Plain Style and Scientific Style: The Influence of the Puritan Plain Style Sermon on Early American Science Writers

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Oct 1988

Plain Style and Scientific Style: The Influence of the Puritan Plain Style Sermon on Early American Science Writers

Margaret W. Batschelet The University of Texas at San Antonio

Abstract

Early American science writers used the Puritan plain style sermon as a readily available prose model. From the sermon they derived an organization divided into doctrine and uses, a format using sectional divisions and heads, the use of simple language, and a concern for the needs of their audiences. Essays on comets by two early American scientists, Samuel Danforth and John Winthrop, illustrate the sermon's influence. The doctrine and uses organization employed in these essays may be seen as analogous, in some senses, to the Results and Discussion organization of the modern research report.

Journal: Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published: 1988-10-01
DOI: 10.2190/x7ln-6ukb-53c7-144f
Open Access: Closed
Topics: multimodality voice and style

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (2)

HAGGE (1995)

Early Engineering Writing Textbooks and the Anthropological Complexity of Disci…

Written Communication
RIVERS (1994)

Studies in the History of Business and Technical Writing

Journal of Business and Technical Communication

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