Describes a technical writing class assignment in which students describe scholarly journals in their own major fields. Tells how the assignment defines the audience for the reports, Poses descriptive questions, provides a set of general directions, and defines the form for the reports; explains the objectives of the assignment. (TJ)

Examines two technical writing assignments involving analysis of particular audience adaptive techniques used in five published technical articles from diverse sources on the same limited subject. The first is a discussion exercise involving the entire class, and the second is an individual written exercise. (HTH)

Outlines an assignment for technical writing students in which they write a critique of a professional journal in their chosen major field. Notes the positive aspects of this writing assignment. (RL)

Describes an exercise for a technical writing course on documenting a problem within a corporate environment, thus giving students experience in appropriate documentation to tackle some of the operational, political, and ethical problems common in the workplace. (SR)

Notes how the guest lecture portion of a team-taught writing course for engineers produced the need to teach the students listening skills. Describes class activities that ensure student development of writing, listening, and speaking skills in conjunction with the lecture series. (RL)

Applies three major points of American pragmatism to the development of technical writing assignments: (1) restricting the writing environment to the practical, workaday world, (2) emphasizing the complex contexts of purpose and audience, and (3) verifying the effectiveness of any piece of writing by its intentions. Offers criteria by which both…

Outlines an approach to teaching technical writing that combines the traditional lecture/discussion and the conference/tutorial methods and emphasizes a great deal of writing practice across various writing forms. (RL)

Solves the problem of student diversity in technical writing courses by proposing a thematic approach to course content, with appropriate materials arranged in a classroom library of case studies. (RL)

Describes a classroom project in which students prepare a complex collaborative document (assembled from subparts, each collaboratively produced). Enumerates advantages and problems that grow out of this complex collaboration in relation to overall goals for the teaching of writing skills. (SR)

Proposes that technical writing teachers ask their students to analyze the ethos--the revelation of a writer's character through the rhetorical choices a writer makes--of the profession they are preparing to enter. Provides examples of such analysis. (RL)