The successful communicator is expected to provide communications that are not only complete but also representative of effective thinking (i.e., original). Creating complete and creative communications begins with a disciplined process of discovery—identifying, assessing, prioritizing, and integrating the articulated and embedded purposes. Expanding on the work of Linda Flower and John Hayes, this article first explores a means to promote a thorough examination of purpose. It then provides tools for capturing and integrating these insights into communications that are complete, capable of satisfying the rhetorical challenges, and compelling reflections of the student's creative problem solving abilities.

The motivated sequence is a strategy which, by allowing the writer to organize ideas in a pattern corresponding to the stages inherent in the natural thought processes, can help improve technical communication. It is especially valuable in documents that are an intrinsic part of the decision making procedure, as is the case with the Environmental Impact Statement. This article explains the motivated sequence and, using the Environmental Impact Statement as an example, demonstrates how its use can improve technical communication.