Within the past few years have appeared a number of journal articles about a rift between technical writing teachers and literature teachers. At this point there seems to be some improvement in containing this rift between these two groups, uneasy partners in many English departments. At the same time, the problem continues as new people enter the teaching profession and older people are forced to change their direction.

This is an expanded version of an evaluation originally given at the International Technical Communication Conference, Washington, D.C., 1976. The questionnaire was an attempt to get in touch with as many graduates of Rensselaer's Master's Program in Technical Communication as possible and to find out their reactions to the curriculum. The questions covered such topics as present and past occupations, usefulness of the Rensselaer curriculum, recommended curriculum changes, making use of invited speakers, degree of emphasis on style and format, supplementary courses, contact with professional writers, and adoption of new techniques.

In this paper are discussed some of the techniques used as support material for article content. Narrative and descriptive examples give life and validity to general statements. References to events, facts, and statistics reinforce whatever the author has to say. Interviewing is important. Various appeals are also discussed, together with brief reference to deductive and inductive reasoning.

A further chapter in a projected book on publishing in technical journals and magazines. This particular chapter discusses the reasons for establishing contact between author and editor prior to the submission of the article, and gives some techniques for submitting an effective letter of query.

In the Winter 1973 issue of the Journal was presented a chapter on planning the technical article, part of a projected book on publishing in technical journals and magazines. This particular chapter discusses the organization of the technical paper as distinct from the technical article. It shows the relationship of the paper to the report and compares the practices of several scientific and technical journals.

This article constitutes a chapter in a projected book on publishing in technical journals and magazines. The book has been written primarily for professional men and women who have something to contribute beyond their day-to-day requirements. This particular chapter discusses the organization of the technical article as distinct from the technical paper. Wherever possible, examples have been drawn from current publications.