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.

Preparing an anthology presents many unique challenges and rewards. Based on their experience developing Marketing the Technical Idea or Product Successfully!, the authors describe the principal steps in preparing an anthology. Many of the steps are analogous to those in all writing efforts (defining the scope and audience, making an outline, doing the research); others are unique to the preparation of an anthology (reviewing articles for inclusion, obtaining reprints and copyright permissions). Besides preparing a prospective anthologist with a framework, this article benefits other writers by reviewing several requirements common to the successful completion of any writing project.

Technical writing need not be dry either by design or default. Without neglecting precision and conciseness, language and phrasing can be used to assist rather than impede understanding. Putting style in technical writing can be aided by awareness of these devices: alliteration, anaphora, antemetaboly, antithesis, climax, colon, epistrophe, metonymy, and simile. Examples of each are included.

The premise upon which readability formulas operate is that short words and short sentences are the measure of readable writing. This premise has (and was acknowledgedly designed with) limitations that are too often overlooked in enthusiastic attempts to reduce all writing to simple, quantitative analysis. Among these limitations two are particularly germane to any discussion of using readability formulas for evaluating technical communication.

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.