Effectiveness in the Environmental Impact Statement

Written Communication Apr 1989

Effectiveness in the Environmental Impact Statement

M. JIMMIE KILLINGSWORTH ; DEAN STEFFENS NCR (United States)

Abstract

The environmental impact statement (EIS) was created by the National Environmental Policy Act in 1969 as a means of ensuring careful study of possible effects on the environment of projects involving public lands and as an aid to effective decisions regarding such projects. This article presents a case study involving the reading of several EISs produced by one government agency, the Bureau of Land Management. An analysis of these documents reveals that, to answer the leading question of rhetoricians in the field of technical writing—Is the document effective?—we must consider the social and cultural context of the EIS as well as the characteristics of the text, its organization and style. Simple notions of purpose and audience are ruled out. We must account for pragmatics as well as syntactics and semantics. The very category of “effectiveness” is conditioned by the historical and political forces that shape the EIS. An approach through genre theory is recommended.

Journal: Written Communication
Published: 1989-04-01
DOI: 10.1177/0741088389006002002
Open Access: Closed
Topics: genre theory qualitative research technical communication multilingual writers voice and style

Citation Context

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Cites in this index (1)

Cheney et al. (1984)

Redesigning Technical Reports: A Rhetorical Editing Method

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