Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Apr 2017

(Re)Kindle: On the Value of Storytelling to Technical Communication

Nancy Small University of Wyoming

Abstract

In an effort to expand the range of ways graduate programs prepare students to be scholars and practitioners in technical and professional communication, this article argues for a fresh direct reengagement with stories, storytelling, and narrative as valuable ways of studying and effectively producing the varied texts of the workplace. The previous call for acknowledging the value of narrative traces back almost 30 years, and story is still being used in a variety of compelling ways, even as an overt regard for narrative has not been sustained. What may be lacking is a systematic way to transform assumptions about stories as informal anecdotes into stories as data for rigorous analysis. David Boje’s antenarrative theory and method offers technical and professional communication graduate students, scholars, and practitioners just such a compelling and timely position from which to consider workplace processes and products.

Journal
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published
2017-04-01
DOI
10.1177/0047281617692069
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
graduate education professional writing
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (10)

  1. Jones et al. (2025)
    Cop City Counternarratives: Security Logics, Sociotechnical Environments, and M…
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  4. Tham (2024)
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  5. Edwards et al. (2023)
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  1. Allison et al. (2023)
    Making Graduate Student CER Practices Visible: Navigating the Double-Binds of I…
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  2. Lee (2022)
    The Ethics of Extrapolation: Science Fiction in the Technical Communication Classroom
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  3. Elliott (2021)
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  4. Itchuaqiyaq et al. (2021)
    Decolonizing decoloniality: considering the (mis)use of decolonial frameworks i…
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  5. Danner (2020)
    Story/Telling with Data as Distributed Activity
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CrossRef global citation count: 15 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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