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
Open Access
OA PDF Green
Topics
technical communication

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (9)

  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. Lee (2022)
    The Ethics of Extrapolation: Science Fiction in the Technical Communication Classroom
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. Ross (2013)
    Common Topics and Commonplaces of Environmental Rhetoric
    Written Communication
Show all 9 →
  1. Moran et al. (2012)
    A Bibliography of Works Published in the History of Professional Communication …
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Ward (2010)
    The Ethic of Exigence
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  3. Todd (2008)
    Breaking Professional Boundaries: What the MacCrate Report on Lawyering Skills …
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Woerkum (2007)
    Orality and the Process of Writing
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

Cites in this index (36)

  1. Dragga (1999)
    Ethical intercultural technical communication: Looking through the lens of Conf…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Meier (1999)
    The Browser War: An Ethical Analysis of the Struggle between Microsoft and the …
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  3. Faber (1999)
    Intuitive ethics: Understanding and critiquing the role of intuition in ethical…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Hartung (1998)
    What Are Students being Taught about the Ethics of Technical Communication?: An…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  5. Zerbe et al. (1998)
    The Rhetoric of Fraud in Breast Cancer Trials: Manifestations in Medical Journa…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Show all 36 →
  1. Stone (1997)
    In Search of Patient Agency in the Rhetoric of Diabetes Care
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Dragga (1997)
    A Question of Ethics: Lessons from Technical Communicators on the Job
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. DAVID et al. (1997)
    Conflicting Values
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  4. HAGGE (1996)
    Ethics, Words, and the World in Moore's and Miller's Accounts of Scientific and…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  5. Kreth et al. (1996)
    Comments on “Instrumental Discourse is as Humanistic as Rhetoric”
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  6. Allen (1996)
    Ethics and Visual Rhetorics: Seeing's Not Believing Anymore
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  7. Ben-Chaim (1996)
    How do Facts Speak for Themselves? The Doctrine and Practice of Classical Empiricism
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  8. MOORE (1996)
    Instrumental Discourse is as Humanistic as Rhetoric
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  9. Bryan (1995)
    Seven Types of Distortion: A Taxonomy of Manipulative Techniques used in Charts…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  10. Orbell (1995)
    The DoD Tailhook Report: Unanswered Questions
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  11. Schroll (1995)
    Technology and communication ethics: An evaluative framework
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  12. Waddell (1995)
    Defining sustainable development: A case study in environmental communication
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  13. Scott (1995)
    Sophistic ethics in the technical writing classroom: Teaching<i>nomos,</i>delib…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  14. LAY (1994)
    The Value of Gender Studies to Professional Communication Research
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  15. Dombrowski (1994)
    <i>Challenger</i>through the Eyes of Feyerabend
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  16. Sims (1993)
    Linking ethics and language in the technical communication classroom
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  17. SAUER (1993)
    Sense and Sensibility in Technical Documentation
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  18. MOORE (1992)
    When Politeness is Fatal
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  19. Dombrowski (1992)
    <i>Challenger</i>and the social contingency of meaning: Two lessons for the tec…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  20. Bryan (1992)
    Down the slippery slope: Ethics and the technical writer as marketer
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  21. Ornatowski (1992)
    Between efficiency and politics rhetoric and ethics in technical writing
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  22. Markel (1991)
    A Basic Unit on Ethics for Technical Communicators
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  23. SULLIVAN (1991)
    The Epideictic Rhetoric of Science
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  24. Possin (1991)
    Ethical Argumentation
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  25. Walzer (1989)
    The Ethics of False <i>Implicature</i> in Technical and Professional Writing Courses
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  26. Zappen (1989)
    The Discourse Community in Scientific and Technical Communication: Institutiona…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  27. Sawyer (1988)
    The Argument about Ethics, Fairness, or Right and Wrong
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  28. Barton et al. (1983)
    The Nature and Treatment of Professional Engineering Problems—The Technical Wri…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  29. Rubens (1981)
    Reinventing the Wheel?: Ethics for Technical Communicators
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  30. Schmelzer (1981)
    New Responsibilities for the Technical Writer
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  31. Kowal (1980)
    Responsible Science Reporting in a Technological Age
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Also cites 21 works outside this index ↓
  1. 10.1109/TPC.1987.6449074
     ↗
  2. 10.1109/47.661631
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  3. 10.1109/47.126938
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  5. 10.1109/47.735369
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  6. 10.1109/47.735367
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  7. 10.1109/TPC.1992.6209866
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  10. 10.1109/47.406727
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  12. 10.2307/378062
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  14. 10.1109/47.650006
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  15. 10.2307/375964
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  16. 10.1080/10510977809367983
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  20. 10.1109/TPC.1987.6449073
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  21. 10.2190/HAT
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 18 View in citation network →

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