Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Jan 2000 Open Access

Ethics and Technical Communication: The Past Quarter Century

Paul M. Dombrowski University of Central Florida

Abstract

Ethics as a topic in technical communication has grown in interest in the past quarter century as the field itself has matured. We now understand technical communication as involved in communicating not only technical information but also values, ethics, and tacit assumptions represented in goals. It also is involved in accommodating the values and ethics of its many audiences. This understanding is linked to an awareness of the social nature of all discourse and the root interconnectedness of rhetoric and ethics. This article presents an introduction and annotated bibliography of articles from technical writing and communication journals over this period, arranged in categories of professional, academic, and systematic approaches. Ethics is broadly conceived to include not only particular theories but also systems of values and principles.

Journal
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published
2000-01-01
DOI
10.2190/3yby-tyny-eqg8-n9fc
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
OA PDF Green
Topics
rhetorical criticism discourse analysis technical communication
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (13)

  1. Seawright et al. (2026)
    “Is This Ethical?” New Data on the Ethical Principles and Practices of Document…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Axelrod (2025)
    Improving Proposal Writing by Looking to Information Operations
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  3. Pflugfelder et al. (2023)
    Expanding the Scope and Scale of Risk in TPC: Water Access and the Colorado Riv…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Greene (2022)
    Ethical Design Approaches for Workplace Augmented Reality
    Communication Design Quarterly
  5. Lee (2022)
    The Ethics of Extrapolation: Science Fiction in the Technical Communication Classroom
    Technical Communication Quarterly
Show all 13 →
  1. Ross et al. (2019)
    Principles of Place: Developing a Place-Based Ethic for Discussing, Debating, a…
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  2. Ross (2013)
    Common Topics and Commonplaces of Environmental Rhetoric
    Written Communication
  3. Moran et al. (2012)
    A Bibliography of Works Published in the History of Professional Communication …
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Cunningham (2010)
    The Language of Work: Technical Communication at Lukens Steel 1810 to 1925 (Joh…
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  5. Ward (2010)
    The Ethic of Exigence: Information Design, Postmodern Ethics, and the Holocaust
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  6. Todd (2008)
    Breaking Professional Boundaries: What the MacCrate Report on Lawyering Skills …
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  7. Dombrowski (2007)
    The Evolving Face of Ethics in Technical and Professional Communication: Challe…
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  8. Woerkum (2007)
    Orality and the Process of Writing
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

References (72) · 54 in this index

  1. Clark (1987)
    Ethics in technical communication: A rhetorical perspective
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  2. Allen et al. (1998)
    Ethics for editors: an analytical decision-making process
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  3. Allen (1996)
    Ethics and Visual Rhetorics: Seeing's Not Believing Anymore
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Boyer et al. (1992)
    Ethics and diversity: a correlation enhanced through corporate communication
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  5. Bryan (1992)
    Down the slippery slope: Ethics and the technical writer as marketer
    Technical Communication Quarterly
Show all 72 →
  1. Bryan (1995)
    Seven Types of Distortion: A Taxonomy of Manipulative Techniques used in Charts…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Buchholtz (1989)
    Deciphering professional codes of ethics
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  3. DAVID et al. (1997)
    Conflicting Values: Team Management Portrayed in Epic Metaphors
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  4. Debakey L. (1980)
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  5. Dennett (1998)
    Addressing bias in clip art provided with popular software
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  6. Girill T. R. (1987)
    Technical Communication
  7. Kowal (1980)
    Responsible Science Reporting in a Technological Age
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  8. Mann (1998)
    Achieving frontline communication excellence: the potential cost to health
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  9. MOORE (1992)
    When Politeness is Fatal: Technical Communication and the Challenger Accident
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  10. Orbell (1995)
    The DoD Tailhook Report: Unanswered Questions
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  11. Radez F. (1980)
    Technical Communication
  12. Sachs H. (1980)
    Technical Communication
  13. Sawyer (1988)
    The Argument about Ethics, Fairness, or Right and Wrong
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  14. Schmelzer (1981)
    New Responsibilities for the Technical Writer
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  15. Schroll (1995)
    Technology and communication ethics: An evaluative framework
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  16. Shimberg H. L. (1978)
    Technical Communication
  17. Shimberg H. L. (1980)
    Technical Communication
  18. Stone (1997)
    In Search of Patient Agency in the Rhetoric of Diabetes Care
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  19. Sturges (1992)
    Overcoming the ethical dilemma: communication decisions in the ethic ecosystem
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  20. Waddell (1995)
    Defining sustainable development: A case study in environmental communication
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  21. Williams (1997)
    Intel's Pentium chip crisis: an ethical analysis
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  22. Zerbe et al. (1998)
    The Rhetoric of Fraud in Breast Cancer Trials: Manifestations in Medical Journa…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  23. 10.2307/358560
     ↗
  24. Barton B. and Barton M., Ethos, Persona, and Role Confusion in Engineering: Toward a Pedagogy for Technical D…
  25. Barton et al. (1983)
    The Nature and Treatment of Professional Engineering Problems—The Technical Wri…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  26. Ben-Chaim (1996)
    How do Facts Speak for Themselves? The Doctrine and Practice of Classical Empiricism
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  27. Dombrowski (1995)
    Can ethics be technologized? Lessons from Challenger, philosophy, and rhetoric
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  28. Dombrowski (1991)
    The lessons of the Challenger investigations
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  29. Dragga (1997)
    A Question of Ethics: Lessons from Technical Communicators on the Job
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  30. Dragga S. (1996)
    Technical Communication
  31. HAGGE (1996)
    Ethics, Words, and the World in Moore's and Miller's Accounts of Scientific and…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  32. Hartung (1998)
    What Are Students being Taught about the Ethics of Technical Communication?: An…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  33. 10.2307/378062
     ↗
  34. LAY (1994)
    The Value of Gender Studies to Professional Communication Research
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  35. Markel (1991)
    A Basic Unit on Ethics for Technical Communicators
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  36. Markel (1993)
    An ethical imperative for technical communicators
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  37. Markel (1997)
    Ethics and technical communication: a case for foundational approaches
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  38. 10.2307/375964
     ↗
  39. 10.1080/10510977809367983
     ↗
  40. MOORE (1996)
    Instrumental Discourse is as Humanistic as Rhetoric
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  41. Kreth et al. (1996)
    Comments on “Instrumental Discourse is as Humanistic as Rhetoric”
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  42. Ornatowski (1992)
    Between efficiency and politics rhetoric and ethics in technical writing
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  43. Parsons (1987)
    Ethical factors influencing curriculum design and instruction in technical comm…
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  44. Porter J. (1993)
    Professional Communication: The Social Perspective
  45. Possin (1991)
    Ethical Argumentation
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  46. Rubens (1981)
    Reinventing the Wheel?: Ethics for Technical Communicators
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  47. SAUER (1993)
    Sense and Sensibility in Technical Documentation: How Feminist Interpretation S…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  48. Scott (1995)
    Sophistic ethics in the technical writing classroom: Teachingnomos,deliberation…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  49. Sims (1993)
    Linking ethics and language in the technical communication classroom
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  50. SULLIVAN (1991)
    The Epideictic Rhetoric of Science
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  51. Sullivan D. (1990)
    Journal of Advanced Composition
  52. Walzer (1989)
    The Ethics of False Implicature in Technical and Professional Writing Courses
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  53. Zappen (1989)
    The Discourse Community in Scientific and Technical Communication: Institutiona…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  54. Brockmann R. J. (1989)
    Technical Communication and Ethics
  55. Doheny-Farina S. (1989)
    Technical and Business Communication: Bibliographic Essays for Teachers and Corporate Trainers
  56. Kremers (1989)
    Teaching ethical thinking in a technical writing course
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  57. Dragga (1999)
    Ethical intercultural technical communication: Looking through the lens of Conf…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  58. Faber (1999)
    Intuitive ethics: Understanding and critiquing the role of intuition in ethical…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  59. Hitch et al. (1994)
    Historical perspectives on technology, ethics, and privacy
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  60. Meier (1999)
    The Browser War: An Ethical Analysis of the Struggle between Microsoft and the …
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  61. Porter (1987)
    Truth in technical advertising: A case study
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  62. Dombrowski P. M. (2000)
    Ethics in Technical Communication
  63. 10.2190/HAT
     ↗
  64. Dombrowski (1995)
    Can ethics be technologized? Lessons from Challenger, philosophy, and rhetoric
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  65. Dombrowski (1992)
    Challengerand the social contingency of meaning: Two lessons for the technical …
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  66. Dombrowski (1991)
    The lessons of the Challenger investigations
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  67. Dombrowski (1994)
    Challengerthrough the Eyes of Feyerabend
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
CrossRef global citation count: 18 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related Articles

  1. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication Jun 2025
    Presenting and Making Relevant: Analyzing Teaching Assistant Perceptions of Writing in Statistics Using Semantic Frames ↗
    Ben Markey
    rhetorical criticism genre theory discourse analysis graduate education teacher development assessment technical communication professional writing
  2. Technical Communication Quarterly Apr 2025
    Communicating Global Governmentality: The United Nations Global Compact, BP, and the Implicit Violence of Human Rights Discourse ↗
    Michael T. MacDonald
    rhetorical criticism discourse analysis technical communication qualitative research
  3. Technical Communication Quarterly Oct 2024
    Social Justice and “Harmful Tech”: Dis-Orienting Militarized Research ↗
    Calvin Pollak; Sanvi Bhardwaj
    rhetorical criticism discourse analysis writing pedagogy teacher development technical communication scientific writing race and writing disability studies editorial matter
  4. Technical Communication Quarterly Oct 2024
    Editors’ Use of Comprehensive Style Guides: The Case of Singular They ↗
    Jo Mackiewicz; Shaya Kraut; Allison Durazzi
    rhetorical criticism discourse analysis first-year composition writing pedagogy graduate education teacher development writing centers technical communication professional writing digital rhetoric multilingual writers grammar and mechanics literacy studies race and writing public rhetoric editorial matter
  5. Communication Design Quarterly Sep 2024
    Review of "Embodied Environmental Risk in Technical Communication by Samuel Stinson and Mary Le Rouge," Stinson, S., & Le Rouge, M. (Eds.). (2022). Embodied Environmental Risk in Technical Communication. Routledge. ↗
    David Reamer
    rhetorical criticism discourse analysis technical communication qualitative research race and writing body and rhetoric book reviews