Metaphors, figures of speech of one sort or another, similes, and analogies are not strangers to technical writing. Four exercises that seem typical of most technical writing syllabi and that seem appropriate points for the introduction of students to metaphors and other figures are (1) a technical description, which requires the student to…

A teacher is likely to encounter three kinds of difficulty with technical writing instruction. The first is transitory difficulty, which a teacher may reasonably expect to overcome with practice. This is the difficulty a teacher may have in learning a new curriculum or the needs of a new group of students, in making up and grading assignments, and…

Text, illustrations, and exercises are utilized in this set of four learning modules designed to instruct nurses and nursing students in writing objective clinical reports. The first module, "Nursing Notes in POMR" by Roberta L. Andrews, discusses the four components of a nursing report written under the Problem-Oriented Medical Record…

The purpose of this study was to assess the long-term effects of a corporate training program in business and technical writing. Subjects were 135 employees who attended ten three-day workshops during the course of one year. The effects of the workshops were assessed in two stages: immediately after the training through an evaluation form and one…

Maintaining that two kinds of ambiguity--ambiguous prepositional phrases and ambiguous modification of conjoined elements--account for a large number of ambiguous sentences in technical writing, this paper presents an algebraic analysis of each kind of ambiguity. It then suggests a number of ways in which each ambiguity may be unclear. By using…

Noting that one of the biggest factors in motivating students in technical writing classes is to convince them that they will need to write in their future jobs, this paper offers evidence for use by teachers in persuading students of the importance of developing their writing skills. The first part of the paper presents refutations of some of the…

The purpose of this guide is to assist child welfare program managers in the documentation of their program efforts by providing both a recommended process and format. Section I provides a general discussion of the documentation process as well as suggestions for how to document a program. Section II presents the recommended format to be used in…

Jargon, when used properly, defines precisely and concisely the concepts peculiar to a profession. Within a profession, it meets the criteria for clear, brief, specific communication. When used outside that profession, however, it tries to impress rather than to express. Engineers and other professionals need to be taught when--and when not--to…

A holistic case can encompass the whole of technical writing by allowing the student to experience the total communication act in which the technical task and data are fully integrated into the rhetorical situation. The salient components of a holistic case are the persona of the technical professional, the facts about the technical problem and…

A teaching strategy has been developed for showing business and technical writing students how to write abstracts. The strategy contains six steps: (1) explain the importance of abstracts; (2) define summary and descriptive abstracts; (3) give students general guidelines for preparing abstracts; (4) explain topic and sentence outlines, showing the…

To determine if people who wrote legal documents could read such documents with understanding and rewrite them to be understandable to the general public, eight experienced government writers were asked to rewrite a portion of a government regulation for a general audience. The writers--four lawyers and four nonlawyers--were audio recorded as they…

In Connecticut, the state department of education participates in the preparation of two reports--both required by statute--on department activities. This paper describes how the form and substance of these reports have evolved into a mechanism that facilitates the planning, management, and evaluation of departmental programs. A mandated reporting…

Science journalism in the United States can be traced back to at least 1690 when a newspaper called "Publick Occurrences" included two paragraphs of medical writing in one issue. In 1752, the "Pennsylvania Gazette" carried an account by Benjamin Franklin of his "electric kite" experiment. Since then, inventions and…

An important factor the technical writer must keep in mind is the makeup of the intended audience. Students should be encouraged to identify as many specific characteristics as possible about an intended audience. It is also important that students comprehend the relationship between audience and use of stylistic elements. By also being sensitive…

This booklet on graphical techniques of communications in science was written to aid the student who might be engaged in a project in which a quality report will be required. Written for the secondary school student, it concentrates on the graphic presentation of data, indicating the planning and techniques involved as well as the supplies and…