Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Jan 2003

Teaching the History of Technical Communication: A Lesson with Franklin and Hoover

Jeff Todd Georgia Southern University

Abstract

The first part of this article shows that research in the history of technical communication has increased in quantity and sophistication over the last 20 years. Scholarship that describes how to teach with that information, however, has not followed, even though teaching the history of the field is a need recognized by several scholars. The article provides and defends four guidelines as a foundation to study ways to incorporate history into classroom lessons: 1) maintain a continued research interest in teaching history; 2) limit to technical rather than scientific discourse; 3) focus on English-language texts; and 4) focus on American texts, authors, and practices. The second part of the essay works within the guidelines to show a lesson that contrasts technical texts by Benjamin Franklin and Herbert Hoover. The lesson can help students see the difference in technical writing before and after the Industrial Revolution, a difference that mirrors their own transition from the university to the workforce.

Journal
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published
2003-01-01
DOI
10.2190/tgc8-gbv9-3j3t-kr00
Open Access
Closed
Topics
rhetorical theory technical communication

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (4)

  1. Malone et al. (2018)
    “To Promote That Demand”
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  2. Todd (2014)
    Avoiding Litigation for Product Instructions and Warnings
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  3. Moran et al. (2011)
    A Bibliography of Works Published in the History of Professional Communication …
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Todd (2008)
    Breaking Professional Boundaries: What the MacCrate Report on Lawyering Skills …
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

Cites in this index (15)

  1. Todd (2000)
    Burkean Invention in Technical Communication
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. WINSOR (1998)
    Rhetorical Practices in Technical Work
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  3. MILLER (1998)
    Learning from History
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  4. Tebeaux (1998)
    The voices of English women technical writers, 1641–1700: Imprints in the evolu…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. Todd (1998)
    A Longinian concept and methodology for technical communication
    Technical Communication Quarterly
Show all 15 →
  1. DILLON (1997)
    The New Historicism and Studies in the History of Business and Technical Writing
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  2. BROCKMANN (1996)
    Victor W. Pagé's Early Twentieth-Century Automotive and Aviation Books
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  3. Brockmann (1996)
    William Stillman, Rhode Island Mechanician and Communicator—His Lock Patents an…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Loges (1995)
    A Classical Case of Poor Communication: P. G. T. Beauregard's Battle Orders and…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  5. Moran (1995)
    Frank Aydelotte: AT&T's First Writing Consultant, 1917–1918
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  6. Connor (1993)
    Medical Text and Historical Context: Research Issues and Methods in History and…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  7. Sauer (1993)
    Revisioning Sixteenth Century Solutions to Twentieth Century Problems in Herber…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  8. RICHARDSON et al. (1993)
    Power Relations, Technical Writing Theory, and Workplace Writing
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  9. Tebeaux et al. (1992)
    Expanding and redirecting historical research in technical writing: In search o…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  10. Rutter (1991)
    History, Rhetoric, and Humanism: Toward a More Comprehensive Definition of Tech…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Also cites 4 works outside this index ↓
  1. 10.1515/9780791492703
     ↗
  2. 10.1177/108056999605900210
     ↗
  3. 10.56021/9780801837579
     ↗
  4. 10.1525/9780520352018
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 6 View in citation network →

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