Andrew Feenberg's critical theory of technology is an underutilized, relatively unknown resource in technical communication which could be exploited not only for its potential clarification of large social issues that involve our discipline, but also specifically toward the development of a critical theory of illustrations. Applications of…

While formats and conventions of scientific and technical writing vary from field to field, the transcendent requirement is precision, so that the work can be understood and, if necessary, reproduced. Science teachers undoubtedly tell students about the importance of precision in collecting data and analyzing results; what is less commonly…

To teach students how to write for the workplace and other professional contexts, technical writing teachers often assign writing tasks that reflect real-life communication contexts, a teaching approach that is grounded in the field's contextualized understanding of genre. This article argues to fully embrace contextualized literacy and better…

This study investigating the effectiveness of Calibrated Peer Review (CPR )[TM] in a senior-level biochemistry class had three purposes: to (a) compare the CPR process for feedback with TA-generated feedback in improving students' ability to write scientific abstracts; (b) compare CPR results for males and females; and (c) observe whether CPR…

This paper explores Malaysian students' problems within their science and engineering tertiary courses in Japanese through their diary entries and semi-structured interviews. The study analyses how students implement management strategies to overcome their problems. Although many studies are available regarding students' academic activities in a…

As more universities offer academic composition and technical writing courses via virtual classrooms, our institutions are also being asked to accommodate an increasingly diverse student population. The success of disability accommodations in elementary and secondary schools is expanding the number of students with special needs academically…

This workbook is about producing the "Inquiry Brief" or "Inquiry Brief Proposal" for TEAC (Teacher Education Accreditation Council) accreditation. It is designed as a companion to the TEAC "Guide to Accreditation." The exercises in this workbook are selected by the writing workshop presenters to help program faculty get started on their "Brief."…

This Technical Report is designed to provide technical detail to support the analysis and findings presented in the "Head Start Impact Study Final Report" (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, January 2010). Chapter 1 provides an overview of the Head Start Impact Study and its findings. Chapter 2 provides technical information on the…

The concept of the "implied author" often used in literary studies suggests that the requirements of the text demand a being different in significant ways from the actual author. A number of frequently occurring situations indicate that the same concept may be relevant in technical writing: multiple authorship, single-authored texts…

A study was conducted to assess the extent to which (1) stockholders consider corporate annual reports to be informative and useful, (2) they actually read annual reports, (3) they consider annual reports to be impressive, and (4) they are motivated by the annual report to invest further in corporations in which they already own stock. After the…

Intended for technical writing instructors, this bibliography presents sources on the elements of technical writing and its instruction. Following a list of the addresses of relevant journals, organizations, and institutes, the paper presents citations in the following categories: (1) anthologies and proceedings, (2) bibliographies, (3)…

Beginning teachers of scientific technical writing often have little background knowledge in the sciences; thus, they may encounter difficulty in dealing with technical reports. To achieve clear explanations of the effects of scientific experiments, scientific writers need to know the following general principles: (1) the function of all the…

This paper defines technical writing as writing about subjects in the sciences in which the writer informs the reader through an objective presentation of facts. The emphasis in the definition is on three aspects of writing: the writer's subject; the writer's purpose; and the writer's attitude. A stanza from Shelley's "To a Skylark" and the entry…

Performance results show that novice dictators can learn in a few hours to dictate with the speed and quality with which they write. Dictators with years of experience are from 0 to 25 percent faster than novices. (Author/MP)