Offers a select, 105-item bibliography highlighting research on technical communication published by, for, or about Canadians. Classifies Canadian research by form (books and articles) and by subject (translation studies, technology studies, graphics studies, historical studies, studies of the profession, specialty studies, genre studies, and…

Offers an account of how support for user testing at one company, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Iowa, evolved. (SR)

Describes the testing used by Department of Veteran Affairs Writing Teams to guide and validate document revisions. Presents their goals for document testing, methods of testing, and results of testing. (SR)

Considers the benefits of written trip reports (e.g., accounts of site visits or conferences) to library administration and to the individual writing the report. Difficulties with trip reports are noted; and report writing guidelines that address audience definition, format, organization, headings, style, and deadlines are suggested. (12…

Asserts that qualitative research is undervalued and cites evidence of its value, presents a definition of it, discusses how to evaluate the quality of a study, and suggests when and how qualitative findings can be applied to actual situations. Concludes with examples of two actual qualitative studies and two hypothetical situations where the…

Introduces the process of survey research, focusing specifically on the questionnaire method. Lists and discusses eight essential steps in the process, reviews the relevant literature, and ends with the hope that readers will become better consumers of research and possibly researchers themselves. (SR)

Articulates two different conceptions of writing that come from ancient Greece (classical and sophistic) and uses them as a field in which to compare two writing scenes involving reader response and software documentation. Explores whether these scenes are the same, similar, or absolutely different and whether they imply similar, different, or…

Collects several examples of technical and creative writing to examine whether the differences which have been assumed to exist between the two genres do in fact exist. Finds that their material causes--the tropes and devices of description--are the same and that their differences and similarities are governed by Aristotle's "final cause" (telos).…

Shows how students majoring in technical writing can use the professional vocabularies of their own disciplines (engineering, business, and computer science) to explain literature and gain fresh insights into how writers write. (SR)

Points out that desktop publishing is a metatechnology that allows professional writing students access to the production phase of publishing, giving students hands-on practice in preparing text for printing and in learning how that preparation affects the visual meaning of documents. (SR)

Describes the conversion of the 22,000-page Oxford English Dictionary to an electronic version incorporating a modified Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) syntax. Explains that the database designers chose structured markup because it supports users' data searching needs, allows textual components to be extracted or modified, and allows…

Discusses the need for distribution systems for the off-site delivery of hypermedia documents. Examines the possibility of using public-access wide-area networking systems (WANS). Examines recent developments in WANS technology and explores how new electronic publishing tools for these networks can assist in the distribution of hypermedia. (SR)

Discusses briefly the author's frustrations in communicating scientific and technical concepts and communicating with those who write such technical material. (SR)

Describes one technical writer's slow awakening to the need for and the exciting possibilities in international technical communication. (SR)

Discusses how to make better indexes for online documentation. (SR)