The use of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) large language models has increased in both professional and classroom technical writing settings. One common response to student use of GAI is to increase surveillance, incorporating plagiarism detection services or banning certain composing activities from the classroom. This paper argues such…

This chapter advocates a teaching approach for the statement of cash flows (SCF) that includes introduction of the SCF early in the curriculum using the accounting equation format, which helps students visualize the cash and accrual activities. We then adapt this accounting equation format to a worksheet model that can be used later in the…

The author uses game theoretical models to identify technical communication breakdowns encountered during the notoriously confusing Texas Two-Step voting and caucusing process. Specifically, the author uses narrative theory and game theory to highlight areas where caucus participants needed instructions to better understand the rules of the game…

Teaching scientific writing in biology classes is challenging for both students and instructors. This article offers and reviews several useful "toolkit" items that improve student writing. These include sentence and paper-length templates, funnelling and compartmentalisation, and preparing compendiums of corrections. In addition,…

The authors examine language from the perspective of models of empirical sciences, which discipline studies the relationship between reality, models, and formalisms. Such a perspective allows one to notice that linguistics approached within the classical framework share a number of problems with other experimental sciences studied initially…

A significant problem for practitioners of technical communication is to gain the skills to compete in a global, multicultural work environment. Instructors of technical communication can provide future practitioners with the tools to compete and excel in this global environment by introducing heuristics of cultural dimensions into the…

This paper discusses a sophomore-level course that teaches engineering design and technical writing. Historically, the course was taught using semester-long design projects. Most students' overall approach to design problems left considerable room for improvement. Many teams chose a design without investigating alternatives, and important…

The accountability movement in psychology has resulted in practitioners increasingly using evidence-based interventions and treatment modalities to treat client problems. Behavioral consultation is one framework that practitioners can utilize in providing empirically supported services. In order to demonstrate the use of effective, evidence-based…

Discusses the need for a model for technical documents that expresses the relationship between the various technical genres and their rhetorical contexts. Advocates the use of James Britton's model, with its criteria for classifying documents as well as its rationale for a scope and sequence for teaching technical writing. (SR)

Discusses the development of a pragmatic model of the writing process in the workplace, focusing on the importance of "drafting" as part of that process. Discusses writers' attitudes about drafting and the structures of the workplace that drafting has to accommodate. Introduces a drafting model and discusses results of using this model…

Discusses a process to guide technical writers engaged in writing a script for a video production on a technical subject. Offers an example of the development of such a script from a video demonstrating a surgical procedure. (SR)

Shows some of the connections between the social structure of the law and the everyday writing of marketplace participants. Sets out a legal dispute resolution framework and a classification of the types of liability-prone prose. Suggests a rhetorical model that facilitates an expanded perspective of the business writer. Offers an approach for…

Explains the rhetorical implications of actions and states in various models of procedural discourse and in specific writer strategies. Considers more flexible alternatives to the "streamlined-step" model. States that one goal of technical communicators may be to help ensure that systems are designed, developed, implemented, and supported with…

The need for technical communication to enable the transition from a "postindustrial" future to an alternative future is incalculable; however, research is required to improve current technical communication models and methods. The current rhetoric of technical communication derives from an inadequate command-generated technical communication…

Proposes a Center for Applied Writing which combines elements of the developmental and writing-across-the-curriculum models and bridges academic and nonacademic discourse. Explains that the center would offer new avenues for research, instruction, and practice in business and technical communication, while bringing together diverse approaches to…