Documenting and characterizing interactions between student interns and their mentors in the workplace offers perspective on student learning and enculturation that can help us introduce these ways of learning to students in the technical communication classroom, even before the internship. Three student intern conversations in the internship…

Investigates the 5 editions of John M. Lannon's "Technical Writing," a top-selling technical writing textbook for over 10 years. Claims that the text illustrates where the field has been and where it is going. Includes comments from Lannon concerning his book and how it responded to the social conditions of the 1980s. (HB)