Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Jan 2000

Burkean Invention in Technical Communication

Jeff Todd West Texas A&M University

Abstract

This article supplements existing rhetorical scholarship by returning to the notion of invention as general preparation of the communicator. Although much scholarship about invention in technical communication exists, it consists mainly of heuristics, checklists, ethical considerations, and audience awareness. Part of invention is using basic strategies to prepare the communicator to assess any communication situation and its context and to generate the appropriate discourse. Rhetorician Kenneth Burke's theories of dialectic and rhetoric are a twentieth-century version of this; this article explains important Burkean strategies such as etymological extension, limits of agreement with the thesis, finding the complex in the simple, expanding the circumference, translation or alembication, the four master tropes, and the pentad, and it shows how to apply these in technical communication. The article closes with a classroom assignment that uses Burkean invention strategies.

Journal
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published
2000-01-01
DOI
10.2190/krbk-6v0r-k4c3-38k5
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Topics
modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism discourse analysis technical communication
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (7)

  1. Boedy (2017)
    From Deliberation to Responsibility: Ethics, Invention, and Bonhoeffer in Techn…
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  2. Zhang et al. (2015)
    Influences on Creativity in Technical Communication: Invention, Motivation, and…
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  3. Todd (2014)
    Avoiding Litigation for Product Instructions and Warnings
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Todd (2014)
    Avoiding Litigation for Product Instructions and Warnings
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  5. Todd (2008)
    Breaking Professional Boundaries: What the MacCrate Report on Lawyering Skills …
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  1. Todd (2008)
    Breaking Professional Boundaries: What the MacCrate Report on Lawyering Skills …
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Todd (2003)
    Teaching the History of Technical Communication: A Lesson with Franklin and Hoover
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

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CrossRef global citation count: 6 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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