Abstract
Technical communication is not one discipline but three, each addressing its own distinctive set of problems and applying its own particular criteria when deciding which of the alternative solutions it has generated addresses its problems most effectively. Of the three, only the professional discipline is conducting its research satisfactorily; the teaching and theoretical disciplines are not. All three could improve their research activities by posing themselves a wider variety of significant problems, generating a richer array of alternative solutions, and conducting more carefully the activities that enable them to select the alternatives most worthy of continued attention and use.