Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Jan 1996

Persuasiveness and Audience Focus in a Nonacademic R&D Setting

Vincent J. Brown

Abstract

Participants in a qualitative case study of nonacademic R&D authors were uncomfortable with the idea of persuasion in their writing. The participants thought their reports were more informative than persuasive. Three definitions for “persuasion” emerged: discourse intended to push a reader toward an action; discourse written in a clear, compelling style; and shady, manipulative discourse. When asked whether they owed a greater debt to their audience or to their subject matter, most participants chose subject matter. However, some participants argued that my question posed a false dichotomy, in that serving subject matter was the best way to serve audience.

Journal
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published
1996-01-01
DOI
10.2190/r60h-a8by-m8uq-h08l
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
discourse analysis argument qualitative research
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (4)

  1. Axelrod (2025)
    Improving Proposal Writing by Looking to Information Operations
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Jeyaraj (2004)
    Liminality and Othering: The Issue of Rhetorical Authority in Technical Discourse
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  3. Hovde (2000)
    Tactics for Building Images of Audience in Organizational Contexts: An Ethnogra…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  4. Bushneil (1999)
    A contrary view of the technical writing classroom: Notes toward future discussion
    Technical Communication Quarterly

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CrossRef global citation count: 4 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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