Journal of Business and Technical Communication Jul 2001

Moving beyond the Moment

Danette Paul Brigham Young University ; Davida Charney ; Aimee Kendall

Abstract

Studies in the rhetoric of science have tended to focus on classic scientific texts and on the history of drafts and the interaction surrounding them up until the moment when the drafts are accepted for publication by a journal. Similarly, research on disasters resulting from failed communication has tended to focus on the history of drafts and the interaction surrounding them up until the moment of the disaster. The authors argue that overattention to the moment skews understanding of what makes scientific discourse successful and neglects other valuable sources of evidence. After reviewing the promises and limitations of studies from historical, observational, and text-analytic approaches, the authors call for studies of responses to research articles from disciplinary readers and argue for studies using a variety of qualitative and quantitative methodologies that will explore the real-time responses of readers to scientific texts, test the effects of rhetorical strategies on readers, and track the course of acceptance or rejection over time.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
2001-07-01
DOI
10.1177/105065190101500305
Open Access
Closed
Topics
scientific writing

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (20)

  1. Skinner (2024)
    Theorizing Reception: Antoinette Brown Blackwell’s Response to Evolutionary Theory
    Rhetoric Review
  2. Marquardt (2022)
    Creationist Science and the Rhetorical Capacity of the Scientific Method
    Rhetoric Review
  3. Martin et al. (2018)
    Stories They Tell
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  4. Walker (2016)
    Mapping the Contours of Translation: Visualized Un/Certainties in the Ozone Hol…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. Harlow (2015)
    <i>Topoi</i> and the Reconciliation of Expertise: A Model for the Development o…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Show all 20 →
  1. Cramer et al. (2014)
    Examining Readers’ Evaluations of Objectivity and Bias in News Discourse
    Written Communication
  2. Swales (2014)
    Variation in Citational Practice in a Corpus of Student Biology Papers
    Written Communication
  3. Graham et al. (2013)
    Multiple Ontologies in Pain Management: Toward a Postplural Rhetoric of Science
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Skinner (2012)
    Incompatible Rhetorical Expectations: Julia W. Carpenter's Medical Society Pape…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. Derkatch (2012)
    Demarcating Medicine's Boundaries: Constituting and Categorizing in the Journal…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  6. Leake (2012)
    Science as Sound Bites: <i>The Lancet</i> …
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  7. Walker et al. (2012)
    “No One Yet Knows What the Ultimate Consequences May Be”
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  8. Northcut (2011)
    Insights from Illustrators: The Rhetorical Invention of Paleontology Representations
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  9. Moran et al. (2011)
    A Bibliography of Works Published in the History of Professional Communication …
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  10. Harlow (2010)
    The Province of Sophists: An Argument for Academic Homelessness
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  11. Gronnvoll et al. (2010)
    From Viruses to Russian Roulette to Dance: A Rhetorical Critique and Creation o…
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  12. Koerber et al. (2008)
    Distortion and the Politics of Pain Relief
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  13. Wilder (2005)
    “The Rhetoric of Literary Criticism” Revisited
    Written Communication
  14. Secor et al. (2004)
    A Rhetorical Perspective on the Sokal Hoax
    Written Communication
  15. Charney (2003)
    Lone Geniuses in Popular Science
    Written Communication

Cites in this index (4)

  1. PAUL et al. (1995)
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    Written Communication
  2. Pace (1988)
    Technical Communication, Group Differentiation, and the Decision to Launch the …
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  3. CRISMORE et al. (1988)
    Readers' Learning from Prose
    Written Communication
  4. Halloran (1984)
    The birth of molecular biology: An essay in the rhetorical criticism of scienti…
    Rhetoric Review
Also cites 18 works outside this index ↓
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CrossRef global citation count: 36 View in citation network →

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