IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication Dec 2024

What Is Technical About Technical Editing?

Joanna Schreiber Georgia Southern University

Abstract

Background: This article reflects on the nature of technical editing alongside descriptive data from editors and editing instructors. Literature review: Technical editing is rarely the focus of scholarship in the field, and broader studies in emerging content trends and project management practices rarely address implications for technical editing. Studies that have touched on technical editing have also noted emerging roles, but the implications of these roles remain underexplored. Though editing has long been a prominent course in technical and professional communication (TPC) programs, little scholarship is devoted to developing pedagogies. Research questions: 1. What are the features of technical editing in industry and in the classroom? 2. What tasks, subject matter, topics, and roles are associated with technical editing in the classroom and in industry? Research methodology: I present survey data from editors and editing instructors from a larger study on trends in technical and professional editing. In this article, I focus on the types of content that editors take on, the types of editing that they do, the industries in which they work, and their job titles. Alongside these data, I present data from editing teachers, including the topics and roles that they include in their courses. Results and conclusions: The field has an important role to play in theorizing professional and technical editing, including attending to quality as a distinguishing characteristic, drawing from and shaping other TPC knowledge domains, and directly addressing accessibility. I conclude by identifying avenues for future research in technical editing and the ways in which we might think more critically about how we use and define technical editing in the classroom and the workplace.

Journal
IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
Published
2024-12-01
DOI
10.1109/tpc.2024.3463349
CompPile
Open Access
Closed
Topics
professional writing book reviews
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (2)

  1. Smith et al. (2025)
    Introducing TrackEDT: A Tool to Accelerate Empirical Editing Research
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  2. Schreiber (2025)
    Inclusive and Accessible Technical Editing in the Classroom and Workplace
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication

References (43) · 13 in this index

  1. 10.4324/9781351132756-9
     ↗
  2. 10.4324/9781351132756-2
     ↗
  3. 10.37514/TPC-B.2023.1923.2.11
     ↗
  4. Buehler (1981)
    Defining terms in technical editing: The levels of edit as a model
    Tech. Commun.
  5. 10.1145/3472714.3473619
     ↗
Show all 43 →
  1. Lang (2017)
    Reconceiving technical editing competencies for the 21st century: Reconciling employer ne…
    Tech. Commun.
  2. Boettger (2014)
    The technical communication editing test: Three studies on this assessment type
    Tech. Commun.
  3. Boettger (2020)
    Content and authorship patterns in technical communication journals (19962017): A quantit…
    Tech. Commun.
  4. Huntsman (2021)
    Addressing Workplace Accessibility Practices Through Technical Communication Re…
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  5. Strantz (2021)
    Using Web Standards to Design Accessible Data Visualizations in Professional Co…
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  6. Willerton (2008)
    Writing Toward Readers' Better Health: A Case Study Examining the Development o…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  7. 10.4018/ijskd.2015100104
     ↗
  8. 10.2190/cmbc10
     ↗
  9. Dobrin (1982)
    What's Difficult about Teaching Technical Writing
    College English
  10. Schreiber (2024)
    Inclusive and accessible technical editing in the workplace and in the classroom
    J. Bus. Tech. Commun.
  11. Clem et al. (2022)
    Unjust Revisions: A Social Justice Framework for Technical Editing
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  12. 10.4324/9781351132756-6
     ↗
  13. Mallette (2024)
    Preparing Future Technical Editors for an Artificial Intelligence-Enabled Workplace
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  14. Eaton (2008)
    Examining editing in the workplace from the author’s point of view: Results of an online survey
    Tech. Commun.
  15. Eaton (2008)
    Comparing cultural perceptions of editing from the author’s point of view
    Tech. Commun.
  16. Kreth et al. (2017)
    A Descriptive Survey of Technical Editors
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  17. Tarutz (1992)
    Technical Editing: The Practical Guide for Editors and Writers
  18. Rude (2011)
    Technical Editing
  19. Corbin (2002)
    Technical editing as quality assurance: Adding value to content
    Tech. Commun.
  20. Cunningham (2020)
    Technical Editing: An Introduction to Editing in the Workplace
  21. Carey (2014)
    Developing Quality Technical Information: A Handbook For Writers and Editors
  22. Weber (2010)
    Copyediting and beyond
  23. Mackiewicz (2003)
    The technical editor as diplomat: Linguistic strategies for balancing clarity and politeness
    Tech. Commun.
  24. Amare (2011)
    Technical Editing in the 21st Century
  25. Murphy (2010)
    Editors introduction
  26. Farkas et al. (1995)
    Online editing, mark-up models, and the workplace lives of editors and writers
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  27. Baker et al. (2021)
    An Editing Process for Blind or Visually Impaired Editors
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  28. Smith (2023)
    Corpus Linguistics and Technical Editing: How Corpora Can Help Copy Editors Ado…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  29. Adhya (2015)
    Key elements of an effective style guide in the new age
    Tech. Commun.
  30. 10.1109/procomm53155.2022.00081
     ↗
  31. Mackiewicz et al. (2024)
    Editors’ Use of Comprehensive Style Guides: The Case of Singular They
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  32. Mackiewicz et al. (2024)
    Editors’ Perceptions of Singular They
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  33. Andersen et al. (2015)
    The Current State of Component Content Management: An Integrative Literature Review
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  34. Lauren (2018)
    An integrative literature review of project management in technical and professional comm…
    Tech. Commun.
  35. Hodges (2018)
    Microeditingdetails matter quality, authority, and reputation: The value of microediting
    Med. Writing
  36. 10.37514/tpc-b.2022.1381.1.3
     ↗
  37. Farkas (1999)
    The logical and rhetorical construction of procedural discourse
    Tech. Commun.
  38. 10.37514/TPC-B.2022.1381.2.05
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 2 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related Articles

  1. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly Mar 2026
    Book Review: “What we’ve got here is how to communicate” “What we’ve got here is how to communicate”PlungD. L. (2024). The Art of Professional Communication: Strategies That Advance Careers. Routledge, 132 pp. ↗
    Kevin Schmidt
    professional writing book reviews
  2. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly Dec 2025
    Design Thinking in Business and Professional Communication Pedagogy: A Review of Pedagogical Studies, 2014–2024 ↗
    Jason Tham
    writing pedagogy collaborative writing assessment professional writing book reviews
  3. Communication Design Quarterly Dec 2025
    Review of "Document Design: From Process to Product in Professional Communication By Derek G. Ross and Miles A. Kimball," Ross, D. G., & Kimball, M. A. (2025). Document design: From process to product in professional communication (2nd ed.). SUNY Press. ↗
    Amber Lancaster
    rhetorical criticism technical communication professional writing multimodality book reviews
  4. Communication Design Quarterly Dec 2025
    Review of "Designing for Social Justice: Community-Engaged Approaches in Technical and Professional Communication By Jialei Jiang and Jason C. K. Tham (Eds.)," Jiang, J., & Tham, J. C. K. (Eds.). (2025). Designing for social justice: Community-engaged approaches in technical and professional communication. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003469995 ↗
    Jung-Hsien Lin
    professional writing multimodality race and writing book reviews
  5. Journal of Business and Technical Communication Oct 2025
    Book Review: The Art of Professional Communication: Strategies That Advance Careers by Daniel L. Plung PlungDaniel L. (2025). The Art of Professional Communication: Strategies That Advance Careers. Routledge. 132 pp. $87.90paperback. ISBN: 978-1-032-59648-8. ↗
    Ying Hua
    professional writing book reviews