#28114
Mutual Support: CAC Programs and Institutional Improvement in Undergraduate Education 
Writing- and communication-across-the-curriculum programs often develop as independent initiatives focused on improving students' writing and/or speaking by incorporating these activities into coursework and helping teachers to use them more effectively in their instruction. However, there is now much anecdotal evidence of the conditions that work against the cultivation of cross-curricular programs: faculty complacency; the weakening of a program's original spirit; reduction or elimination of funding; and the continued avoidance of involvement by some programs, administrators, or faculty (see White).
Anson, Chris, Michael Carter, Deanna P. Dannels and Jon Rust. LLAD (2002). Articles>Education>Writing
#25561
Theoretically, you can annotate your bookmarks, entering free-form reminders to yourself so that you can remember why you bookmarked this page or that one. I don't know about you, but I never actually got around to doing this. Until I started blogging.
Doctorow, Cory. O'Reilly and Associates (2002). Articles>Web Design>Writing>Blogging
#14609
Michael Whitman describes his experience volunteering for a community service project.
Whitman, Michael. Intercom (2000). Articles>Writing>Community Building>Volunteering
#30089
Mystery Fiction and the Technical Communicator: Emotion Separates Fiction from Fact
Although technical documents and mysteries share certain characteristics, emotion separates the two types of writing. Mystery fiction may be popular among technical communicators because it engages both the analytical and the emotive parts of the readers' personality. This panel presentation describes techniques that mystery authors use to trigger readers' emotions. An awareness of these techniques can help technical communicators understand their affection for mysteries and stay clear about the purpose of their own work.
Jennings, Ann S. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Writing>TC>Emotions
#31890
When you start working with DITA, there are some things that you may feel you need for traditional reasons that you won't find in DITA. Before you try to modify or specialize DITA, it may be worthwhile to rethink some technical writing practices that are outdated and not recommended today.
Doyle, Bob. XML.org (2008). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>DITA
#27349
Seeing the structure of a story is easier if you can identify the main parts.
Clark, Roy Peter. Poynter Online (2004). Articles>Writing>Rhetoric
#30356
Nancy's Wordsmithy: Rules You Don't Have to Obey, Part III
The funny thing is, this rule should be running out of steam, because certain standards of written English have changed in ways that make the rule at least partly obsolete. Learning it is kind of like learning to change a cloth ribbon on an old manual typewriter.
Allison, Nancy. Boston Broadside (1989). Articles>Writing>Editing>Grammar
#27347
Take advantage of narrative opportunities.
Clark, Roy Peter. Poynter Online (2004). Articles>Writing>Rhetoric
#26144
National Policies for Government Web Writers
Every country has its own requirements for public sector web sites. Legislation and policies vary greatly, and express an attitude. I base my Quality Web Content workshops for government web content writers on the policy of the country concerned. Some countries consider that an accessible site requires accessible writing. Others don't.
McAlpine, Rachel. Quality Web Content (2004). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Writing
#28769
A Natural Conversation about Technical Writing
An introduction to the new co-host, competition entries, an interesting entry from Microsoft, audio in instructions, screen demos, the STC annual conference, other technical communication tools, wikis, blogs, NetVibes, Get me the Geeks video, David Pogue, Walt Mossberg, and more.
Johnson, Tom H. and Heidi Hansen. Tech Writer Voices (2007). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Podcasts
#30596
The Nature of the Narrator in Technical Writing
Writers of technical information need to be aware of their rhetorical stance and think of themselves as narrators, as people telling other people about something or how to do something or what they propose to do. Too often writers of technical information write in passive voice and third-person narrative perspective, disguising or blurring their involvement in the activities they describe and often blurring and dulling the information as well. Writing in active voice and, when appropriate, the first person, enlivens information, removing it from the realm of the stuffy and stale.
Deming, Lynn H. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Rhetoric
#25580
NCTE Beliefs about the Teaching of Writing
Just as the nature of and expectation for literacy has changed in the past century and a half, so has the nature of writing. Much of that change has been due to technological developments, from pen and paper, to typewriter, to word processor, to networked computer, to design software capable of composing words, images, and sounds. These developments not only expanded the types of texts that writers produce, they also expanded immediate access to a wider variety of readers. With full recognition that writing is an increasingly multifaceted activity, we offer several principles that should guide effective teaching practice.
#24042
As writers and editors, we understand instinctively that readers need transitions, but we also work at getting rid of unnecessary words.
Dahl, Elisabeth. Editorial Eye, The (1996). Articles>Writing>Style Guides
#19731
The needless repetition of words and the repeating of ideas is everywhere - in newspapers, books, magazines, e-mails, television, and even in conversation. They’re called redundancies and the English language is full of them. In fact, research shows that about 50 percent of English is redundant.
Dowling, Dave. Indus (2003). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Minimalism
#13959
The New Frontier: Conquering the World Wild Web by Mule
This article offers a close examination of the effects that teaching hypertext markup language (HTML) has on students’ perceptions of class goals in a networked composition classroom. A networked classroom that requires students to send documents using a file transfer protocol (FTP) by command line and view the World Wide Web with a textual browser shifts the emphasis of the class from writing to coding. Helping students to identify a balance between computer technology and writing goals becomes essential to a successful classroom.
Gresham, Morgan. Computers and Composition (2000). Articles>Education>Computers and Writing
#29074
A New Look at Infinitives in Business and Technical Writing
This article begins by arguing that the infinitive phrase has not been taken seriously in writing because writers have been too concerned with Bishop Robert Lowth's proscription against the split infinitive. However, careful examination of three types of technical prose (instructions, annual reports, and 'junk mail') reveals that more than one sentence in four contains an infinitive phrase. The article then argues that two linguistic theories do not adequately explain the overwhelming presence of infinitives in the three types of prose. The reason for the presence of infinitives seems to be that they fulfill several rhetorical purposes, including vigor, symmetry, emphasis, variety, economy, and depersonalization. Implications for writing and teaching are also discussed.
Myers, Marshall. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2002). Articles>Writing>Grammar>Technical Writing
#19623
Newbie Web Author Checklist: Before You Publish That Project
If you've recently created your first website and you're getting ready to publish it, then this page is for you. I've helped hundreds of people create their first websites, and I really enjoy helping them move from their first tentative forays into electronic authorship to more advanced projects. Follow this checklist before you publish your web project, and you'll avoid many simple technical issues.
Jerz, Dennis G. Seton Hill University (2002). Articles>Web Design>Writing
#28005
The Nine Rights of Every Writer: Peer Pressure Is for Jr. High School
We should always care about readers. You know that I do. One way to show that is to give them the best me I've got.
Strauss, Liz. Successful Blog (2006). Articles>Writing
#30810
Nine Tips for Writing Better FAQs
Frequently asked questions, or FAQs, are an important part of your product documentation. Writing well-targeted and thorough FAQs allow users to quickly find the answers they need so they can be more productive when using your product. Here are some tips for writing FAQs that will get your users on track quickly and help reduce Customer Support calls.
HelpScribe (2008). Articles>Documentation>Writing>FAQ
#23433
Not a Bad Life: Notes from Under the Desert
What's it like being a technical writer on a kibbutz? One obvious difference is the money. I do manage the business, but I don't own it - The Text Store is part of the kibbutz and, as such, is owned jointly by the kibbutz's 125 members. As a member of the kibbutz, I get a monthly allowance instead of a salary, so the money I earn from technical writing goes straight into the kibbutz's bank account. My only reward for landing a big contract is my co-workers' congratulations (we usually celebrate with ice cream).
Goldstein, Dan. TC-FORUM (2000). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Israel
#26502
The suffix -able can be very useful in the English language because it helps us to express capability or worthiness. However, it's often bad form to pick any verb, slap -able on the end of it, and try to make a valid adjective.
#23315
Notes from the Other Side: The Strange Profession of Technical Writing
With writing as my 'marketable skill,' I crossed over the Rubicon from literature to technology. I became a technical writer for a data communications company. My job entailed creating software documentation—a category of discourse that I had not known existed.
Merrill, Lynn L. ADE Bulletin (1989). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing
#20796
Nourish Old Writing Skills, Add New Ones for the Web
The Web requires many of the same writing skills as print, but successful writers develop new ways of breaking up and linking.
Writing that Works (2003). Articles>Writing>Web Design
#27461
Now That You've Got a Double Agent, What Do You Do With 'Em?
Having demonstrated the importance of acquiring a double agent for writing projects, we now want to explain the best ways to successfully indoctrinate a double agent. This paper will help you prepare for, orient, train, and become a mentor for a double agent to help make him or her an effective member of your writing team.
Fisher, Judith R., Karen L. Mobley and Michelle M. Wright. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Writing>Technical Editing>Collaboration
#14053
Nuclear Information: One Rhetorical Moment in the Construction of the Information Age
Since the late 1970's we have been said to be living in the information age, and that name has stuck, with the phrase increasingly appearing throughout the closing decades of the millennium. The slogan, like all slogans, attempts to assert unity in the face of complexity; nonetheless, it captures, better than most such slogans, a dominant theme of almost all aspects of our everyday life. The slogan has its visual icons in advertising and journalism: binary bits flashing down wires and across the sky, tied to no location and independent of the humans who may need or use that information. Information has become an abstract universal, like atoms and electrons, to create or serve any entity, in no particular configuration, serving no particular purpose, gathered and used by no particular people (but of course provided or facilitated by specific companies who make this information their business). Information, however, is a human creation for human purposes, even if our devices now produce terrabytes of signals that travel only to other devices, never to be seen or touched by humans. This essay recovers a small piece of the history by which we constructed our understandings and uses of information, so that information has become pervasive in everyday life, needs, and action. It considers how information came to have major governmental and military meanings to the U.S. public during World War Two and after, and how an anti-nuclear test activist group asserted an alternative understanding of information to foster public opposition to government policy. This rhetorical reconstruction of information advanced a culture of citizen information, validated by citizen scientists to serve the needs and concerns of citizens, which pervaded the anti-war, environmental, and consumer movements that became our everyday reality in the second half of the century. Such citizen information embodies multiple assumptions about threats to everyday life, the necessity of reliable and up-to-date information for action to oppose the threats, large institutions whose interests are served by the threatening situation and which limit access to relevant information, science as an independent and objective source of information, and the responsibilities of a citizen to be informed.
Bazerman, Charles. UCSB. Articles>Scientific Communication>Technical Writing>Rhetoric
