Teaching scientific writing in biology classes is challenging for both students and instructors. This article offers and reviews several useful "toolkit" items that improve student writing. These include sentence and paper-length templates, funnelling and compartmentalisation, and preparing compendiums of corrections. In addition,…

Describes the importance of metaphors in technical writing. Presents an explanation of metaphor from G. Lakoff and M. Johnson's "Metaphors We Live By." (SR)

Defines elucidation as writing to teach and inform "all" about a complex sequence or process so that even a novice can complete the process without problems. Provides a model for writing description/instruction, using elucidation in the introduction, conclusion, and body of the essay. (HTH)

Suggests that the use of visual models in writing technical material can affect the order of the entire writing process and uses a case study to explain how a model is developed, what purposes it serves, and how it affects the writing process. (DF)

Outlines the internal usability review, a systematic examination of documentation to identify basic usability issues and solve problems. Discusses typical user problems and explains the review steps that eliminate documentation problems before they become problems for the customer. (SR)

Explores what it means to think visually and spatially in hypertexts and how users react and maneuver in real and virtual three-dimensional spaces. Offers four principles of visual thinking that can be applied when developing hypertexts. Applies these principles to actual hypertexts, demonstrating how selectivity, fixation, depth discernment, and…

Presents a matrix for writing business memos and describes how it helps students organize memos that are logically complete, internally consistent, and coherent. (SR)

Describes a busy executive's writing process when writing a report for a board and points out its similarities to writing demanded of students. (EL)

Presents a method, based on a human factors approach, for helping individuals choose training in a new text technology that suits them. Offers a self-assessment questionnaire ranking preferences among firms, industries, techniques, roles, purposes for writing; then matches those preferences to typical expectations for each of several new text…

Discusses demands users face when searching for information in online libraries of product documentation. Demonstrates how physical libraries provide a helpful metaphor for design. Offers heuristics and a conceptual prototype for facilitating electronic document retrieval. Argues that the search form itself should communicate the way materials are…

Intended as an introduction to an interactive writing workshop, this paper presents a general description of the Document Design Center's writing model to be used by workshop participants. Suggesting that the model is an aid in analyzing and revising writing, in developing new documents, and in applying writing research to practical writing tasks,…

A study investigated the effectiveness of peer critiquing and the use of writing models in the preparation of scientific reports. Primary trait scoring was used to evaluate laboratory reports on exercise physiology written by four different groups of sophomore biology majors: (1) a reference (control) group that prepared for writing reports with…

Noting that medical consent forms traditionally have been so full of medical and legal jargon that they have been impossible for even the educated layperson to understand, this paper presents a model for revising medical consent forms to make them more comprehensible. After describing the model, the paper explains each step involved in using it,…

One technique for teaching college-level report writing consists of an essay that students use as a model for their own writing. This model, in turn, contains guidelines for composing a short essay, from title and subheadings to sentence and paragraph structure, word selection, errors to avoid, and revision. (MSE)