Developing a Writing Course for State Employees: A Case Study

William J. Rothwell Office of the Attorney General

Abstract

Government writing has often been called gobbledygook—vague, windy, and pretentious prose thrust on unwilling readers [1]. Nowhere, it seems would a writing course hold such rich promise as in a state or a federal agency. While many of these programs have been conducted [2], there is little in print on designing them or on dealing with the management or course development problems unique to them.1 This case study will document the effort to design and conduct such an in-house writing program. It will provide resource materials and strategies for those who, in the future, will be faced with developing and delivering such courses.

Journal
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published
1982-04-01
DOI
10.2190/yqmw-lha6-epv6-wvwc
CompPile
Open Access
Closed
Topics
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (1)

  1. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

References (12)

  1. The Power of Words
  2. Teaching Technical Writing and Editing—In-House Programs that Work
  3. Training and Development Handbook
  4. Smith T. C., How to Make an In-Plant Writing Course Enjoyable, Technical Communication, pp. 12–14, 1971.
  5. Assessment of Training Needs
Show all 12 →
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  2. Teaching Technical Writing and Editing
  3. How Adults Learn
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  6. Setting Up the Human Resources Function in a Small Organization, Personnel Administrator, April 1981.
  7. Confessions of a Writing Teacher Turned Personnel Manager, Bulletin of the American Business Communications A…