Discusses lighthearted writing, much of which has a serious intent as well as two highly desirable qualities: writer satisfaction and reader-appeal. Offers examples of all sorts of lighthearted writing including lighthearted writing from the classroom. (SR)

Argues that Grammatik 5 for Windows software presents users with feedback that is often wrong, frequently confusing, and sometimes irrelevant. Expresses grave concerns about it both as a teaching tool and as a subtle means of propagating a political perspective. (SR)

Explores some of the stylistic complexities of definitions and requirements in a Canadian provincial act. Generates and justifies 15 recommendations for creating a plainer legal language in acts. (SR)

Offers an account of how support for user testing at one company, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa, evolved. (SR)

Describes the testing used by Department of Veteran Affairs Writing Teams to guide and validate document revisions. Presents their goals for document testing, methods of testing, and results of testing. (SR)

Discusses briefly the author's frustrations in communicating scientific and technical concepts and communicating with those who write such technical material. (SR)

Describes a format for writing clinical investigator's brochures for the Food and Drug Administration summarizing information about a drug that is about to enter clinical trials. (SR)

Offers examples of what can happen when writers try to be impressive, and instead are vapid, grandiloquent, opaque, or absurd. (SR)

Makes suggestions for editing technical proposals. Discusses the marketeers, the hierarchy of hype, how to save days, managing story boards, expediting a laborious process, teaching engineers to write, writing incrementally, the art group, and the editing task. Argues that the best proposals come from starting to write early. (SR)

Offers detailed "instructions" on how to fail at multimedia: make it unintelligible, ugly, and big and slow; limit the number of users; assemble a dysfunctional team; violate copyrights; and make it noninternational. (SR)

Outlines the relationship between the General Accounting Office (GAO) and various consultants as the GAO develops and provides extensive writing training for its employees. Maintains that the organization benefits by reconsidering its views and that the academics benefit by learning about the professional writing context. (SR)

Describes how the jigsaw puzzle may be used as an analogy and a technical aid in a technical writing class to illustrate the importance of several aspects of good writing. (SR)

Discusses the how, why, and when of revision. Argues that students should revise only to reach an audience with whom they want to communicate. (SR)

Maintains that the traditional plan of development, an essential element of the introduction to a formal report, invites boredom. Argues that an ideal plan shows not only the main divisions of the report, but also its challenges (problems, areas for further research, debatable issues) and items of special interest. (SR)

Focuses on the widened perspective of network writing and offers ways to understand its value to the writing classroom. (MG)