Pre‐professional practices in the technical writing classroom: Promoting multiple literacies through research

Technical Communication Quarterly Jun 1999

Pre‐professional practices in the technical writing classroom: Promoting multiple literacies through research

Ed Nagelhout University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Abstract

For small and mid‐sized universities, the 200‐level technical writing service course often represents the primary writing experience for students after their freshman year. Our “service” should help students develop the tools for analyzing language and understanding writing in complex ways. Assignment sequences should engage students in active research to develop four primary literacies: rhetorical, visual, information, and computer. This article focuses on disciplinarity and underlying pedagogical goals in technical writing classrooms by describing a search engine assignment sequence which promotes literate practices in three short reports: 1) A preview/instructions report, 2) An analysis/ evaluation report, and 3) A narrative review of a research activity. This article concludes with implications for these types of classroom practices.