This digest presents details of some of the efforts to improve the clarity of written communication in business and the professions. The digest discusses the Plain English movement; writing in professional schools (particularly law and engineering); writing and the medical profesisons; and the public and professional writing. (18 references) (RS)

Poster sessions at professional meetings have become popular in recent years. Properly prepared poster presentations not only provide an excellent format for communicating innovative ideas or research results, but also allow for individual communication between the presenter(s) and interested individuals. Furthermore, poster session programs allow…

One of the most creative, active, purposeful and successful efforts of the Federal Theatre Project (FTP), active from 1935 to 1939, was the Children's Theatre. Plays for production were selected on the basis of educational and cultural value, with special attention on sufficient realism to help children's awareness of self and place in the world.…

This paper reviews the newly emergent trend of audience-centered debate paradigms, such as the narrative and the issues-agenda paradigms, in light of an informal logic perspective on the argumentum ad populum fallacy. The paper demonstrates the complexity involved in the evaluation of ad populum arguments as well as the care which must be taken in…

A study focused on predictors of people's learning from public service announcements (PSAs) seen on television. Telephone interviews were conducted with 480 adults randomly selected from residents in Dane County, Wisconsin, in October 1987. Typical demographic information was obtained: sex, age, income, occupation and education. Commercial slogans…

To help business writers and writing teachers think more specifically about problems of writing collaboration, a study examined and analyzed a group writing project in the Auldouest Insurance Company (pseudonym) Department of Corporate Communication. The collaborative writing of the two page executive letter of the company's annual report involved…

Argues that, to break out of the empty rhetoric characteristic of most student writing, students and teachers must break the parent-child rhetorical pattern, in which parents and teachers assume the role of nonlisteners. (JAD)

This paper argues that western instructors of public speaking courses, along with those in the forensics community, can benefit from the insights offered by the eastern tradition. Examining the Indian religious text, the "Bhagavad Gita," reveals insights that can change the way message construction, audience empathy, and speaker…

This collection of new plays for young actors comes from the repertoire of the Young Conservatory, a professional theater training program for young people ages 8 to 18 at the American Conservatory Theater. Each of the five plays in the collection was developed in this way: an outstanding professional playwright is invited to create a new play…

Pointing out that what sells a story idea for film or television is not writing the script but preparing the "treatment"--the brief pitch of a story to a producer or agent--this book furnishes dozens of examples of treatments from actual productions. The book makes the distinction between scripts designed for feature films, episodic…

This book is about understanding people's behavior and changing that behavior using a discipline called "social marketing." It is based on the idea that all marketing is an exchange: if you want people to change their behavior, you have to offer them something, be it security, information, an image, or a feeling of belonging. The book…

This paper is part of a larger project which explored the impact of writing across institutional boundaries via e-mail on freshman students enrolled in several schools and universities located in Tennessee--Bryan College, Columbia State Community College, and Middle Tennessee State University. The paper explains that in addition to their regular…

The popular romance novel overlaps other genres in that it shares characteristics of mysteries, thrillers, erotica, adventure, etc.; however, it can be differentiated from those genres by the fact that the central story is not the mystery or adventure but rather the romance between the hero and heroine. The Romance Writers of America organization…

Studies show that clearly written documents improve compliance and decrease litigation. Writing that considers the readers' need for clear communication will improve the relationship between the government and the public it serves. This handbook contends that the most important goals are to engage the reader, write clearly, and write in a visually…

While its educational goals were yet to be defined, the aims of the radio in the early 1920s included the social goal of cultural pluralism; the economic goal of profiteering; the military goal of communicating, training, and surveillance; and, the political goal of propaganda and morale building. In the end, like previous technological advances,…