This paper examines technical writing at the high school level and suggests methods of teaching technical writing to students. Such topics are discussed as demonstration, mechanism description, causal analysis, detail, spatial order, and chronological order. It is argued that writing about objects can sharpen a writer's powers of observation and…

Describes the company profile case study approach to technical writing. Explains that groups of four students (1) select an industrywide classification, then select four firms from the chosen classification; (2) select audiences for their reports; (3) research individual companies and prepare group presentations; and (4) deliver group…

Presents a descriptive exercise, also useful for technical writing, that provides a real reader and a strong sense of the nature of descriptive writing. Students are given sketches of an art piece that they must describe for a museum for identification. (HTH)

Describes five writing activities for college writing courses: (1) a documented opinion paper exercise; (2) breaking writing rules; (3) trip reports from absentees; (4) case studies to promote writing for particular audiences for pragmatic purposes; and (5) an organizing strategy for studying, using a chart format. (SR)

Described are the essential elements of memos; suggested are a basic format for organization, and two problems to which technical specialists' memos seem particularly susceptible. Included is a memo assignment used in senior design classes and professional development seminars. (MVL)

A number of the axioms of tagmemics are explored in order to develop exercises based on these axioms about language structure but specifically designed to develop writing competence. Exercises for unit definition through contrast with other units; range of variability; and distribution in class, sequence, and system receive particular attention.…