Suggests that technical writing students need to be introduced to four important job-oriented concepts: (1) sleuthing (to pinpoint and correct questionable materials); (2) diplomacy (to handle sensitive authors); (3) scheduling (to estimate the time involved to complete a job accurately); and (4) budgeting (to determine job costs). (HTH)

As changing and increasingly more specialized technologies take over many of the mechanical functions once performed by either technical communicators or users of material prepared by technical communicators, communicators are faced with greater and more complex responsibilities. For example, the advent of more sophisticated computer use in…

The internship program in technical communications at Oklahoma State University is a 3-credit-hour course that offers students an opportunity to apply the principles of technical communication learned in the classroom to an on-the-job situation. The prerequisites for the course are 9 hours of English and a course on intermediate…

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…

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…

The results of a survey of technical writing and editing, as they are taught in academe and practiced in industry, are presented in this report. The introduction explains that the survey was conducted by the humanities department of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, as the principal research preliminary to the proposal of a…

Drawn from a conference that addressed the problems and challenges facing technical communication educators, the papers in this collection deal in general with career opportunities and educational programs in technical communication. Specifically, the papers discuss the following topics: (1) internship programs and job interviews at Rensselaer…

Prepared by representatives of government, business, industry, and education, the papers in this compilation deal with a variety of aspects of technical communication. The approximately 150 papers are arranged according to the following categories: advanced technology applications, graphics and production, management and professional development,…

Prepared by representatives of industry, government, and the educational community, the papers in this collection were drawn from a conference that addressed a variety of issues of interest to the field of technical communication. Specific topics discussed in the papers are as follows: (1) the role of the Society for Technical Communication in…