States that teachers in business/technical writing classrooms are unsure of why they should internationalize their curriculum, despite increases in international business, in the number of workers employed by overseas businesses, and ethnically and culturally diverse populations within the United States. Provides a 33-item critical annotated…

States that "bifocal vision" allows workers to commit to a plan yet adapt to changes in business environment. Finds that written and oral communication are essential to the success of any strategic plan and that communication skills make technical communicators valuable corporate assets. Advocates introducing technical communication…

Describes development of strategic objectives at the Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation Division of the Naval Command, Control and Ocean Surveillance Center (NRaD). Discusses its plan to achieve these objectives. States that the organization's responsibilities span the continuum of information using technical communication skills. Uses…

Uses a case-study approach to describe and analyze the effects of emphasizing design principles in a technical communication course. Looks at student assignments and at student self-evaluative comments about their assignments. Suggests that focusing on design principles can help students improve the organization and design of their documents. (PA)

Considers online documentation's place in a two-year college's technical communication program. States that such a course can be successful if instructors emphasize design principles rather than particular software; build on rhetorical skills students already possess while developing authoring skills for the computer; and acknowledge the need for…

Presents a history of the ANSI (American National Standards Institute) standard for preparation of Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS), and provides a section-by-section guide to preparing MSDSs that comply with the standard. (SR)

Considers that, since the textbook is the main teaching tool for instructors, typically teachers select a text based on how well it supports their views of and approach to the subject. Examines pre-1970 texts to see how technical writing has been taught over the years. Examines such features as author's background, contents, assumed reader, and…

Advances the idea that storyboarding, long associated with scriptwriting, advertising, and more recently with technical manuals, can be successfully applied to an even broader variety of technical documents. Applies storyboarding techniques to designing technical proposals to suggest methods of incorporating more visuals into documents, as well as…

Reports on how Dutch instructive texts have changed in the course of this century. Gives insight into the kinds of documents studied. Presents investigation results: the disappearance of persuasive passages and of realistic representations of human beings. Gives a detailed sketch of the development of the algorithmic style. (PA)

Asks if technical writers can predict results of a reader-focused text evaluation. Asks 15 technical writers to point out reader problems in a public information brochure, which was also evaluated by 30 readers from the target audience. Finds little overlap and little agreement among writers as to their problem detections. (PA)

Studies how technical communicators use the Internet. Finds that the Internet plays a significant role in the work practices of technical communicators--respondents find the Internet helpful for contacting customers, obtaining updated technical information, and publishing online documentation, but they encounter company resistance and are…

Like good researchers, writers about research need to be able to tell whether scientific findings are valid. Six questions, to be asked of the researcher, can help the writer explain to others. A healthy skepticism is also important; there may be signals that more questions should be asked. (MSE)

Focuses on the language of civil engineering as manifested in the professional journal "Civil Engineering ASCE." Articles are analyzed, both syntactically and lexically, in terms of three major rhetorical functions: description, prescription, and persuasion. (17 references) (GLR)

The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education requires institutions to include in their reports identification and documentation of their knowledge bases, and explanation of their curriculum design. This article details steps institutions can take to meet these requirements and provides guidelines for writing the report. (IAH)

Examines reports written in mental health hospitals and community mental health centers. Analyzes a total of 150 randomly selected samples of 5 basic mental health records, and evaluates the rhetorical contexts for each with regard to author, purpose, audience and use. (KEH)