The Genre System of the Harvard Case Method    

Focusing on the case write-up within the Harvard case method of instruction, this study provides historical and empirical evidence for the theory of genre systems. The Harvard case literature and interviews at a case-based business school in the Harvard tradition show that the purpose of this largely ignored written genre is to prepare students to participate in the primary genre, oral classroom discussion of the case. The case genre system provides highly conventionalized conductor-choreographer roles for instructors and blunt, detached consultant roles for student writers/speakers who repeatedly enact decisive, adversarial personae affirming practices and values of the business school.

Forman, Janis and Jone Rymer. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (1999). Articles>Education>Business Communication

Review: Health and the Rhetoric of Medicine    

Health and the Rhetoric of Medicine is a fine introduction to the burgeoning field of medical rhetoric and an excellent addition to the annals of rhetorical criticism in general. Written by Judy Z. Segal from the University of British Columbia, the work is solidly grounded in the mainstay rhetorical traditions of Burke, Perelman and Olbrects-Tyteca, Booth, and Aristotle. But Health and the Rhetoric of Medicine is hardly conservative in its mission or methodology, and the result is a work that captures the essence of discursive encounters in medicine, especially those between doctors and patients and their families, and yet unabashedly attempts to reform these encounters for the betterment of all parties involved.

Jablonski, Jeffrey and Michael J. Zerbe. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2007). Articles>Reviews>Scientific Communication>Biomedical

A Historical Look at Electronic Literacy: Implications for the Education of Technical Communicators    

This article investigates the ways in which a subset of technical communicators acquired electronic literacy from 1978 to 2000, a period during which personal computers became increasingly ubiquitous in the United States in educational settings, homes, communities,and workplaces. It describes the literacy autobiographies gathered from 55 professionalcommunicators participating on the Techwr-l listserv, focusing on the large-scaletrends that these autobiographies reveal. To supplement the findings from these autobiographies,the authors conducted face-to-face interviews with four case-study participants:a faculty member, a professional communicator, and two students of differentbackgrounds majoring in technical communication. The article concludes with observationsabout the development of technical communication instruction in the twenty-firstcentury.

Selfe, Cynthia L. and Gail E. Hawisher. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2002). Articles>History>Online

In Citing Chaos: A Study of the Rhetorical Use of Citations    

Research on citations has generally examined citations as part of a system of rewards or as a rhetorical tool for strengthening arguments. This study examines both the role of citations as reward and as rhetoric. The reward system was examined by tracing over time the citation patterns of 13 research articles by two groups of scientists in chaos theory. The rhetorical practices were examined by determining how these articles were cited, by reviewing 609 citations of the 13 research articles. The analysis revealed that scientists consistently used five rhetorical practices. These practices include (1) using citations in the introduction, (2) using authors' names in the citation, (3) using the citation in a statement that asserts a high level of certainty, (4) using citations to create a research space (CARS), and (5) combining the authors' name with placement in the introduction. These features indicated the articles' centrality in scientific discourse.

Paul, Danette. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2000). Articles>Research>Rhetoric

Review: Internet-Based Workplace Communications: Industry and Academic Applications    

Internet-Based Workplace Communications: Industry and Academic Applications, edited by Kirk St.Amant and Pavel Zemliansky, is a collection of essays that aims to bridge a gap between academic and industry understandings of the role of digital technologies in business and technical communication. The essays consider the implications of new online communication technologies for classroom and workplace practices. Although the essays are geared toward an academic audience and do not offer a comprehensive look at Internet-based workplace practices, the collection can serve as a starting point for educators who would like to discuss in their technical communication courses the implications of integrating Internet technologies into contemporary communication practices.

Jablonski, Jeffrey and Jessica Reyman. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2007). Articles>Reviews>Business Communication>Online

Issues of Validity in Intercultural Professional Communication Research    

This article explores three ways to design US empirical methods to be more valid and ethical in cross-cultural studies. First, intercultural researchers need to distinguish broad rhetorical and cultural patterns from regional, organizational, and personal patterns, a process that requires balancing the fact of difference with the need for generalization. Second, US researchers need to distinguish not only the differences in rhetorical patterns in a form of communication but also in the ways that form is used rhetorically. Third, researchers need to construct researcher-participant relationships that are sensitive to the values of organizational relationships in both cultures.

Thatcher, Barry L. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2001). Articles>Research>Methods>International

IText: Future Directions for Research on the Relationship between Information Technology and Writing    

The vast majority of people who use information technology (IT) every day use IT in textcentered interactions. In e-mail, we compose and read texts. On the Web, we read (and often compose) texts. And when we create and refer to the appointments and notes in our personal digital assistants, we use texts. Texts, as already a technology in themselves, are deeply embedded in cultural, cognitive, and material arrangements that go back thousands of years. Information technologies with texts at their core — the blend of IT and texts that we call ITexts — are, by contrast, a relatively recent development. To participate with other information researchers in shaping the evolution of these ITexts, researchers and scholars concerned with the production and reception of text must build on a knowledge base and articulate issues, a task undertaken in this article. We begin by reviewing the existing foundations for a research program in IText, then go on to scope out issues for research over the next five to seven years. We direct particular attention to the evolving character of ITexts and to their impact on society. By undertaking this research, we urge ourselves and others to play a part in the continuing evolution of technologies of text.

Geisler, Cheryl, Charles Bazerman, Stephen Doheny-Farina, Laura J. Gurak, Christina Haas, Johndan Johnson-Eilola, David S. Kaufer, Andrea Lunsford, Carolyn R. Miller, Dorothy Winsor and JoAnne Yates. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2001). Articles>Writing>Online

The Journal of Business and Technical Communication    

The Journal of Business and Technical Communcation keeps you informed about the latest communication practices, problems and trends in both business and academic settings. It covers written, oral and electronic communication in all areas of business, science and government. Created over a decade ago to meet the growing demand for research and analysis in this expanding field, JBTC covers topics of fundamental interest and key issues such as: managerial communication; collaborative writing; ethics of business communication; technical writing pedagogy; business-communication education; gender differences in writing; international communication; graphic design; ethnography and corporate culture.

Journal of Business and Technical Communication. Journals>TC>Business Communication>Rhetoric

"Just the Boys Playing on Computers": An Activity Theory Analysis of Differences in the Cultures of Two Engineering Firms      

Using activity theory as a supplement to genre studies, this article explores a case of the disintegration of a traditional engineering firm. It focuses on the causes of such disintegration and the role of different types of communication in serving as sites where contradictions can be brought to visibility and resolution. The authors' goal is both to show the power of activity theory in illuminating issues of tension, contradiction, and dissonance that lead to the breakup of the original organization into two separate firms and point to fundamental differences in the cultures of traditional engineering firms and software design enterprises.

Artemeva, Natasha and Aviva Freedman. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2001). Articles>Collaboration>Engineering

Learning to Be Professional: Technical Classroom Discourse, Practice, and Professional Identity Construction    

Instruction in the technical and scientific disciplines gives students the technical skills necessary to succeed in industry. However, these disciplines also focus on socializing students into professional identities. This study examines one exemplar discipline, mechanical engineering, to see how classroom discourse and practice constructs professional identities for students (as future engineers) and their customers. Results suggest that although students' conceptions of the customer provided glimpses of professional identity, design processes in these classrooms were ultimately driven and shaped by academic communicative practices, audiences, and goals. Given this, instructional interventions are provided to integrate professionalization processes within classrooms where situated learning is apparent.

Dannels, Deanna P. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (1999). Articles>Education>Professionalism

Learning to Do Knowledge Work in Systems of Distributed Cognition    

Within work sites that engage in knowledge work, newcomers have particular difficulty acquiring knowledge because knowledge keeps changing. Newcomers have to assimilate currently accepted knowledge while remaining open to learning and even generating new knowledge. Such acquisition and generation of communal knowledge are examples of distributed cognition. In workplaces engaging in knowledge work (where knowledge is the primary product), distributed cognition aims at a less stable goal than the one that Hutchins describes for ship navigation. A study of six summer interns in an engineering development center shows that, for them and their more experienced colleagues, learning did not precede activity but rather was the means by which they remained attuned to activity and able to function. Cognition was distributed not only among people but also among people and their tools. Communication tools were particularly important because communication was the means by which the system functioned as a unified whole.

Winsor, Dorothy A. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2001). Articles>Workplace>Knowledge Management

Lessons of Survivor Literature in Communicating Decisions to Downsize    

Many companies have entered a new era of human resources management–one based on transaction cost economics and one in which downsizing has become a permanent part of the corporate landscape. But their insistence on communicating decisions to downsize solely in economic terms is creating serious problems among employees who survive the layoffs. Disloyalty, disaffection, increased absenteeism, and even acts of sabotage are growing among workers who view downsizing as a social, not economic, issue. This article discusses the new era of human resources management and reviews survivor literature in an effort to provide guidance to companies about how to communicate downsizing, specifically, and how to communicate with the postdownsized workforce, generally.

Guiniven, John E. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2001). Careers>Unemployment>Workplace

Liminality and Othering    

Subject matter experts, under the influence of modernist notions of authorship, often view technical writers as mere grammar and punctuation specialists and marginalize them as their ignorant 'other.' Technical writers, on the other hand, as rhetoricians occupying a liminal space between different disciplines, can understand different disciplinary rhetorics. If subject matter experts, instead of marginalizing technical writers, would view them as liminal subjects who are knowledgeable in different disciplinary rhetorics, then technical writers, through liminal practice, may be able to use their knowledge of audience and rhetoric to improve the quality of documentation.

Jeyeraj, Joseph. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2004). Articles>TC>Theory>Collaboration

The Lone Ranger as Technical Writing Program Administrator    

The popularity of technical writing and communication has caused many colleges and universities to scramble to hire qualified tenure-track faculty members. So-called lone ranger candidates are often lured to workplaces in which they are the sole technical writing faculty members by promises of autonomy and the ability to develop programs in ways, and at a pace, that would not necessarily be possible at other institutions. This article explores challenges faced by several such lone ranger faculty members and outlines survival strategies that may help lone rangers sustain and build their technical writing programs.

Sapp, David Alan. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2006). Articles>Education>Writing>Technical Writing

Look Who's Talking: Teaching and Learning Using the Genre of Medical Case Presentations    

In a pediatric teaching hospital, the authors examined 16 novice medical case presentations that were classified as instances of a hybrid apprenticeship genre. In contrast to strict school and workplace genres, an apprenticeship genre results from the sometimes competing activity systems of student education and patient care. The authors examined these novice case presentations for the amount and patterns of time devoted to student learning and expert teaching, the difficulties created for participants, the sometimes misunderstood implicit messages delivered by experts, and the opportunities to address educational objectives. This study offers professional communication researchers a model that combines quantitative and qualitative methodologies to assess the effects of competing activity systems in the development of communication expertise.

Spafford, M.M., Schryer, C. F., Mian, M. and Lingard, L. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2006). Articles>Scientific Communication>Biomedical>Case Studies

Making Academic Work Advocacy Work: Technologies of Power in the Public Arena    

Through interviews and courtroom observations in a case study done in collaboration with a community partner in two judicial districts in Minnesota, the authors extend the scholarly conversation about critical, activist research in business and technical communication and make pedagogical suggestions by studying two groups who contribute to the discourse about victim rights: judges who accept plea negotiations and make sentencing decisions and advocates who help victims contribute, through victim impact statements, their reactions as crime victims and their requests for certain punishments and conditions for the crime perpetrators. The authors identify the technologies of power used by each group to assert their disciplinary authority and trace how these assertions play out in the courtroom. They conclude that by capitalizing on the normative structures of impact statements, advocates may actually give victims more power. Such activist research might benefit research participants and enhance research methods.

Propen, Amy and Mary Lay Schuster. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2008). Articles>TC>Legal>Ethnographies

Making the Strange Familiar: A Pedagogical Exploration of Visual Thinking    

Scholarly conversation within the field of professional communication increasingly has focused on the practice, research, and pedagogy of visual rhetoric. Yet, visual thinking has received relatively little attention within the field. If our programs produce students who can think verbally but not visually, they risk producing writers who are visual technicians but are unable to move fluidly between and within modes of communication. This article examines the literature and pedagogical practices of visually oriented disciplines to identify strategies for helping students develop the ambidexterity of thought needed for the communication tasks of today's workplace.

Brumberger, Eva R. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2007). Articles>Education>Graphic Design>Visual Rhetoric

Mode, Medium, and Genre: A Case Study of Decisions in New-Media Design    

Recently, scholars of new media have been exploring the relationships between genre theory and new media. While these scholars have provided a great deal of insight into the nature of e-genres and how they function in professional contexts, few address the relationship between genre and new-media theories from a designer's perspective. This article presents the results of an ethnographic-style case study exploring the practice of a professional new-media designer. These results (a) confirm the role of dynamic rhetorical situations and hybridity during the new-media design process; (b) suggest that current genre and new-media theories underestimate the complexity of the relationships between mode, medium, genre, and rhetorical exigencies; and (c) indicate that a previously unrecognized form of hybridity exists in contemporary e-genres.

Graham, S. Scott. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2008). Articles>Multimedia>Genre>Theory

Moving Beyond the Moment: Reception Studies in the Rhetoric of Science    

Studies in the rhetoric of science have tended to focus on classic scientific texts and on the history of drafts and the interaction surrounding them up until the moment when the drafts are accepted for publication by a journal. Similarly, research on disasters resulting from failed communication has tended to focus on the history of drafts and the interaction surrounding them up until the moment of the disaster. The authors argue that overattention to the moment skews understanding of what makes scientific discourse successful and neglects other valuable sources of evidence. After reviewing the promises and limitations of studies from historical, observational, and text-analytic approaches, the authors call for studies of responses to research articles from disciplinary readers and argue for studies using a variety of qualitative and quantitative methodologies that will explore the real-time responses of readers to scientific texts, test the effects of rhetorical strategies on readers, and track the course of acceptance or rejection over time.

Paul, Danette, Davida Charney and Aimee Kendall. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2001). Articles>Scientific Communication>Rhetoric

Mythmaking in Annual Reports    

Annual reports produced today increasingly include elaborate photographs and graphics in the narrative section. Financial analysts and many scholars have judged these reports on their clarity, accuracy, and honesty. Because the narrative invites interpretations, such criteria are not sufficient, and additional standards need to be constructed. A semiological analysis of the textual and visual elements allows for the discovery of the techniques used by document designers to promote their companies' values. Artistic images may encourage positive readings of annual reports, which, combined with similar messages in other media and repeated over time, invoke cultural myths. By definition, myths are broadly accepted commonplaces that conceal details of their subject, and communicators must expose the missing details and judge the myth within a specific context. This kind of analysis, acknowledging the constraints of the rhetorical situation of a single report, can identify effective criteria for judging the narrative's ethics.

David, Carol. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2001). Articles>Business Communication>Reports

Narrativity and Professional Communication: Folktales and Community Meaning    

Narrative has been neglected in the education of professionals. The persuasive power of narrative is essential to all the sense-making activities that govern the lives of professionals, for in sense making, they are regularly using narrative. The central example here is the O. J. Simpson legal defense that was organized within the narrative frame of Simpson's story. The authors compare his story with a famous Norwegian folktale to illustrate the role narratives play in amplifying the values of a community. Using Propp's structural analysis of the folktale, they deconstruct the Simpson trial, which reveals implications of the narrative paradigm for the professional.

Kelly, Christine and Michele Zak. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (1999). Articles>Business Communication>Community Building

On Scientific Narrative: Stories of Light by Newton and Einstein    

Despite the prevailing assumption that narrative and scientific discourse are incompatible genres, in this article the authors show that scientific texts typically follow a narrative pattern. This simple observation that narrative and scientific texts are similar is not all that surprising when we recognize that scientific discourse, like all narratives, describes what happened and what it meant. Indeed, scientific texts are almost always accounts of scientists' experiences in reality. After developing a vocabulary of narrative, the authors analyze the works of Newton and Einstein, using narrative analysis to illuminate scientific texts as stories.

Johnson Sheehan, Richard and Scott Rode. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (1999). Articles>Scientific Communication

Problem-Based Learning in an Intercultural Business Communication Course    

Teachers of intercultural business communication may want to consider using problem-based learning (PBL), an instructional approach that places learners in problem-solving situations, that is, students are presented with messy and complex real-life problems that provide a context for learning concepts and developing skills. This article describes how ill-structured communication problems that emerge in intercultural business relationships in internationalizing small- or medium-sized enterprises are used to provide a context for learning. It explains how these problems are tackled by learners through the implementation of PBL in four stages: problem identification, information acquisition, information analysis, and problem resolution. Finally, it discusses the reactions of the students, external participants, and instructors to the PBL approach.

Saatci, Elizabeth. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2008). Articles>Education>Business Communication

Protecting the Voices of Our Research: Appropriately Verifying Qualitative Data    

Although discussion of composition research methods over the last 10 years has culminated in Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) guidelines, these guidelines do not include procedures for verifying qualitative data. Such procedures would entail having a third party check to some degree that the researcher spent the time claimed at the site and that the subjects did what was described and said what was quoted in the published research. This commentary reviews federal policies on research misconduct and government and professional association responses to data faking, noting the additional danger of incompetent investigations of research misconduct. Arguing that the discipline should take appropriate measures to verify qualitative data, I recommend a two-tiered approach.

Cross, Geoffrey A. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2004). Articles>Research>Methods

Research Methods Course Work for Students Specializing in Business and Technical Communication    

Research activity is an integral component in the formation of professions. Evidence shows that business and technical communication specialists conduct research in both academic and practitioner career fields. In other disciplines, course work has been recognized as the primary means for preparing students to conduct and consume research. Yet, no publications document the status of research methods course work for U.S. students specializing in business and technical communication. This study provides a descriptive basis for assessing three areas in those courses: research methods topics, required readings, and teaching or assessment methods. An analysis of the results leads to a proposed agenda for preparing students specializing in business and technical communication for their future work roles in both academe and industry.

Campbell, Kim Sydow. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2000). Articles>Education>Research