Bringing together thirty-two landmark essays, Central Works in Technical Communication provides a broad and representative overview of the field. It introduces students, new teachers, and new practitioners to the community of technical communication as an intellectual and communal endeavor
that encompasses such complex theoretical topics as research methods, social issues, and ethics. Editors Johndan Johnson-Eilola and Stuart A. Selber engaged in a comprehensive selection process--including the consultation of a review board of leading teachers and scholars--and have included some of
the most influential articles and book chapters published in technical communication over the last twenty-five years. Each essay is accompanied by a reflective piece written by its author specifically for this volume. These commentaries provide context for the essays and allow the authors to add to
or challenge their original ideas and resituate them in a contemporary environment. The book also features section introductions written by the editors that offer historical and conceptual approaches to understanding the contributions each work makes to the field of technical communication.
Central Works in Technical Communication is organized around eight major conceptual categories: histories, rhetorical perspectives, philosophies and theories, ethical and power issues, research methods, workplace studies, online environments, and pedagogical directions. An alternative table of
contents groups the essays into additional categories including collaboration, gender, genre, usability, and visual theory and practice. Ideal for advanced undergraduate and graduate coursesin technical communication, this collection is also a compact and convenient resource for practicing
professionals and academics new to the field.
Bringing together thirty-two landmark essays, Central Works in Technical Communication provides a broad and representative overview of the field. It introduces students, new teachers, and new practitioners to the community of technical communication as an intellectual and communal endeavor
that encompasses such complex theoretical topics as research methods, social issues, and ethics. Editors Johndan Johnson-Eilola and Stuart A. Selber engaged in a comprehensive selection process--including the consultation of a review board of leading teachers and scholars--and have included some of
the most influential articles and book chapters published in technical communication over the last twenty-five years. Each essay is accompanied by a reflective piece written by its author specifically for this volume. These commentaries provide context for the essays and allow the authors to add to
or challenge their original ideas and resituate them in a contemporary environment. The book also features section introductions written by the editors that offer historical and conceptual approaches to understanding the contributions each work makes to the field of technical communication.
Central Works in Technical Communication is organized around eight major conceptual categories: histories, rhetorical perspectives, philosophies and theories, ethical and power issues, research methods, workplace studies, online environments, and pedagogical directions. An alternative table of
contents groups the essays into additional categories including collaboration, gender, genre, usability, and visual theory and practice. Ideal for advanced undergraduate and graduate coursesin technical communication, this collection is also a compact and convenient resource for practicing
professionals and academics new to the field.
PART 1: HISTORIES
1: Robert Connors, "The Rise of Technical Writing Instruction in
America"
2: Russell Rutter, "History, Rhetoric, and Humanism: Toward a More
Comprehensive Definition of Technical Communication"
3: Katherine T. Durack, "Gender, Technology, and the History of
Technical Communication"
PART 2: RHETORICAL PERSPECTIVES
4: Carolyn R. Miller, "A Humanistic Rationale for Technical
Writing"
5: Linda Driskill, "Understanding the Writing Context in
Organizations"
6: Carolyn D. Rude, "The Report for Decision Making: Genre and
Inquiry"
7: Robert R. Johnson, "Audience Involved: Toward a Participatory
Model of Writing"
PART 3: PHILOSOPHIES AND THEORIES
8: David N. Dobrin, "What's Technical about Technical Writing?"
9: Charlotte Thralls and Nancy Roundy Blyler, "The Social
Perspective and Professional Communication: Diversity and
Directions in Research"
10: Mary M. Lay, "Feminist Theory and the Redefinition of Technical
Communication"
11: Jennifer Daryl Slack, David James Miller, and Jeffrey Doak,
"The Technical Communicator as Author: Meaning, Power,
Authority"
12: Johndan Johnson-Eilola, "Relocating the Value of Work:
Technical Communication in a Post-Industrial Age"
PART 4: ETHICAL AND POWER ISSUES
13: Steven B. Katz, "The Ethic of Expediency: Classical Rhetoric,
Technology, and the Holocaust"
14: Dale L. Sullivan, "Political-Ethical Implications of Defining
Technical Communication as a Practice"
15: Carl G. Herndl, "Teaching Discourse and Reproducing Culture: A
Critique of Research and Pedagogy in Professional and Non-Academic
Writing"
16: Ben F. Barton and Marthalee S. Barton, "Ideology and the Map:
Toward a Postmodern Visual Design Practice"
PART 5: RESEARCH METHODS
17: Teresa M. Harrison, "Frameworks for the Study of Writing in
Organizational Contexts"
18: Nancy Roundy Blyler, "Taking a Political Turn: The Critical
Perspective and Research in Professional Communication"
19: Davida Charney, "Empiricism Is Not a Four-Letter Word"
20: Patricia Sullivan and James E. Porter, "On Theory, Practice,
and Method: Toward a Heuristic Research Methodology for
Professional Writing"
PART 6: WORKPLACE STUDIES
21: Jack Selzer, "The Composing Processes of an Engineer"
22: Stephen Doheny-Farina, "Writing in an Emerging Organization: An
Ethnographic Study"
23: Dorothy A. Winsor, "Engineering Writing/Writing
Engineering"
24: Nancy Allen, Dianne Atkinson, Meg Morgan, Teresa Moore, and
Craig Snow, "What Experienced Collaborators Say about Collaborative
Writing"
25: James Paradis, "Text and Action: The Operator's Manual in
Context and in Court"
26: Barbara Mirel, "Writing and Database Technology: Extending the
Definition of Writing in the Workplace"
PART 7: ONLINE ENVIRONMENTS
27: Tharon W. Howard, "Who 'Owns' Electronic Texts?"
28: Stephen A. Bernhardt, "The Shape of Text to Come: The Texture
of Print on Screens"
29: Cynthia L. Selfe and Richard J. Selfe, Jr., "The Politics of
the Interface: Power and Its Exercise in Electronic Contact
Zones"
PART 8: PEDAGOGICAL DIRECTIONS
30: Stuart A. Selber, "Beyond Skill Building: Challenges Facing
Technical Communication Teachers in the Computer Age"
31: Deborah S. Bosley, "Cross-Cultural Collaboration: Whose Culture
Is It, Anyway?"
32: Lee E. Brasseur, "Contesting the Objectivist Paradigm: Gender
Issues in the Technical and Professional Communication
Curriculum"
Bibliographic Resources in Technical Communication
"Johnson-Eilola and Selber do a superb job at canvassing both
historic and current foundational works in a wide variety of
specialty areas that, over time and collectively, have defined and
shaped our field. Their coherent, single-volume collection of the
most influential articles in the field is destined to become an
invaluable resource for advanced technical communication students,
newcomers to the field, veterans in the field, and
practitioners."--Rachel
Spilka, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee
"Central Works in Technical Communication is exactly the right name
for this collection. Johnson-Eilola and Selber have gathered a
broad, even-handed sampling of some of the best works in our field:
those dog-eared articles that are scattered throughout our journals
and books and filing cabinets, the ones we pull out when we want to
touch base with our field--and introduce it to others."--Clay
Spinuzzi, University of Texas at Austin
"I could see actually restructuring my course to reflect the topics
used to organize this book."--Jimmie Killingsworth, Texas A&M
University
"Johnson-Eilola and Selber do a superb job at canvassing both
historic and current foundational works in a wide variety of
specialty areas that, over time and collectively, have defined and
shaped our field. Their coherent, single-volume collection of the
most influential articles in the field is destined to become an
invaluable resource for advanced technical communication students,
newcomers to the field, veterans in the field, and
practitioners."--Rachel
Spilka, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee
"Central Works in Technical Communication is exactly the right name
for this collection. Johnson-Eilola and Selber have gathered a
broad, even-handed sampling of some of the best works in our field:
those dog-eared articles that are scattered throughout our journals
and books and filing cabinets, the ones we pull out when we want to
touch base with our field--and introduce it to others."--Clay
Spinuzzi, University of Texas at Austin
"I could see actually restructuring my course to reflect the topics
used to organize this book."--Jimmie Killingsworth, Texas A&M
University
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