States that rhetorician Longinus advises writers to "transport" their readers by aligning readers' perspective with the writer's--methods for transport are five "fountains": high thought, emotional appeals, figures of speech, notable language, and arrangement. Develops a Longinian concept and methodology for technical…

Finds that the essays in this special issue define a broad research agenda into the historical, literary, and philosophical foundations of technical writing and communication. States that they conceptualize technical writing broadly and connect language as industrial instrument with its humanistic traditions in political, social, and cultural…

Claims that teaching ethics is particularly important to technical writing. Outlines a classical, sophistic approach to ethics based on the theories and pedagogies of Protagoras, Gorgias, and Isocrates, which emphasizes the Greek concept of "nomos," internal and external deliberation, and responsible action. Discusses problems and…

Contrasts ideas of culture in social constructionist and cultural study research designs, addressing how each type of design impacts issues that can be analyzed in research studies. Explores implications for objectivity and validity in speculative cultural study research. Suggests how technical writing can be constituted as an object of study…

Presents a bibliography of over 500 items on literature in scientific and technical communication, divided into 5 major categories: books, special issues of scholarly journals, articles, review essays, and reviews. Notes that most categories contain several subcategories. (PA)

Focuses on the botanical publications of two 18th-century English women writers, Elizabeth Blackwell and Priscilla Bell Wakefield. Analyzes their books. Indicates that they contribute new perspectives and techniques to the historical tradition of botanical writing and illustrating and exhibit modern techniques for effective technical…

Finds that the feminist approaches to technical communication that have lately emerged are largely oriented toward liberal feminist (emphasizing equality and rights) or radical feminist (emphasizing differences between men and women, the limitations of patriarchal culture, and the characteristics of women's ways of communicating and knowing).…

Relates how hypertext/hypermedia computer-based training and online help was designed for the General Estimates System (GES). Describes how this hypermedia application accomplishes the goal of improving the quality of the data entered in the GES database. (SR)

Maintains that classical rhetoric is an appropriate rhetoric for technical writing courses and textbooks. Presents three key concepts that provide the basic framework for incorporating classical rhetorical theory into contemporary technical writing studies. (SR)

Traces attitude shifts toward empirical research on writing since the 1960s, in light of changes in writing research, psychology, and rhetoric of science. Suggests postmodernist denunciations of scientific methods as immoral have Romanticist overtones. Finds critiques in technical communication suggest empirical methods should not be employed.…

Offers a perspective on "techne" that respects the formative--not professional--situation of technical writing students and emphasizes the importance for technical writers to attend to history, artistry, and well-developed social relations in their work. Offers historically grounded, creative meditations on "techne" that…

Discusses some of the ethical dilemmas faced by writers who prepare marketing materials in engineering organizations. Describes social, political, economic, and legal changes in the professions during the last 30 years and the growing influence of market-driven decisions on ethical decision making. (PRA)

Asserts technical writers are rhetoricians who continually make ethical choices in serving diverse interests and negotiating between conflicting demands. Argues that the recognition of the fundamental rhetoricity of technical writing is the first step toward accommodating a meaningful notion of ethics into the technical writing curriculum. (PRA)

Discusses collaborative design in the context of developing a "Toolbook" hypertext intended to introduce graduate students to the fields of rhetoric and professional communication. Examines the new grammar and rhetoric of hypertext, discusses the importance of document planning within an emergent design, and argues for a functional aesthetic. (SR)

Discusses Evelyn Goldsmith's rhetorically oriented theory of illustration as a guideline for effective pictorial communication for teachers of technical writing. Presents a practical 12-question heuristic that directs the technical writer's composition and evaluation of pictorial images. (SR)