Journal of Business and Technical Communication Sep 1990

The Case Against Defining Technical Writing

Jo Allen East Carolina University

Abstract

Ongoing attempts to define technical writing are inevitably confounded by problems caused by an excessively broad focus, which obscures the basis and usefulness of the definition, or by an excessively narrow focus, which arbitrarily-and sometimes oddly-relegates samples of writing as in or out of the realm of technical writing. Technical writers have been doing their jobs for far too long without a definition to be satisfied with a one- or two-sentence catch-all definition, and such a definition may result in dividing technical writing into two (or more) cultures.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
1990-09-01
DOI
10.1177/105065199000400204
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
technical communication
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (15)

  1. Stambler (2022)
    “An Excelent Good Remedi”: Medical Recipes as Ethos-Building Tactical Technical…
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  2. Thielen (2022)
    Ethos, Hospitality, and the Pursuit of Rhetorical Healing: How Three Decolonial…
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  3. Friess et al. (2021)
    Identifying Commonalities and Divergences Between Technical Communication Schol…
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  4. Houf (2021)
    Boundary Work and Boundary Objects: Synthesizing Two Concepts for Moments of Co…
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  5. Sánchez (2019)
    Trans Students’ Right to Their Own Gender in Professional Communication Courses…
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  1. Pflugfelder (2017)
    Reddit’s “Explain Like I’m Five”: Technical Descriptions in the Wild
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Walton (2016)
    Supporting Human Dignity and Human Rights: A Call to Adopt the First Principle …
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  3. St.Amant et al. (2016)
    Addressing the Incommensurable: A Research-Based Perspective for Considering Is…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Henning et al. (2016)
    Reconsidering Power and Legitimacy in Technical Communication: A Case for Enlar…
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  5. Moeller et al. (2016)
    Food Fights: Cookbook Rhetorics, Monolithic Constructions of Womanhood, and Fie…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  6. Yu (2012)
    Intercultural Competence in Technical Communication: A Working Definition and R…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  7. Williams (2009)
    Understanding Public Policy Development as a Technological Process
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  8. Connatser (2007)
    Two Centuries of Progress in Technical Communication
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  9. Durack (1997)
    Gender, Technology, and the History of Technical Communication
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  10. Allen (1991)
    Thematic Repetition as Rhetorical Technique
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

References (26) · 4 in this index

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CrossRef global citation count: 22 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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