Content analysis is a powerful empirical method for analyzing text, a method that technical communicators can use on the job and in their research. Content analysis can expose hidden connections among concepts, reveal relationships among ideas that initially seem unconnected, and inform the decision-making processes associated with many technical…

This article examines the common genre of the usability study in technical communication courses and proposes the incorporation of computer and video games to ensure a rhetorical focus to this genre. As games are both entertaining and educational, their use in the technical communication classroom provides a new perspective on multimodal…

In this study we report the findings that we obtained when we repeated a study conducted approximately 10 years ago. In the initial study we found that mature students did as well as traditional-entry ones in first-year essays and examinations. However, they did less well initially when writing laboratory reports. In this replication study these…

An integrated technical writing and design course has been developed at Rowan University. This course was developed using aspects of project-based learning and recent discussions about design education, as well as pedagogical approaches from the write-to-learn and the writing in the disciplines (WID) movements. The result is a course where the…

There is often a particular void in the education of deaf and hard-of-hearing students who intend to become competent working laboratory technicians. Inasmuch as certain basic professional skills ("soft skills," in this case) are not generally taught in traditional science courses, a new curriculum has been developed in order to enforce…

Research was conducted to test the assumption that technical writers compose as other writers do. Information was gathered through questionnaires and interviews surveying 70 writers--technical writing students, students working part-time in industry, university professors, and engineers and researchers working full-time in industry. The results…

Describes the methods a scientist employs in his scientific writing. (DD)

Urges popular science writers to reduce vocabulary to a level that can be comprehended by the average reader. (DD)

Describes the job of a technical editor. (MKM)

Argues a different interpretation of the data presented in William E. Rivers' article (v2 n1); specifically, that more English departments prefer candidates with preparation in composition than Rivers concludes. Concludes that training in composition and rhetoric is more appropriate than training in literature for business and technical writing…

Facilitates students' writing for completeness, objectivity, and tact with an assignment to write a memo or letter to two or more people with different interests in the information. (MS)

Offers suggestions for writing trip reports that communicate the usefulness of the trip. (JAD)

Argues that business communication should encourage the use of plain language while breaking down the ideas that it is unprofessional to write in clear prose and that it is safer to keep prose muddy so as to avoid controversy in an organization. (SRT)

Suggests that combining business and technical writing, teaching aggressively functional writing, and designing contextual writing assignments are effective means of bridging the gap between writing instruction and writing practice in the workplace. (Author/CH)

Presents three comments on David Dobrin's article, "Is Technical Writing Particularly Objective?" and Dobrin's response. (FL)