Science, Late Nineteenth-Century Rhetoric, and the Beginnings of Technical Writing Instruction in America

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Jan 1987

Science, Late Nineteenth-Century Rhetoric, and the Beginnings of Technical Writing Instruction in America

Rhonda Carnell Grego

Abstract

Although engineering departments were dissatisfied with early twentieth-century technical writing teaching methods, those methods were not simply a result of “anti-science” attitudes. In fact, late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century composition teachers tried to accommodate the influx of applied science students by teaching correctness and clarity of style and stressing the expository modes of writing. Emphasis on “clarity” was a legacy of rhetoricians like Hugh Blair of the eighteenth century. Emphasis on expository modes was a legacy of the nineteenth-century rhetoricians' interest in the inductive methodology of “pure” science, a method which implied invention by “observation” and made conclusions “self-evident”: argument was unnecessary since observations and methods only need to be explained to “convince.” Applied science departments were, in reality, dissatisfied with teaching methods based on “pure” rather than “applied” science methodology.

Journal: Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published: 1987-01-01
DOI: 10.2190/g13y-6h22-1rb0-9051
Open Access: Closed
Topics: writing pedagogy multimodality technical communication voice and style

Citation Context

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Cites in this index (1)

Connors (1982)

The Rise of Technical Writing Instruction in America

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Also cites 1 work outside this index ↓

10.1080/10417945509371385

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