The Emergence and Evolution of a Research Project  

Research never goes exactly according to plan; nor should we expect it to because research is a rhetorically situated activity. This paper illustrates this truism by providing a brief summary of the author’s experiences in designing, proposing, re-designing, and carrying out an investigation into electronic editing using both quantitative survey and qualitative methods.

Dayton, David. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Research>Rhetoric

An Emerging Electronic Rhetoric of the Body: Arguing the Feminine in Cyberspace  

Some form of a body rhetoric has existed since classical times. If rhetoric can be loosely defined as a means of persuasion, then an electronic rhetoric of the body, for the purposes of this essay, can be defined as the ways in which the body is used to persuade, the ways it becomes the language of a culture for both genders. But what should we consider 'the electronic body' to consist of? The physical body? The mental body? And here is where the problem lies… But before an electronic rhetoric can be established, historical precedent must first be clarified.

Tulley, Ronald J. and Christine E. Tulley. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Rhetoric>Online>Gender

Employees Want to be Led by Leaders Who Lead

Virtually every employee in an organization performs a discrete set of tasks. Only the leader sees the big picture -- unless the leader does a good job of conveying that big picture to his workforce. Of course, there's more to leadership than getting people to buy into your vision.

Holtz, Shel. Communication World Bulletin (2003). Articles>Management>Collaboration>Rhetoric

Engaging and Educating Readers Through a Progressive Writing

Although technical communication documents cannot possibly be tailored to exactly match the interest, reading level and many-faceted influences of a reader, they can I believe, take measures to engage the reader to believe that the information he or she is receiving from the document is valuable to their experience in some way.

Comstock, Jeanie. Orange Journal, The (2003). Articles>Writing>Rhetoric>Technical Writing

The Engineer as Rational Man: The Problem of Imminent Danger in a Non-Rational Environment      

Mine safety instruction manuals and training guides reflect an engineering perspective based on the concept of a Rational Man, a perspective which obsstructs effective risk management.

Sauer, Beverly A. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (1992). Articles>Documentation>Risk Communication>Rhetoric

Establishing a Presence on the World Wide Web: A Rhetorical Approach    

This article presents a framework--grounded in the classic rhetorical concept of ethos--for thinking about how technical communicators might examine the unique characteristics of the World Wide Web and the audiences it serves. The usefulness and increasing popularity of the Web is based on how well individuals and organizations use the technology as a means of establishing an online ethos. Technical communicators are already familiar with the obvious goal of establishing a professional ethos, but they might also consider some techniques for establishing sites having a more diverse and communal ethos. This ethos is expressed in 'special interest' Web sites constructed by individuals, and several commercially-oriented organizations have also successfully incorporated this ethos into their sites.

Hunt, Kevin. Technical Communication Online (1996). Articles>Rhetoric>Online

Estratégia Para a Elaboração de Uma Tese

Resume-se, em duas páginas, uma estratégia para a elaboração de uma tese de mestrado ou de doutoramento. Partindo de um modelo de acção em duas fases, cada uma das quais decomponível em três sub-fases, esclarece-se o percurso mais desejável para obter resultados de forma eficaz e eficiente. Apesar da simplicidade deste roteiro conciso, que contrasta com a complexidade efectiva da elaboração de uma tese, os cuidados apresentados são quase sempre suficentes para superar as principais situações de impasse.

Dias de Figueiredo, Antonio. Universidade de Coimbra (1998). (Portuguese) Articles>Writing>Rhetoric

Ethical Implications of Intercultural Audiences

Argues that it is crucial that technical writing courses raise the awareness of the implications of intercultural communication, and specifically, how to include the translator as the target audience.

Heitzman, Lisa. Orange Journal, The (2005). Articles>Language>Ethics>Rhetoric

Evaluation of Chat Reference Service Quality

This article reports on a pilot study. The pilot will inform the methods for a larger, evaluative study of the quality of chat reference service. The evaluative study will use obtrusive observation techniques to look at several aspects of chat-based reference service from the information seeker's perspective including: the overall session, the chat or negotiation process, and the provision of answers, including the sources used. The evaluative study will specifically address the quality of output by assessing the accuracy and completeness of answers provided to chat reference service clients.

White, Marilyn Domas, Eileen G. Abels and Neal Kaske. D-Lib Magazine (2003). Articles>Rhetoric>Online

Expertise and Agency: Transformations of Ethos in Human-Computer Interaction  

The cases of expert systems and intelligent agents illuminate two dimensions of the dwelling-place we have built for ourselves with our technologies.

Miller, Carolyn R. and S. Michael Halloran. North Carolina State University (2004). Articles>Human Computer Interaction>Rhetoric

Exploring the Blind Spot: Audience, Purpose, and Context in "Product, Process, and Profit"

Technical communicators have longed turned to audience, purpose, and context as they analyze situations. But Mirel's article demonstrates that audience-purpose-context is too weak a framework to handle the job of detailed sociopolitical analysis: not only is it inadequate for analyzing the needs of end users, it is also inadequate for analyzing situations within the writer's organization. In this response, this paper explores the weakness of audience-purpose-context and points to alternative sociopolitical frameworks.

Spinuzzi, Clay. Journal of Computer Documentation (2000). Articles>Rhetoric>TC

'Faces of the Fallen' and the Dematerialization of US War Memorials    

The advent of internet technology has enabled the process of memorialization of those killed in US military conflicts to keep pace with the casualties themselves and, as such, has marked a shift in both the ideology of the war memorial as symbol and the ideology-driven media use of those symbols. This article argues that a process of increasing humanization and specificity enabled by the information architecture of the internet has led to a form of `war memorial', exemplified by www.facesofthefallen.org, that emphasizes decontexualized human loss at the expense of a coherent representation of a military nature for the loss itself.

Grider, Nicholas. Visual Communication (2007). Articles>Web Design>Visual Rhetoric>History

Fear Not the Long Sentence

Everyone fears the long sentence. Editors fear it. Readers fear it. Most of all, writers fear it. Even I fear it. But...

Clark, Roy Peter. Poynter Online (2004). Articles>Writing>Grammar>Rhetoric

Finding Funding: Writing Winning Proposals for Research Funds    

Identifies funding sources and describes the proposal review process. Provides example criteria and identifies ways to write proposals to meet the needs of its audience of reviewers.

Grove, Laurel K. Technical Communication Online (2004). Articles>Grants>Proposals>Rhetoric

Five Fail-Safe Tips When You Forget or Get Flustered During a Presentation

If you haven’t yet experienced your point of embarrassment or memory lapse, you will. When it happens, consider these fail-safe ways to regain your memory and retain your poise.

Booher, Dianna. Presenters University (2003). Articles>Presentations>Methods>Rhetoric

Fixing the Flaws in the Ten Principles of Clear Writing

More importantly, most lists of ten principles of clear writing are not really principles at all, but rather tips and technique. Understanding why you are doing something, i.e., the benefit you will gain, helps ensure that you will actually do it and do it consistently. Too often, when we are told only what to do, we follow the instruction half-heartedly, inconsistently, or not at all.

Yaffe, Philip. IEEE PCS (2008). Articles>Writing>Rhetoric>Minimalism

Fluency, Fluidity, and Word Processing  

Despite the above maxim, numerous studies have been conducted over the past five years to determine whether student compositions improve significantly with the use of a computer. As Gail Hawisher (summarizing Seymour Papert) suggests, our field is so new that we seem lobe in a technoúcentric phase comparable to the egocentric phase through which Piaget’s children must pass on the way to maturity. We are searching for “THE effect” of the computer on the product (the text) rather than “the effects” of the computer both on the writer and on the context in which the product is produced. We have already passed judgment on what the computer should do (improve the product) rather than investigate what it does do. Thus, the results of the studies conducted to date appear contradictory.

Boiarsky, Carolyn. JAC (1991). Articles>Rhetoric>Computers and Writing

For A More Powerful Performance, Say It Short And Well

Centuries ago great orators often spoke for several hours at a time. But today, when sound bites on television news are the status quo and complex sociological problems are solved in an hour on a television drama, audiences are most interested in speakers who get their points across in a short period of time. Today, great speakers are noted for their brevity.

Boyd, Stephen D. Presentations (2003). Articles>Presentations>Rhetoric

Formation of Norms in a Blog Community

Blogs are often situated within a blog community of similar interests. These communities can be a useful way for readers to access a specific slice of information.

Wei, Carolyn. Into the Blogosphere (2004). Articles>Rhetoric>Online>Blogging

From Logocentrism to Ethocentrism: Historicizing Critiques of Writing Research      

Since the 1960s, attitudes toward empirical research on writing, including research on technical/professional writing, have shifted from encouragement to resistance. This essay traces these shifts in light of changes in writing research, psychology, and the rhetoric of science. In composition studies, an initial mild uneasiness about 'scientism' intensified with the rise of process models, suggesting a Romanticist defense of the mystique of creativity. More recent post-modernist denunciations of scientific methods as immoral have other Romanticist overtones. In technical communication, a long-standing interest in workplace writing practices allowed a smoother integration of empirical analysis with descriptive studies of writing contexts. However, as in composition, recent critiques in technical communication suggest that empirical methods should not be employed. These critiques too tightly circumscribe the values that may be considered humanist and cut off important avenues of inquiry and critique that historically have advanced both the sciences and humanities.

Charney, Davida. Technical Communication Quarterly (1998). Articles>Rhetoric>Writing

From Pen to Print: The New Visual Landscape of Professional Communication     

Visual design has played an important role in the historical development of professional communication. The technology of laser printing has reestablished the importance of visual language in functional communication, transforming contemporary document design and redefining its relation to the traditions of handwritten, typewritten, and printed text. During this period of transition, three factors will shape the new visual language: (a) the development of a visual rhetoric that represents design as an integral part of the message rather than merely as external "dress," (b) the rediscovery of aesthetics as a legitimate factor in text design, and (c) the use of empirical research--particularly context-specific research--to guide the document design process.

Kostelnick, Charles. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (1994). Articles>Document Design>Visual Rhetoric>Printing

From the Steam Engine to DNA: Revolutions    

This chapter from the most recent book by STC's 1998 Honorary Fellow demonstrates that a great dynamic web of change links us to one another and to all the events of the past and the future. James Watt’s improvements to the steam engine are linked to the invention of the copier, carbon paper, and the safety match, as well as the discovery of DNA.

Burke, James. Technical Communication Online (1998). Articles>Rhetoric