Composition for the culture of professionalism: notes on the history of technical writing instruction

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.R. Russell
Keyword(s):  
Writing Instruction ◽  
Technical Writing ◽  
History Of

The Rise of Technical Writing Instruction in America

1982 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 329-352
Author(s):  
Robert J. Connors
Keyword(s):  
Writing Instruction ◽  
Technical Writing ◽  
Writing Courses ◽  
Current Growth ◽  
History Of

This article traces the history of technical writing instruction in American colleges, concentrating on the major figures in technical writing instruction, the most important textbooks, the forces that shaped courses in technical writing during the period 1900–1980, and the refinements and improvements in teaching and materials that led to the current growth and success of technical writing courses.

Mela's Phoenician Geography

2000 ◽  
Vol 90 ◽  
pp. 70-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Batty
Keyword(s):  
English Translation ◽  
Technical Writing ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Poor Reading ◽  
History Of Cartography ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Many Sources ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Ancient Geography

The appearance in 1998 of F. E. Romer's English translation of Pomponius Mela's De Chorographia has helped to raise further the profile of this previously rather obscure author. Indeed, since the publication a decade previously of the Budé edition by Alain Silberman, interest in Mela seems to have grown quite steadily. Important contributions in German by Kai Brodersen have widened our appreciation of Mela's place within ancient geography as a whole, and his role within the history of cartography has been the subject of a number of shorter pieces.One element common to all these works, however, is a continuing tendency to disparage both Mela himself and the work he created. This is typified by Romer, for whom Mela was ‘a minor writer, a popularizer, not a first-class geographer’; one ‘shocking reason’ for his choice of genre was simply poor preparation, ‘insufficient for technical writing in geography’. Similar judgements appear in the works of Brodersen and Silberman. Mela's inaccuracies are, for these critics, typical of the wider decline of geography in the Roman period. Perhaps such negative views sprang initially from a sense of frustration: it was counted as one of our author's chief defects that he failed to list many sources for his work. For scholars interested in Quellenforschung it makes poor reading. Yet, quite clearly, the De Chorographia has also been damned by comparison. Mela's work has been held against the best Graeco-Roman learning on geography during antiquity—against Strabo, Ptolemy, or Pliny—and it has usually been found wanting. Set against the achievements of his peers, his work does not stand close scrutiny. Thus, for most scholars, the text has been read as a failed exercise in technical geography, or a markedly inferior document in the wider Graeco-Roman geographical tradition.

scholarly journals Educating Technical Communication Teachers: The Origins, Development, and Present Status of the Course, “Teaching Technical Writing” at Illinois State University

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 3
Author(s):  
Gerald Savage
Keyword(s):  
Technical Communication ◽  
Technical Writing ◽  
The United States ◽  
Current Status ◽  
State University ◽  
Graduate Course ◽  
Communication Program ◽  
Illinois State University ◽  
History Of ◽  
Communication Pedagogy

Since the early 1980s, Illinois State University’s English Department has educated numerous technical communication practitioners as well as dozens of teachers of technical communication throughout the United States. Today, the program’s faculty members are nationally recognized for their contributions to scholarship and education and its Ph.D. and M.A. students are sought after to teach in the technical communication programs of other universities. A critical component of this success was the development of the graduate course, Teaching Technical Writing in 1990. This essay situates the development of that course in the history not only of the technical communication program at Illinois State University but in the history of the technical communication field, particularly since 1950. Although the essay focuses on one course in one midsized, Midwestern U.S. University, it is, I believe, exemplary of the development and current status of technical communication pedagogy throughout the U.S.

A Historical Overview of Writing and Technology

2014 ◽  
pp. 329-336
Author(s):  
Trevor Thomas Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Writing Instruction ◽  
Digital Age ◽  
Writing Classroom ◽  
Historical Overview ◽  
Instructional Task ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
History Of Writing ◽  
History Of

This chapter discusses the history of writing and technology and offers an overview of the integration of advances in the use of technology in the writing classroom. The author has framed this overview by highlighting the importance of selecting the most appropriate tool for any instructional task. Grounded in the belief that writing is a key skill for students to master for success in the classroom and, more importantly, beyond the classroom, this chapter is designed to open a theoretical and practical dialogue between readers and this book about how to best theorize and enact meaningful writing instruction in the digital age.

scholarly journals Shaping Business Managers’ English in BBA

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-109
Author(s):  
Ramji Timalsina
Keyword(s):  
Technical Writing ◽  
Writing Skills ◽  
Business Management ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Business Communication ◽  
Business Managers ◽  
Global Context ◽  
Business Administrators ◽  
History Of ◽  
Theory Of Language

This article analyses how the current course of English in Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Tribhuvan University has used interdisciplinary approach in teaching English for business communication to would-be business administrators. To prepare the background and methodology of the analysis, the history of such courses in the global context is reviewed and certain parameters are devised based on B.F. Skinner’s theory of language shaping. It is found that the course has maintained the international standard and so is appropriate for aspiring business managers. The integration of language, literature, technical writing skills and business management related contents has made the course useful and difficult to handle at the same time. Active and motivated participants of both the course instructor and the learners is necessary to make the course successful with the achievement of the objectives the curriculum devised.

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