Describes a unit of instruction that involves the rhetorical situation of an in-class corporation to give students experience in abstract and report writing. (AEA)

Technical writing programs housed in geographically isolated universities face great challenges in regard to getting students career-related work experience. A course in desktop publishing can provide students at rural schools with experience equivalent to internships. In a desktop publishing course taught at Murray State University in Kentucky,…

Describes student reaction to an internship program in journalism. Suggests that students must learn that formula and boredom are basic to the work world but that they can lighten this routine with their own inventiveness and creativity. (MM)

A course in technical writing has justification for appearing in a college English department curriculum if course content as it is currently taught is somewhat modified. In general, business or technical writing has been primarily a study of a wide variety of letter and report writing forms. To be taught as a liberal arts course, a technical…

Both teaching technical editing skills in a logical sequence from introductory through intermediate and advanced levels, and helping students learn how to offer creative help to authors call for a structured approach to the editing course. Editing students should already have a firm knowledge of spelling, punctuation, and grammar, as well as…

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 11 papers discuss the following topics: (1)…

The organizational report and letter writing course at Ohio University (Athens) is an advanced composition course designed to help students who expect to do such writing in their future jobs, but for whom technical writing and business communication courses are either inappropriate or insufficient. Students work in groups of four, investigating a…

A professional writing course can help liberal arts students draw upon their knowledge of language, psychology, sociology, history, and humanities to develop marketable expertise. A west coast college's advanced writing class links liberal arts education and professional training in composition. Rather than emphasizing form, the course focuses on…

Describes an in-house writing workshop for plant supervisors that built on participants' strengths in organization, ability to establish an effective tone, and familiarity with company products and procedures. (MM)

"Writing for the Computer Industry" is a two-quarter course that addresses the needs of English majors interested in careers as technical writers, graduate level students retraining for second careers as software technical writers, and computer science majors. Course work includes (1) analyzing audiences for computer documents and identifying…

The justification for including a year-long course in practical writing and editing in a research-oriented university's writing program and a description of that course are presented in this paper. Discussed are the responses to four questions: What is practical or survival writing? How much is there of it? What can a university gain from teaching…