Revives the beneficial or functional sense of redundancy and shows that functional redundancy in writing need not be a contradiction in terms. Defines not only redundancy but also its opposite, ellipsis, and emphasizes the usefulness of each, using examples both in reading and writing. (TB)

Uses information from the 1994 Education and Research Professional Interest Committee Focus Group of the Society for Technical Communication (STC) and from questionnaires to outline educational goals and to suggest ways in which STC members and the Society can prepare undergraduate students for careers in technical communication in the next…

Argues that, rather than trying to define technical communication in a nontraditional way, people should ask how those who already view technical communication in nontraditional ways can assist and challenge those who continue to view technical communication in a traditional way. (SR)

Argues that looking at what decisions technical communicators make, what the scope is of those decisions, and what their implications are, provides a new and critical dimension to technical communication education. Looks at decisions related to technology, to culture, and to public policy. (SR)

Describes the needs of a new generation of readers who are more fluent in images than in text. Outlines the educational challenges of preparing students to meet the needs of this new literacy. (SR)

Describes Carolyn R. Miller's article "A Humanistic Rationale for Technical Writing" as a main source for many ideas about the nature and function of scientific and technical writing. States that Patrick Moore disagrees with Miller, and supports Moore's position by presenting arguments using the meanings of "objectivity" in…

Discusses the need for totalizing definitions in rhetoric. Examines other aspects of Miller's and Kreth's individual comments (published in this issue). Distinguishes instrumental and rhetorical discourse to address Kreth's concerns that Moore lacks a precise definition of instrumental discourse. (PA)

Suggests that acquaintance with nurses' writing would help instructors design assignments for nursing students in basic technical writing courses. Investigates the importance of writing tasks for nurses and describes the most common documents nurses generate, since good writing skills for nurses improve health care delivery and promote…

Compares the response rates for obtaining journal reprints from colleagues when the requests are made using postcards with or without a self-addressed return label. Notes that higher response rates were obtained from the cards with the self-addressed return labels, and more women responded than did men, but these differences were not statistically…

Explores the effects of the absence of different information types in instructions on action performance for different age groups. Finds that the absence of goal information, consequence information and identification information in the instructions proved to have a negative effect on task performance, especially for the elderly participants. (SG)

Discusses taking notes for research projects and organizing them into card files; reviews the literature on personal filing systems; introduces the basic process of database management; and offers a plan for managing research notes. Describes field groups and field definitions, data entry, and creating reports. (LRW)

Uses concept-based laboratory reports to incorporate technical writing into teaching. Features three paragraphs in the writing format: introductory paragraph, data paragraph, and conclusion. Recommends using this teaching method, especially in chemistry laboratories, because of the difficulties students have in understanding. (YDS)

We employ an array of terms to denote the visual; however, we have not yet agreed on a clear framework for understanding the function and relationship between visual concepts. I propose a literacy approach to the visual so that as educators, researchers, students, and practitioners, we acquire more than skills that rely on changing definitions and…

Service learning is both a pedagogy and a philosophy; the central idea is to provide students with a setting for meaningful learning through a specific, curriculum-based community service activity. It is a "win-win" situation for everyone because students get to apply their knowledge and skills in "the real world," a nonprofit…

This article is a guide for counseling researchers wishing to communicate the methods and results of their qualitative research to varied audiences. The authors posit that the first step in effectively communicating qualitative research is the development of strong qualitative research skills. To this end, the authors review a process model for…