written and well organized, and that, after all, is the acid test of the quality of a book on composition.Superficially, nothing about the book suggests that it is a book on technical writing.One sees no charts, no graphs, no exploded views, no instructions on how to write an abstract.And yet this book is ideally suited for learning about or teach ing technical writing because technical writing, to attain its objective, must reflect the precision and discipline of thought basic to science and technology.That is the topic of this book.The manners and conventions of presentation, namely, that in technical writing one would use a table to compare or contrast pieces of apparatus of different make or vintage, that one would use a step-action chart or a flowchart to describe a process-all this, though important for the efficient transfer of information, is nevertheless somewhat peripheral to the meaning of technical writing.Students who learn about composition from

subjects the reader to such gems as these."To repeat, the sins in the world at large-at least, of the sort I'm talking aboutoften don't matter much.And sometimes, too, they don't matter in technical writing": and "-as I need hardly reiterate to this audience-."Moreover,

This paper distinguishes Skill I, the ability to communicate with the lay audience, from Skill II, the ability to communicate with the technically expert audience. It also discusses the origins of the misunderstanding of the role of these two skills in the technical writing classroom and demonstrates how this failure works against an efficient and successful technical writing program. Some suggestions are offered to remedy this situation which, if followed, would not only remedy the existing problem but would form the base for a comprehensive technical communications curriculum.

Technical communication is not one discipline but three, each addressing its own distinctive set of problems and applying its own particular criteria when deciding which of the alternative solutions it has generated addresses its problems most effectively. Of the three, only the professional discipline is conducting its research satisfactorily; the teaching and theoretical disciplines are not. All three could improve their research activities by posing themselves a wider variety of significant problems, generating a richer array of alternative solutions, and conducting more carefully the activities that enable them to select the alternatives most worthy of continued attention and use.

Because of doubts about the status of paragraphs after World War II and the influence of readability formulas which emphasize sentence length and word length, technical writing teachers and texts have not been concerned very much with stylistic matters, especially at the paragraph level. However, recent research advances in the fields of linguistics, discourse analysis, cognitive psychology, and readability all redirect our attention to matters beyond the sentence in technical writing. A familiarity with such advances—including an understanding of cohesion elements, the “given-new contract,” and tagmemics—can enable technical writing instructors to improve student writing.

The present confusion over what technical communication is or ought to be is a temporary condition brought on by challenges like those issued by Paul Anderson, John Brockmann, and Jack Selzer. They have raised important issues which challenge practices and assumptions which many of us in the field have accepted tacitly. However, the weaknesses they have identified in the disciplines of theory and pedagogy do not necessarily indicate the failure of those disciplines to come of age. Thomas Kuhn's concept of “paradigm” suggests that such criticism may actually indicate new growth in already mature disciplines.

As technical writing programs grow, English departments may alleviate the problems of the unprepared instructor by offering technical writing theory and pedagogy courses. Such courses should combine theory and pedagogy with assignments that are practical and introduce graduate students to the theoretical issues in the field. This article provides a syllabus and the reactions of students who completed such a course.

Many current teaching practices in undergraduate technical communications are insensitive to students' career needs because they are based on mistaken notions concerning writing and the process of communication. The specific problem areas in current teaching practices include: the lack of emphasis on rewriting and on the cooperative element of technical communication, the overreliance on proscriptive strictures in graphics instruction, and the undue emphasis on large-group oratory in oral communications. Academic teaching methods need to be better informed by the practices and procedures of professional technical communicators in order to correct their mistaken notions and to more effectively meet students' career needs.

The work of a technical writer must be readable and easy to understand. Indeed, we have methods to teach students how to be readable. But is it reasonable to request creativity in their work? There are differences between the style of a technical writer and of a novelist. But there are also similarities. To be creative in his technical writing, the technical writer must be influenced by the novelist. I advise especially the study and writing of essays and poems.

Word power is often nullified by a writer's attempt to be literary. In technical writing the basic approach should be to suit the language to the purpose and audience of the message; be simple, direct, and concise. Rules for doing so indicate shorter is better — short words, sentences, paragraphs, and articles rather than long ones. Choose direct statements over indirect and active mood over passive; choose Anglo-Saxon words over Latin derivatives. Such rules do not guarantee “rightness” or ideal communication but are likely to make the writer right more often than wrong. Knowing such rules, one can break them wisely.

A wealth of examples and assignment suggestions alone makes Joanna Freeman's Basic Technical and Business Writing invaluable to teachers and students of technical communication. Chapter 3, “Headings, Tables, and Figures,” includes 41 illustrations, most of them courtesy of business organizations. So impressive and useful is this array that one tends to overlook the misplaced apostrophe in one of the charts. Dr. Freeman complements even her discussion of formal reports with three full-length examples, each demonstrating a different communication problem and solution: a statistical study from the Journal of Marketing Research, a persuasive argument from the 25th International Technical Communication Conference Proceedings, and a student paper classifying and summarizing the results of research.

The movement toward improved written technical communication has generated little parallel pressure for improved oral communication. Yet the cost of noncommunicative technical talks is large. Attention by speakers to several simple details will result in significant improvements in technical talks. The most important of these details is to present conclusions as close to the beginning of the talk as possible. This simple action will help change a talk from a mystery story to an understandable scientific presentation.

This is an evaluation of the undergraduate technical communication major in the Department of Rhetoric, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, 1979. Three audiences received the questionnaire: technical communication graduates, potential employers, and members of the Society for Technical Communication. The questionnaire was designed to determine perceptions of technical communication courses, rank-ordering of competency areas, and listing courses that should be required for all technical communication majors. The results are reported and discussed in this article.

This study examines some assumptions about context clues. Relating research in vocabulary instruction for readers yields a generic system of semantic function categories. These categories are broad enough to include word and nonword clues. Samples from technical writings of different readability levels are analyzed to demonstrate the utility of teaching such a system to technical writers and editors.

The fact that some ideas seem to be inexpressible directly in language and that the induction-hypothesis sequence in scientific thinking does not completely account for new ideas may be due to the peculiar abilities of the right and left hemispheres of the brain. Study of the mind and philosophers of perception suggest that perception and imagination or fact and intuition are combined in language, which then takes on new meaning through “coherent deformation” and leads to new thinking. This new thinking then can best be replicated in the reader through nondirect means such as metaphors and visual materials.

Technical writing students need information about writing for the government: one out of every eight technical writers works in some level of government. Those who do not might become involved in writing for the government in some other capacity, such as writing industrial proposals to obtain grants and contracts, or preparing scientific reports or technical manuals to fulfill the requirements of those grants or contracts. Such writing requires a familiarity with government specifications and standards. Some colleges offer courses in government writing. Those schools that cannot might consider incorporating information about government specifications and standards into their basic technical writing course.

The management of information has become one of the central competencies needed in a technological society. The development of systems for the storage, retrieval, editing, packaging, dessemination, and utilization of scientific and technical information is especially needed. Just as crucial, however, is the necessity to train individuals who can assume information management and “linkage” roles. The scientific and technical communicator is one such individual. This paper attempts to explicate the concept of technical communication competence and demonstrate the potential utility of its operational counterpart in the training of students in scientific and technical communication. The potential benefits of implementing a technical communication competence testing program in scientific and technical communication curricula are explored, both for students and for educators and professionals.

While bad technical writing has specific characteristics, one important cause of bad technical writing is abuse of natural English word order. Since about 1400, English has relied solely on word order to convey meaning, particularly active voice (agent-verb-object). Infusions of large numbers of foreign words from 1100 to 1600 further affected the development of English sentence patterns and their use in modern applied writing. To develop clear sentences, (1) use active voice as frequently as possible; (2) build sentences with clauses rather than phrases; (3) make the agent of the action the subject of the clause; (4) build clauses by concentrating meaning in the subject-verb pairs; (5) choose concrete rather than abstract nouns as subject-agents; (6) use action verbs rather than “be” verbs whenever possible; (7) use passive voice only when its use will not cloud meaning; (8) choose voice carefully when planning sentences; (9) remember that technical writing should inform, and that historically elegant sentence patterns and words are not suitable to express technical information.

Seven mathematical expressions are presented, with comments, for the guidance of technical writing by engineers and scientists. They determine when to write an interim report, when to write the final report, when to inform the higher echelons, how many extra readers could result from one more revision, what grade to give a revised version, how much reading time increases with increasing article length, and how various factors affect the science-world communication gap. The formulas stem from analogies between communication problems and solved problems in science and are intended to stimulate bread-boarding in technical writing.

It should be clear to graduate students and fledgling writers in all branches of science that they oeed to write about their work and to publish their results.The present book addresses this need and has some unique qualities-it is far more readable than most books of its kind and is liberally sprinkled, with humorous but pithy observations.Books on technical writing frequently are devoted to longwinded exposition on the virtues of

Technical writing requires creativity but not Lewis Carrolllike creative writing. Self-control and self-criticism are needed to achieve simplicity and clarity of expression. Generally, the core of the paper should be written first because the act of writing often furthers or changes the development of the subject and therefore affects both the introduction and the conclusion of the text. The introduction should provide context and perspective for the results and conclusions. A common fault is covering too much material in too wordy a fashion. It is often better to rewrite with a sharper outlook than simply to cross out words. Vague or defensive statements and generalized descriptions are good candidates for elimination. Mathematics may often be moved to an appendix and charts or graphs used to clarify the numerical work. Good judgment rather than haste should prevail in technical writing.

Efficient information flow in technical communication depends upon accurate audience analysis. The presentation of information must be adjusted relative to the knowledge and interests of the writer's audience. Problems arise when the relative differences in audiences are slight, but nonetheless important. Albert Einstein's writing can be used as an example of skillful adaptation of material for audiences with subtle differences. A prime example is his special theory of relativity, which he published in three versions for technical, semitechnical, and nontechnical audiences. Students, teachers, and technical writers can learn much from the way Einstein uses tone, personal address, varying levels of diction, definitions, and concrete examples of each of the three expositions of his special theory of relativity.

The concept of “rule,” derived from linguistics and anthropology, provides a way of understanding the relationship between context, purpose, and message production and interpretation. “Rules” are shared expectations which structure situations and guide individual action. This paper reviews some of the concepts that have come out of rules theory in communication research and suggests their particular relevance and utility to understanding the problems and situations in technical communication.

A survey-experiment at the University of Leeds, England, attempted to resolve two questions: (1) Are some grammatical structures more efficient than others in communicating scientific fact? and (2) Do students pursuing different academic disciplines have correspondingly different value systems with regard to technical writing and technical subject matter? The results of the survey, which sampled 300 students, indicated yes to both questions. Particularly ironic was the finding that the third-person passive voice, so commonly the style of twentieth-century technical English, is disadvantageous from a communication standpoint.

Kinneavy's theory of discourse and Mathes' concept of contextual editing can be effectively applied to teaching classification in technical writing. My procedure, in the nine steps described here, provides students with an understanding of classification as an analytical and generative tool. Its usefulness in analysis is discovered through a structural study of Mumford's “Machines, Utilities, and ‘The Machine‘”; an awareness of Mumford's classificatory structure helps students understand his essay. Students see for themselves, by organizing facts into paragraphs, the generative power of contextual editing applied to classification; the same kind of structuring Mumford uses can be used in their own writing. This generative application simulates the research-to-writing process and dramatically increases the coherence and clarity of much student writing.

In order to correctly and concisely understand a scientific, technical English article written by Japanese specialists, the readers should understand in what areas of English grammar they are inclined to make mistakes when they write an English version. The most crucial mistakes made are usually certain aspects of English grammar. Learning the key mistakes from a Japanese specialist will also help an English teacher focus more efficiently on profitable areas of teaching.

WHERE DO ENGLISH TEACHERS GET THE AUTHORITY to teach writing to students from other departments? We know-and our non-English colleagues know-that the English major is basically an English and American literature major and that graduate programs in English are more of the same, only intensified. How then are we equipped to teach students whose present and future writing tasks are very far from the literature we study? At times in my career as an English teacher I've felt myself beset by people from other departments who understandably want an answer to that question. Now that I teach technical writing rather than Freshman English in my department's composition program, I feel myself more frequently under siege. Maybe Freshman English, the question goes, but technical writing? How dare I presume to teach chemical engineers, or astrophysicists, or biochemists how to write? Technical writing taught by English teachers is the acid test of our authority; in spirit as well as subject it seems to be at the farthest remove from nearly everyone's idea of literature. Three members of the Department of Humanities, College of Engineering, at the University of Michigan have launched an especially pointed attack on English departments' teaching technical writing. J. C. Mathes, Dwight W. Stevenson, and Peter Klaver list three reasons for their doubts about letting someone from the English department teach technical writing. The first and second reasons appear to me indistinguishable, but come down to these two passages:

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Writing, a technical paper and delivering it orally are complementary acts. This bibliography cites 178 resources for technical communicators interested in improving their speaking skills. These resources include organizations and publications concerned with speech; institutes, seminars, and courses on oral communication of technical information; and standard works and selected articles on informational speech. This bibliography is not complete but it is a start for technical communicators in business, industry, and government who are intent on improving their oral presentation of technical information.

The motivated sequence is a strategy which, by allowing the writer to organize ideas in a pattern corresponding to the stages inherent in the natural thought processes, can help improve technical communication. It is especially valuable in documents that are an intrinsic part of the decision making procedure, as is the case with the Environmental Impact Statement. This article explains the motivated sequence and, using the Environmental Impact Statement as an example, demonstrates how its use can improve technical communication.

Audience and definition are the two foundation concepts of technical writing, for all technical writing is, in a broad sense, definition. Reports that classify, partition, analyze, describe, illustrate, compare, and contrast essentially define a concept or problem. Thus, classification, partition, description, illustration, comparison, and contrast represent seven of fifteen devices which can be used to expand definitions. The expanded definition, as a beginning assignment (after audience analysis), can show how these same devices are embedded in the major ways of organizing information for reports, technical descriptions, process analyses, and instructions — topics later introduced in the course. Furthermore, developing content about these specific devices helps students to catalogue mentally information about a subject and to organize and present this information precisely.

A long-term relationship between a technical writing program and a single non-university organization can have rewards as significant as short-term relationships with several such organizations. Four specific programs of interaction now in effect at Battelle Memorial Institute and Ohio State University provide Battelle personnel ready access to information on the state-of-the-art of rhetorical theory and assure them of a large pool of well trained writers as potential employees. The technical writing faculty gains confidence and a better understanding of the tasks typically performed by technical writers over long periods of time. Description of these particular programs of interaction suggests ways to foster similar programs elsewhere, even in the absence of nearby research foundations.

Linguistic sexism is being confronted with increasing awareness by people who recognize its political and social implications. There are viable alternative words and phrases that can be substituted for those that tend to misrepresent or stereotype either sex. This article points out where changes need to be initiated and offers reasonable substitute wording that does not become clumsy or ridiculous. Such usage is especially important in scientific and technical writing where objectivity, accuracy, and attention to detail are critical. References are included along with a supplementary reading list and an appendix that describes a genderist rating scheme for written and oral communication.

Dramatic cultural and social changes during the past two decades have strongly influenced the dimensions of the communication process. Contemporary communicators argue that communication adaptation has not kept pace with technological and cultural adaptation. One reason they cite is the continued reliance on traditional theories and methods when new systems and strategies seem more appropriate in our complex society. Communicators of technical and scientific information tend to be conservative and change methods slowly. Some do not accept the concept of process as change. If we are to overcome the adaptation lag, and help individuals learn to control the imbalance created by the communication explosion, we must adjust to the idea of change. We must be more innovative, exhibit more flexibility in our attitudes, and assume responsibility for becoming better informed about interdisciplinary relationships and research in communication.

Technical materials often do not produce the response desired by their authors. Reasons for the failure of the document are errors in audience analysis and the rapid obsolence of the materials. This article suggests that communication theory, in general, and cybernetics, in specific, may help ameliorate these problems. The knowledge of communication theory and systems analysis could sensitize writers and editors of technical materials to a variety of factors such as the dynamic nature of the communication process and the fact that the process is interactive rather than unidirectional. It is suggested that the application of these theories could increase the effectiveness of technical communication.

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.

Liberal arts colleges that elect to introduce technical writing courses or programs into their curriculum face the dilemma of vocationalism vs. liberal education. This paper examines the philosophical differences between the two as well as their practical compatibility or incompatibility, and then argues for the union of technical writing and the liberal arts school while admitting certain reservations. The technical writing course at a liberal arts school should use a wider range of books and periodicals than should a technical school, should stress rhetorical theory and strategy, and should confront the moral issues resulting from technology.

The achievements of great men like George Washington Carver are often perpetuated by myth; but more often they are simply overshadowed by the stature of the man himself. Such is the case with Carver. Thus, this article seeks to identify Carver's achievements as a technical communicator through a brief analysis of some of the technical bulletins he wrote while directing the Agricultural Experiment Station at Tuskegee Institute.

The contemporary technical writer, who often must fill the current demand for environmental impact statements and similar environmentally oriented documents, can perhaps benefit from reading the works of some of the classic naturalists such as William Bartram, Henry Walter Bates, and Charles Darwin. These early writers show an ability to present concretely detailed observations of flora and fauna without sacrificing readability and without losing touch with the natural world under observation. The best technical writing today can combine essential efficiency with sensitive treatment of environmental subjects.

Several kinds of written invention disclosure are described and a checklist of their contents (e.g., date of conception, functional description, drawing) is developed. The patentability search disclosure is discussed in particular. In general, disclosures should provide a concise description of the invention, identifying its field of technology, describing its major parts, and telling how it works; state what the inventor believes to be the novel feature and why it is an improvement; clearly label significant parts in an uncluttered drawing; and provide patent or other references to similar or related inventions. Disclosures should not ignore principles or good technical writing; encompass more than one invention or include extraneous material.

An editor in a medical center requires a combination of knowledge and skills which provides an understanding of biomedical concepts and the aptitude for being a technical communicator. A medical editor edits manuscripts authored by physicians and scientists in biomedical specialties. A training program which combines academic and on-the-job training requirements has been conducted at a military medical center over a two-year period. One Resident has completed the on-the-job phase of the program. She has been a contributing biomedical communicator in the editorial office during this period and received a master's degree from a local university in May 1978. The support of the medical center, the dedication of the Preceptor, the vision of the Mentor, and the educational background, interests, aptitudes, potential, and persistence of the student selected to participate in the residency program have been contributing factors in making the program successful. This plan is a practical and economical approach to rewarding an institution for its investment and to training technical/biomedical communicators.

Within the past few years have appeared a number of journal articles about a rift between technical writing teachers and literature teachers. At this point there seems to be some improvement in containing this rift between these two groups, uneasy partners in many English departments. At the same time, the problem continues as new people enter the teaching profession and older people are forced to change their direction.

Technical writing is a functional type of prose. A technical writer must outline and define the subject matter for his reader. In addition, he should be aware of the reader's intelligence, and he must be able to adapt the written material. Furthermore, a reader must not be over-burdened with wordy sentences, vague words, or technical jargon. The information should be organized and presented clearly. If the article is written to an audience of homeowners, its contents should be easily understood, and the principles presented must be defined. Simple and concise language should always prevail. Sometimes a writer can communicate his concepts with the use of visual aids. These aids may be composed of charts or graphs that can be easily comprehended. However, when a reader is a person with experience or has advance knowledge of the subject matter, a more direct approach to writing can be used. The writer can deal with facts and anticipated questions. An author of technical writing must have a flexible style as well as knowledge of who his audience is. If he presents what the reader desires, he is assured of retaining their interest.