The Gunning Fog Index of readability indicates both the average length of words and the difficult words (three or more syllables) in written material. This document describes a business communication course at Wayne State University in which students calculate the Gunning Fog Index of two of their writing assignments with the aid of the…

Norms for Air Force technical training materials were developed for seven previously developed structure-of-intellect and seven psycholinguistically oriented variables which have been used to assess the readability/comprehensibility of textual materials. Separate norms are presented for Air Force study guides, manuals, career development course…

Because of the emphasis on special forms of writing, such as letters and reports, business communications classes do little to introduce students to practical, career-oriented writing situations. Management administration offers an excellent vehicle for the development of an advanced course in rhetoric combined with a survey of the administrative…

Because of dramatic changes in the technology of communication systems in business, industry, government, and the professions, college graduates are no longer writing the way they were taught to write. Instead of being physically engaged in a recursive pen-in-hand process, they are dictating their communications for word processing systems. A…

The teaching of public speaking and oral presentation is a challenge to many business communication instructors. One solution is an interdisciplinary approach involving the cooperation of the speech and business administration departments. In the first week of the quarter the business communications instructor has conferences with the students to…

Technical communication teachers need to recognize the increasing diversity of their classroom populations and become more flexible in planning curricula without "watering down" students' expectations to leave the courses more skilled than they were upon entering. Teachers should discuss with students some of their writing barriers and the…

Text, illustrations, and exercises are utilized in this set of three learning modules designed to instruct medical secretaries and clerks in various job-related skills. The first module, "Completion of a New Patient Registration Form" by Betty R. Kisbey, details the information which should be included in a new patient registration form;…

According to the 1980-81 edition of the "Occupational Outlook Handbook," the market for graduates of technical communication programs is good and likely to get better during the 1980s, especially in the areas of electronics and computer and environmental science. The first step in setting up a technical communication program at a college or…

This anthology contains 21 articles on teaching methods and assignments in technical writing. The anthology is divided into three major sections. The first section, "Courses," presents plans for alternative approaches to the teaching of technical writing. The second section, "Components," offers a variety of activities for major segments within a…

Realizing the importance of writing skills in communicating with other professionals and in educating the public, scientists and scientific institutions have renewed their interest in the writing education of science students. Informal surveys show that technological and engineering schools are reinstituting writing requirements and staffing the…

A workshop for college engineering and business faculty in how to teach writing in their classrooms is one route to improving student writing skills. Any faculty development program needs strong administrative support. To overcome the problems both in condensing a knowledge of writing into a short session and in the objections of faculty to the…

The 12 articles in this publication provide indepth treatment of important aspects of in-house training programs for technical writing and editing. The articles deal with the following topics: the value of an in-house writing course, teaching in industry, developing an in-house writing course for engineers and scientists, a new approach to…

It is academically advantageous to mix students from different departments and different areas of concentration in upper level college writing courses. For such programs to be successful, faculty members in all the disciplines must commit their time and efforts to them. Isolating students in disciplines is undesirable, since it will not prepare…

A useful device in revising technical reports is the metaphor of entropy, which refers to the amount of disorder that is present in a system. Applied to communication theory, high entropy would correspond to increased amounts of unfamiliar or useless information in a text. Since entropy in rhetorical systems increases with the unfamiliarity of…

By adopting methods for teaching oral communication skills in conjunction with writing, instructors can help students become more competent technical communicators. Dyadic skills in interpersonal communication and small group discussion are the highest priority of the technical writing curriculum and can be taught through a team writing project.…