IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication Mar 1996

The paradox of revision: a study of writing as a product in the revision of manuals

A.I. Philbin ; M.M. Spirek

Abstract

Businesses need not do much that is expensive, radical, or new to improve their documentation, and a product oriented approach is much more likely to be used in the workplace instead of the writing as a process approach. These are the two findings that emerged from our study of the revision of manuals as described by practising technical communicators. We conducted in depth interviews with 20 technical communicators from six different types of industries to explore and understand their concept and use of the revision process. The study describes the understanding technical communicators have of revision in their corporate cultures and then discusses the need for an improved understanding of product based writing among educators of technical communicators.

Journal
IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
Published
1996-03-01
DOI
10.1109/47.486045
CompPile
Open Access
Closed
Topics
writing pedagogy revision technical communication
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (1)

  1. MacNealy (1997)
    Toward better case study research
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication

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CrossRef global citation count: 3 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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