A study identified and compared writing needs of graduates of Criminal Justice and Drafting and Design programs at Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Community College (WCCC). Subjects, 115 graduates of the programs from 1972 through 1990, completed surveys. A total of 310 questionnaires were sent, for a return rate of 37%. Results indicated that:…

Over the past several years, technical communicators have been struggling to change some of the stylistic traditions inherited from scientific discourse. Rhetoricians, writing teachers, and psychologists all agree that the use of analogy and first- or second-person sentence construction make for more effective communication than the absence of…

Lack of motivation to complete writing tasks leaves students unable to perform according to grade level expectations or to demonstrate mastery of school district objectives. To address this problem, a practicum involved 30 fifth grade students in a 36-week writing program using the process writing method. The goals of the practicum were as…