Written Communication Oct 1995

Early Engineering Writing Textbooks and the Anthropological Complexity of Disciplinary Discourse

JOHN HAGGE

Abstract

The evolution of technical communication conventions in America is more anthropologically complex than the traditional linkage to the scientific plain-style tradition suggests. Analysis of leading ideas in early 20th-century engineering writing textbooks and other primary sources demonstrates that disciplinary discourse conventions develop from an intricate nexus of human motivations, beliefs, and social activity. This article explores currents in American social and intellectual history that explain this complex, sophisticated view of language, which combines a rhetorically sensitive formalism with the ideas of professional literacy and cultural reading to facilitate communication with various audiences and to reinforce the status and dignity of the emerging profession.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
1995-10-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088395012004003
Open Access
Closed
Topics
rhetorical theory technical communication multilingual writers voice and style

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (6)

  1. Duncan (2024)
    Conferences With the Engineers: The Innovative Pedagogy and Career of Sada Harb…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Sullivan (2012)
    After the Great War
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  3. Moran et al. (2012)
    A Bibliography of Works Published in the History of Professional Communication …
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Sutcliffe (1998)
    Feminizing the professional: The government reports of Flora Annie Steel
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. SMITH (1997)
    Intertextual Connections to “A Humanistic Rationale for Technical Writing”
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Show all 6 →
  1. HAGGE (1996)
    Ethics, Words, and the World in Moore's and Miller's Accounts of Scientific and…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication

Cites in this index (25)

  1. HAGGE (1994)
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    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  2. RIVERS (1994)
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    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  3. Connor (1993)
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    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Sauer (1993)
    Revisioning Sixteenth Century Solutions to Twentieth Century Problems in Herber…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  5. Runquist (1992)
    The Rhetoric of Geology: <i>Ethos</i> in the Writing of North American Geologis…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Show all 25 →
  1. Rutter (1991)
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    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Hagge (1990)
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    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  3. Batschelet (1988)
    Plain Style and Scientific Style: The Influence of the Puritan Plain Style Serm…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Brockmann (1988)
    Does Clio Have a Place in Technical Writing? Considering Patents in a History o…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  5. Shirk (1988)
    Technical Writing's Roots in Computer Science: The Evolution from Technician to…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  6. Harmon (1987)
    The Literature of Enlightenment: Technical Periodicals and Proceedings in the 1…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  7. Connor (1987)
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    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
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    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
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    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
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    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
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    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
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    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
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    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
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    Moby-Dick: A Whale of a Handbook for Technical Writing Teachers
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
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    The Relativity of Communication: Albert Einstein as Technical Writer
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
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    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
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    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
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    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Also cites 17 works outside this index ↓
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CrossRef global citation count: 9 View in citation network →

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