The vast breadth of information sources available in the field of education and the dearth of institutional resources for native graduate writers have left many graduate students overwhelmed, struggling to conduct an exhaustive review of the literature and to compose their literature reviews. To remedy this concern, collaboration between library…

In this article we report on the use of a graduate "Special Topics" course to provide vital research and practical laboratory experience, within the context of developing a chemical process to manufacture biodiesel from algal sources. This course contained several key components that we believe are necessary skills in graduate research: 1) a…

The call for papers on team teaching came to the authors at an almost perfect time because they are three quarters through their first rendition of their freshly minted team-taught course. Although they feel a little like chefs who are still tweaking the seasoning on their new gourmet creation when the servers come to fetch it, their information…

In this article we report on the use of a graduate "Special Topics" course to provide vital research and practical laboratory experience, within the context of developing a chemical process to manufacture biodiesel from algal sources. This course contained several key components that we believe are necessary skills in graduate research: 1) a…

Most chemical engineering programs that offer M.S. and Ph.D. degrees have a common seminar series for all the graduate students. Many would agree that seminars lack student interest, leading to ineffectiveness. We questioned the possibility of adding value to the seminar series by incorporating non-technical topics that may be more important to…

Presents the history of a graduate course on the teaching of technical communication, its content, goals and achievements. (RL)

Defines a distance learning method for graduate programs in technical communication in which the World Wide Web serves as an electronic learning environment. Discusses the approach that Mercer University employs for its M.S. in technical communication management, and characteristics of a good distance learning program that is of value to adult…

At New Mexico State University, technical communication teachers have developed a course to teach editing processes to graduate students who take the advanced workshop in technical and professional communication. In this seminar group, students work on writing processes; editing processes; written, edited, and tested products; and oral processes…

A Master of Arts in Technical and Expository Writing program has been implemented in the English department at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Designed to make future teachers and technical writers into better writers, the program gives them a larger view of the writing process in which they are participating. Three required courses…

Material in research and writing skills was integrated into departmental curricula in a Polish university. The intent was to develop students' skills in analyzing the content, reasoning, and forms of technical literature, and simultaneously practice planning written assignments, defining terms, organizing bibliographies, and using footnotes…

Articles in these proceedings of a conference of the Council for Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication represent the views of professional communicators and academicians who share a concern for providing breadth and quality of preparation for present and future technical communicators. The 10 papers discuss the following topics: (1)…

Explains a program which integrates into graduate technical writing courses a mini-internship in which students undertake small, off-campus writing projects during the academic term. Points out that the small scale of the program allows for informal, direct contacts between students and firms, while posing few administrative problems. (SG)

Prepared by representatives of industry and the educational community, the papers in this collection address issues of interest in the field of technical communication. Specific topics discussed are as follows: (1) the Resource Materials Project of the Council for Programs in Technical and Scientific Communication (CPTSC), (2) the relationship…

A city planner's writing is usually not "technical" in the sense that the writing of engineers is technical. In each planning genre, extremely complex information, some of it "technical"--numbers, projections, and so forth--must be communicated clearly. For the professional planner, there are often severe time constraints and the need to proceed…

The Technical-Professional Communication (TPC) Option at Maryland's Frostburg State University is a response to the growing demand from government, business, and industry to prepare MBAs to meet the high performance requirements of managers who must communicate and communicators who must manage. Students taking this 15-hour writing-intensive…