Examines the communicative value of 205 anticipatory-"it" clauses taken from scientific and technical texts. Suggests that the main discourse function of the clauses is to provide author comment. Argues that use of the anticipatory-"it" clause indicates academic acculturation. (SG)

An experiment accompanied by a series of writing exercises that engage students in activities that characterize scientific research is described. The exercise emphasizes experimental design and data analysis over technical manipulation. Possible issues for discussion and opportunities for collaboration and peer review are discussed. (KR)

Examines the table of contents and the indexes of nine business communication and five technical writing textbooks for coverage of the skills that are needed by businesspeople and engineers. Concludes that technical writing texts are preferable for writing skills, whereas business communication texts are better for oral skills. Makes…

Claims that technical or business communications courses need to be interculturalized to prepare students for the global marketplace. Defines three problems: ethnocentrism, language barriers, and cultural differences. Provides strategies, assignments, and resources for implementing an interculturalized communications course. (HB)

Following corporations' lead, school districts' annual reports have become glossier, but also more substantial and sophisticated. They focus on what communities want to know, articulate a vision, and describe its implementation, displaying hard numbers and trend projections. Winners in a National School Public Relations Association contest are…

Presents a case study of an experienced professor's comments on a design report in a first-year engineering class. Compares these comments with the commenting styles of technical-writing teachers. Finds the comments are highly directive and at odds with the preference for facilitative comments prevailing in composition studies. Notes that…

Argues that current approaches to computer graphing practices are ill suited to meet the complex needs of real users. Offers an overview of work in two major areas of graphing theory and research: the sociology of science and the educational research of mathematics and scientific students. Suggests what technical communicators can do to improve…

Describes an activity designed to enhance undergraduate student comprehension of the American Psychological Association (APA) manual and style where students examined a poorly written paper for errors in relation to the APA guidelines. Reports the results of a study that tested the effectiveness of the activity. (CMK)

Illustrates the use of auto- and biographical materials as part of a research process concerned with problematic aspects of learning science. Draws on an extended study of graphing among university students and research scientists, and on the autobiography and interview data from one of the authors to point out some of the sources of difficulties…

The benefits of a compulsory internship in environmental science education were investigated with respect to the three institutional goals of university education: (1) training for research; (2) professional education; and (3) general natural science education. A survey examined which student qualifications are improved by an internship…

Students' perceptions of their skills development and the overall value of their undergraduate project work were evaluated using data derived from questionnaires. Thirty-nine students completing their second year of study (i.e. prior to the commencement of project work) and 42 students completing their third-year project work took part. Thirteen…

This article describes the possibilities offered by the online assessment system Etude to achieve the benefits of formative assessment. In order to find out the way this works in practice, we carried out an experiment with the use of Etude for formative assessment in the course on collaborative report writing. Results show that online formative…

The purpose of this article is to help determine whether the use of emoticons in computer mediated communication (CMC) are truly nonverbal cues. A review of the literature revealed that the traditional nonverbal theorists failed to predict the future employment of nonverbal cues in electronic CMC. A variety of emoticons are then described…

To be actively involved in their own writing requires that students make decisions. In order to build a new approach for our Technical/Professional Writing classes, we assessed our individual teaching practices and past experiences, studied current scholarship on teaching writing, and conducted research on technical writing in our local community.…

Designed to be a "road map," this guide introduces an approach to producing "electronic reports," documents that fuse computer-based methods with traditional research techniques. The guide emphasizes four stages--planning, inquiry, analysis, and expression. The chapter on planning discusses defining objectives, flowcharting,…