Abstract

This article is a bibliographical essay on the history of business and technical writing based on a survey of over 200 articles and books that demonstrate not only the quality and quantity of recent publications in this field but also the wide opportunities it offers for future research. The studies in the article and bibliography are grouped into 13 categories according to historical period (from ancient and classical times through the twentieth century), national origin, and (for twentieth-century studies) subject of investigation. The article concludes with suggestions about further research in the history of business and technical writing.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
1994-01-01
DOI
10.1177/1050651994008001002
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
Closed
Topics
Export

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (10)

  1. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  3. Computers and Composition
  4. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  5. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
Show all 10 →
  1. Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Written Communication
  5. Technical Communication Quarterly

References (213) · 57 in this index

  1. Business and Technical Writing: An Annotated Bibliography of Books, 1880-1980
  2. Early American Scientific and Technical Literature: An Annotated Bibliography of Books, P…
  3. (Reviewed by Debra Journet in JBTC 5 [1991]: 321-322.)
    JBTC
  4. Shaping Written Knowledge: The Genre and Activity of the Experimental Article in Science
  5. (Reviewed by David S. Kaufer in Rhetoric Society Quarterly 19.1 [1989]: 69-70
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
Show all 213 →
  1. Rhetorica
  2. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  3. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  4. The Rhetoric of Science
  5. (Reviewed by Jeffrey Jones in JBTC 5 [1991]: 330-333
    JBTC
  6. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  7. Business and Technical Communication: A Bibliography 1975-1985
  8. Research in Technical Communication: A Bibliographical Sourcebook
  9. A Rhetoric of Science: Inventing Scientific Discourse
  10. (Reviewed by James P. Zappen in IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 34.2 [1991]: 123-124
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  11. and by M. Jimmie Killingsworth in JBTC 5 [1991]: 322-325.)
    JBTC
  12. “Historical Studies in the Rhetoric of Science and Technology.”
    The Technical Writing Teacher
  13. Proceedings of the 31st International Technical Communication Conference
  14. Courses, Components, and Exercises in Technical Communication
  15. “When Technical Communicators Face the Past.”
    Technical Communication
  16. “A Rhetorical Approach for Teaching the Literature of Scientific and Technical Writing.”
    The Technical Writing Teacher
  17. Technical and Professional Communication
  18. 10.1109/TEWS.1961.4322736
  19. The Teaching of Technical Writing
  20. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  21. “A Twenty-Five Year Perspective on the Pedagogy of Business Communication.”
    ABC Bulletin
  22. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  23. 10.1177/002194368201900201
  24. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  25. 10.1177/002194368902600104
  26. “Style and Audience in Technical Writing.”
    The Technical Writing Teacher
  27. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  28. 10.1177/002194366900600305
  29. “Cicero's Arrangement in Scientific Writing.”
    Issues in Writing
  30. Written Communication
  31. Writing in the Business Professions
  32. Proceedings of the 33rd Annual International Technical Communication Conference
  33. “Understanding Writing as an Art: Classical Rhetoric and the Corporate Context.”
    The Technical Writing Teacher
  34. “Discourse on Method: The Rhetorical Analysis of Scientific Texts.”
    PRE/TEXT
  35. “Ties That Bind: Ancient Epistolography and Modern Business Communication.”
    Journal of Advanced Composition
  36. The Rhetorical Tradition and Modern Writing
  37. Rhetoric and the Scientific Method of Inquiry: A Study of Invention. University of Colora…
    Series in Language and Literature
  38. 10.1177/002194368402100205
  39. 10.1177/002194368802500302
  40. 10.1177/002194368502200102
  41. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  42. 10.1177/002194368702400201
  43. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  44. 10.1632/ade.65.27
  45. Proceedings of the 33rd Annual International Technical Communication Conference
  46. “Gaius Julius Caesar, Technical Writer.”
    Technical Communication
  47. “A History of Specifications: Technical Writing in Perspective.”
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  48. “Agricola's Preface to De Re Metallica.”
    Technical Communication
  49. “The First Technical Writer in English: Geoffrey Chaucer.”
    Technical Communication
  50. Textual Dynamics of the Professions: Historical and Contemporary Studies of Writing in Pr…
  51. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  52. “Chaucer as a Technical Writer.”
    Chaucer Review
  53. “Geoffrey Chaucer, Technical Writer.”
    Society of Technical Writers and Publishers Review
  54. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  55. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  56. “An Anglo-Saxon Technical Writer.”
    Technical Communication
  57. Creativity and the Imagination: Case Studies from the Classical Age to the Twentieth Century
  58. Proceedings of the 28th Annual International Technical Communication Conference
  59. Textual Dynamics of the Professions: Historical and Contemporary Studies of Writing in Pr…
  60. Studies in the History of Business Writing
  61. Rhetorica
  62. 10.1177/002194368001700303
  63. Studies in the History of Business Writing
  64. Studies in the History of Business Writing
  65. 10.1177/002194367901600201
  66. “Commentary: A Response to J.T.H. Connor and Jennifer J. Connor's Analysis.”
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  67. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  68. “Francis Bacon and the Technology of Style.”
    The Technical Writing Teacher
  69. 10.1093/res/os-XVII.67.281
  70. Prose Style: A Historical Approach Through Studies
  71. “Rhetoric and Action in Francis Bacon.”
    Philosophy and Rhetoric
  72. “Commentary on Rhetorical Analysis of William Harvey's De Motu Cordus (1628).”
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  73. The Literary Structure of Scientific Argument
  74. Studies in the History of Business Writing
  75. Galileo and the Art of Reasoning: Rhetorical Foundations of Logic and Scientific MethodBo…
  76. (See reviews by Ch. Perelman and Floyd D. Anderson in Philosophy and Rhetoric 15.2 [1982]: 134-138.)
    Philosophy and Rhetoric
  77. 10.2307/3816364
  78. Studies in the History of Business Writing
  79. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  80. Studies in the History of Business Writing
  81. “The Rhetorical Principles of Sir Thomas Browne.”
    Technical Communication
  82. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  83. Rhetorica
  84. “Ben Jonson's Timber: A Compilation of Verities.”
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  85. “Leonardo da Vinci as Technical Writer.”
    Technical Communication
  86. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  87. “Audience Analysis in the 17th Century.”
    Technical Communication
  88. Francis Bacon and the Style of Science
  89. “Rhetorical Problems in Renaissance Science.”
    Philosophy and Rhetoric
  90. New Essays in Technical and Scientific Communication: Research, Theory, Practice
  91. “Books of Secrets—Authors and Their Perception of Audience in Procedure Writing of the En…
    Issues in Writing
  92. “The Evolution of Technical Description in Renaissance English Technical Writing, 1475-16…
    Issues in Writing
  93. Written Communication
  94. “Renaissance Epistolography and the Origins of Business Correspondence, 1568-1640: Implic…
    JBTC
  95. “Visual Language: The Development of Format and Page Design in English Renaissance Techni…
    JBTC
  96. Technical Communication Quarterly
  97. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  98. 10.1177/002194368502200403
  99. Francis Bacon on Communication and Rhetoric
  100. Dimensions of Rhetorical Scholarship
  101. 10.2307/356123
  102. Proceedings of the 24th International Technical Communication Conference
  103. The Rise of Modern Prose Style
  104. Rhetorica
  105. Textual Dynamics of the Professions: Historical and Contemporary Studies of Writing in Pr…
  106. “A Reformed Writer in 1676.”
    Technical Communication
  107. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  108. Attic and Baroque Prose Style: The Anti-Ciceronian Movement
  109. Seventeenth Century Prose
  110. The Language of Science and the Language of Literature, 1700-1740
  111. “Logic and Rhetoric in Lavoisier's Sealed Note: Toward a Rhetoric of Science.”
    Philosophy and Rhetoric
  112. Rhetoric in the Human Sciences
  113. Essays on Classical Rhetoric and Modern Discourse
  114. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  115. Studies in the History of Business Writing
  116. The Literary Structure of Scientific Argument
  117. The Seventeenth Century: Studies in the History of English Thought and Literature from Ba…
  118. 10.2307/457821
  119. Seventeenth Century Prose
  120. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  121. 10.1002/sce.3730380403
  122. “Gilbert White and the Personal Style.”
    Technical Communication
  123. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  124. New Essays in Technical and Scientific Communication: Research, Theory, Practice
  125. Proceedings of the 28th Annual International Technical Communication Conference
  126. Studies in Technical Communication: Proceedings of the 1991 CCCC and NCTE Meetings
  127. Studies in the History of Business Writing
  128. 10.1177/002194367901700101
  129. The Literary Structure of Scientific Argument
  130. The Literary Structure of Scientific Argument
  131. 10.1177/030631284014004001
  132. “The Scientific Poetry of Erasmus Darwin.”
    Technical Communication
  133. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  134. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  135. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  136. “Priestley's Personal Style.”
    Technical Communication
  137. The Literary Structure of Scientific Argument
  138. “The Diction of Sir Humphrey Davy.”
    Technical Communication
  139. 10.1080/03637757009375644
  140. “The Invisible Rhetorician: Charles Darwin's `Third Party' Strategy.”
    Rhetorica
  141. 10.1080/00335637509383301
  142. 10.1080/00335638609383782
  143. The Literary Structure of Scientific Argument
  144. “Sir Charles Lyell: Geologist and Technical Communicator.”
    Technical Communication
  145. `A Classical Example of a Procedure [by John Snow].”
    Technical Communication
  146. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  147. The Literary Structure of Scientific Argument
  148. “Darwin and Style.”
    Technical Communication
  149. 10.1080/00335638709383791
  150. 10.1080/10417948309372586
  151. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  152. “Development of the Modern Technical Article.”
    Technical Communication
  153. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  154. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  155. Studies in the History of Business Writing
  156. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  157. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  158. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  159. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  160. “The Anonymous Technical Writer in History.”
    STWP Review
  161. “Technical Writers Who Became Famous as Scientists.”
    STWP Review
  162. “Aristotelian Science and Rhetoric in Transistion: The Middle Ages and the Renaissance.”
    Rhetorica
  163. “Historical Perspectives on the Philosophy and the Rhetoric of Science: Sources for a Plu…
    PRE/TEXT
  164. Textual Dynamics of the Professions: Historical and Contemporary Studies of Writing in Pr…
  165. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  166. 10.1177/002194368101800105
  167. 10.1109/TEWS.1965.6594555
  168. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  169. “America's First Great Technical Writer.”
    STWP Review
  170. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  171. “Cotton Mather, America's First Great Technical Writer.”
    STWP Review
  172. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  173. Proceedings of the 28th International Technical Communication Conference
  174. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  175. Technical Writings Past, Present, and Future
  176. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  177. Studies in the History of Business Writing
  178. Studies in the History of Business Writing
  179. Textual Dynamics of the Professions: Historical and Contemporary Studies of Writing in Pr…
  180. Studies in the History of Business Writing
  181. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  182. 10.1080/00335637409383240
  183. 10.1177/002194368201900301
  184. Studies in the History of Business Writing
  185. “Dr. Lewis Thomas: Popularizer of Science.”
    Technical Communication
  186. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  187. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  188. Rhetoric Review
  189. “Technical Writing and the Rhetoric of Science.”
    Technical Communication
  190. Also in Journal of Technical Writing and Communication 8 (1978): 77-88. (Strong emphasis on Watson and Crick.)
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  191. Written Communication
  192. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  193. 10.1080/00335638509383727
  194. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  195. “P. W. Bridgman on Style.”
    Technical Communication
  196. 10.1177/108056998805100404
  197. 10.1080/10510977909368011
  198. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  199. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  200. 10.1080/03637758109376063
  201. Textual Dynamics of the Professions: Historical and Contemporary Studies of Writing in Pr…
  202. 10.1080/00335638609383764
  203. Three Mile Island: The Management Communication Failure
  204. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  205. Written Communication
  206. 10.1080/10570318509374200
  207. “An Editorial: The Watergate Hearings and Business Communication.”
    Journal of Business Communication
  208. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication