Recognizing that the past study of the rhetoric of science has focused on the link between the public and scientific realms and on the alleged ideological nature of science, this paper proposes the development of a problematic and methodology for the rhetoric of science which focuses on rhetoric internal to the natural sciences. The paper examines…

Many international students who come to the United States to improve their research techniques and their written and oral presentations have little or no training in the English language. Such students might benefit from a program similar to that held at Oklahoma State University (Stillwater) in September 1981 for 12 Ecuadorian technicians. This…

The 82 annotations in this bibliography describe papers and articles that relate technical writing to industry and the real world as well as to the liberal arts and the academic world. The citations are arranged into the following eight categories: (1) studies showing needs and demands in the real world; (2) studies of present practice as…

To determine the technical writing needs of employers in the Greensboro (North Carolina) area, a questionnaire was sent to 262 members of the Chambers of Commerce in the region that employed 100 or more people. The response rate was 30%. Responses showed manufacturing to be the predominant industry in the area. Approximately two-thirds of the…

In spite of the growth in popularity of sentence combining over the last 20 years, few teachers use it in technical writing classes, either because the exercises are inappropriate or because teachers fear that sentence combining will teach students to write longer rather than better sentences. Sentence combining can, however, teach technical…

This publication contains information for potential technical article writers who wish to know how to become professionals. The 14 chapters deal with the following areas: getting started, developing ideas, gathering information through library research and through interviews, writing for different audiences, choosing titles, writing leads and…

After reviewing some of the problems involved in a traditional approach to teaching, this paper introduces a teaching system based on a patterned approach to the public relations writing process. The system format which is presented involves an analysis of persuasive communication components, programmed questioning of traditional premises, and…

Creative writing and technical communication are distinct yet similar forms of writing that require time, patience, and disciplined creativity to be effective. Other qualities shared by these two writing forms that should be emphasized in technical writing courses are: (1) effective information sharing, a process that depends on audience analysis,…

The exercises in this pamphlet were designed to help United States Air Force personnel improve the effectiveness of their writing. Rules and exercises are provided in the following areas: (1) organizing ideas (paragraphs, subparagraphs, the main point, and reader needs); (2) speaking on paper--using personal pronouns, contractions, small words,…

This paper describes a collaborative technique for teaching technical writing, a technique that is designed to give students experience with a type of writing done rarely in the classroom but employed frequently in the work world. Students, divided into two groups, work together in composing a proposal for an extensive research project or a more…

This guide is intended to improve the writing and composition skills of oceanography students but it may be applied to other written scientific compositions. Discussed is the documenting of laboratory and field investigations during the activity. A suggested format for the research report is presented with discussions of each section. A segment is…

A survey of attitudes of students in the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC) toward writing was analyzed in terms of total population and in terms of ability subgroups established by a diagnostic examination of writing ability. Results were compared with results from a similar survey of the 1974-1975 CGSC class, which was analyzed…

Examinations of 50 general science writing course syllabi used at 32 schools (55% response rate to a survey of 58 colleges and universities listing science writing courses in their curricula) reveal a wide range of course objectives and a varied use of resource materials. The emphasis is necessarily on writing skills, although a number of the…

Though technical writing as a profession began only recently (shortly after World War II), its tradition goes back to ancient times. This paper describes how technical writing teachers at New Mexico State University use the works of twenty scientific writers included in the "Great Books of the Western World" series to demonstrate to their students…