Many children struggle to communicate explicitly about the relationships between variables and concepts that are central to science content. In order for students to talk and write like scientists, they need to acquire ways of using language common in science discourse. For example, in the writing above, the student uses the word "play"…

This dissertation study seeks to determine whether feedback in the online Technical and Professional Communication classroom impacts student performance. This dissertation proposes that online Technical and Professional Communication instructors consider adopt such a feedback methodology in order to engage students with writing practices that…

In this study, a cohort of final-year undergraduate science students were surveyed to examine whether they fully read journal articles, including whether they seek to understand how the results support the conclusions. Their writing was also examined to see if they use deep or surface approaches to scientific writing.

In my half century as a technical communicator, I have seen many changes. The profession has evolved from one that supported the work of engineers and programers to one that stands on its own, providing important tools and capabilities to audiences. I too have evolved within the profession--from someone who had little idea what technical…

A field's identity and sustainability depend on its research as well as on programs, practice, and infrastructure. Research and practice have a reciprocal relationship, with practice identifying research questions and researchers answering those questions to improve practice. Technical communication research also has an exploratory purpose, using…

To investigate how college students understand and use cloud technology for collaborative writing, the authors studied two asynchronous online courses, on science communication and on technical communication. Students worked on a group assignment (3-4 per group) using Google Docs and individually reflected on their experience writing…

This article aims to help doctoral students in technical communication prepare themselves for the academic job market and for the subsequent process of earning tenure and promotion in increasingly demanding environments. The authors propose that students do four things: (a) learn to spot and articulate research problems; (b) find their…

We present a strategy for using scientific argumentation in an early undergraduate laboratory course to teach disciplinary writing practices and to promote critical thinking, knowledge transformation, and understanding of the scientific method. The approach combines targeted writing instruction; data analysis and interpretation; formulation of a…

This article describes how a special kind of academe-industry collaboration--based on a joint appointment agreement between a university and an industry site--was set up, promoted, and experienced by a professor of technical communication and his student interns. To illustrate the nature and value of this kind of collaboration, the article…

Quad charts are a genre frequently used in scientific and technical environments, yet little prior work has evaluated their potential for reinforcing technical communication fundamentals. This article provides background information about quad charts and notes the benefits of implementing quad charts in the classroom. In particular, introducing…

English 3820: Scientific Writing, a writing-intensive (WI) course offered by the Department of English at East Carolina University (ECU), serves primarily science majors. According to the course catalog, it provides students with "practice in assimilation and written presentation of scientific information." The course asks students to…

We argue for a course in which students analyze writing about a common topic--in this case World War I--from multiple genres (e.g., poetry and technical manuals). We address the divide between instruction in pragmatic and literary writing and calls to bridge that gap. Students working in disparate areas of English learn the strengths and the…

Higher education institutions globally are acknowledging the need to teach communication skills. This study used the Science Student Skills Inventory to gain insight into how science students perceive the development of communication skills across the degree programme. Responses were obtained from 635 undergraduate students enrolled in a Bachelor…

As second language (L2) writing teacher educators and researchers, we have seen how powerful the image of an unsympathetic future audience for students' writing is in teachers' responses to language difference. In this essay, we trace how beliefs about these future audiences influence the pedagogical decision-making of two L2 writing instructors:…

Despite growing interest in data visualization and graphically aided reporting, the evaluation literature could benefit from additional guidance on systematically integrating visual communication design and marketing into comprehensive communication strategies to improve data dissemination. This article describes the role of targeted communication…