"The Pocket Guide to Technical Communication" isa handy reference for on-the-job business, technical and scientific writing. Its brief format provides quick, easy-to-read answers to common writing problems. Filled with examples, it features samples of every major document type and emphasizes quality and planning throughout. This edition offers new editing exercises, expanded coverage of email, and an entirely new section on PowerPoint. Its condensed approach is ideal for instructors who want their students to spend more time writing and less time reading about writing.

Lukens Steel was an extraordinary business that spanned two centuries of American history. The firm rolled the first boiler plate in 1818 and operated the largest rolling mills in America in 1890, 1903, and 1918, Later it worked on the Manhattan Project and built the steel beams for the base of the World Trade Center. The company stayed in the family for 188 years, and they kept the majority of their business papers."The Language of Work" traces the evolution of written forms of communication at Lukens Steel from 1810 to 1925. As standards for iron and steel emerged and industrial processes became more complex, foremen, mechanics, and managers began to use drawing and writing to solve problems, transfer ideas, and develop new technology. This shift in communication methods - from 'prediscursive' (oral) communication to 'chirographic' (written) communication - occurred as technology became more complex and knowledge had to span space and time.This richly illustrated volume begins with a theoretical overview linking technical communication to literature and describing the historical context. The analysis is separated into four time periods: 1810 to 1870, when little writing was used; 1870-1900, when Lukens Steel began to use record keeping to track product from furnace, through production, to the shipping dock; 1900-1915, when written and drawn communication spread throughout the plant and literacy became more common on the factory floor; and 1915-1925, when stenographer typists took over the majority of the written work. Over time, writing - and literacy - became an essential part of the industrial process.

This book examines the impact of outsourcing on the field of technical communication. Aided by new technologies and driven by global market structures, technical communication products that were once developed in the United States or Western Europe are now being developed in Asia, Eastern Europe, and other parts of the world. If technical communication follows other fields, such as information technologies, electronics manufacturing, and even textiles, this 'outsourcing' of technical communication products and jobs will surely influence our profession-but how? What kinds of jobs will remain in the United States? Which jobs are more efficiently handled outside the United States? How can U.S. technical communicators develop a 'comparative advantage' in the global economy? How can collaboration and joint development of information products be managed? What are the ethical, cultural, social, and economic dilemmas created by outsourcing?This collection is designed as a theory/practice book that addresses the needs of graduate students, faculty, and technical communicators who want to teach, practice, or conduct research in this area. It addresses technical communications and outsourcing in six different parts of the world, including the United States. It also explores issues of curriculum, project management, legal considerations, and intercultural communication problems.This title is suitable for: Technical communication professionals in academia and industry; managers, researchers, and teachers of documentation projects who are involved in offshore outsourcing situations and need to find best practices, strategies, or recommendations for being successful; technical writers (freelancers and corporate employees) working with international partners interested in how outsourcing can affect the future of their profession; non-U.S. writers working in outsourcing projects looking to perform satisfactorily in their jobs; undergraduate and graduate professors in universities and community colleges teaching courses in publications management, information design, international communication, and technical writing, and students enrolled in those courses; teachers and students in rhetorical theory and professional communication pedagogy courses; ESL (English as a second language) and ESP (English for specific purposes) readers.

This book examines the complex roles that texts serve as parts of an organizational cognitive infrastructure. Texts make knowledge and experience tangible and durable. They help shape interactions between people. As professions have become more writing-centered in recent decades, many organizations have instituted writing review practices to help newcomers produce better writing and thus become more effective organizational citizens.Dr. Swarts examines those writing review practices and questions whether available supportive technologies adequately prepare professional writers and professionals who write to appreciate the complex functions their texts serve. He reports on a study of the impact of two technologies (paper text and textual replay) on writing review. Unlike paper, which presents texts in a static form, textual replay presents texts as the products of writing practices. Textual replay records onscreen writing activity and creates a video that writers and reviewers use to supplement their discussion of revisions.

Provides the instructors of introductory technical communication courses with a set of resources for their classrooms.

"Punctuation Matters" gives straight answers the queries raised most frequently by practitioners in computing, engineering, medicine and science as they grapple with day-to-day tasks in writing and editing. The advice it offers is based on John Kirkman's long experience of providing courses on writing and editing in academic centers, large companies, research organizations, and government departments, in the UK, Europe and in the USA. Sample material discussed in the book comes from real documents from computing, engineering and scientific contexts, giving the guidelines an immediately recognizable, "true to life" relevance, which is both down-to-earth and up-to-date.
The book is clearly set out in three parts:
- Part 1 states a policy for clear and reliable punctuation
- Part 2 gives a series of alphabetically arranged guidelines, to be "dipped into" for guidance on how to use the main punctuation marks in English
- Part 3 contains appendices on paragraphing, word-division, and how conventions of punctuation differ from country to country.
Punctuation Matters is the essential guide for technical writers, editors and communicators, with clear explanations on punctuation, what it does and how to use it.

Serves as an introduction to how the field of communication connects to technology transfer the market-driven process by which innovations are adopted and implemented. This work includes articles that explore topics including the history of technology transfer and diffusion, technology transfer and patents, and more.

First published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

CONTENTS - 1. SCALES - Nature and Properties of Scales - Methods for Constructing Scales - Altering Moduli of Scales - Standard Scales - Mechanical Aspects of Scale Construction - Exercises - 2. CALCULATING WITH SCALES - Adjacent Scales - Parallel Scales With Index Line - Standard Slide Rules - Slide Rule Routines - Special Slide Rules - Methods of Reproduction - Other Forms of Special Slide Rules - Differential Gear Rules - Exercises - 3. GRAPH PAPERS - Common Types of Graph Papers - Construction of Graph Papers - Exercises - 4. CALCULATING WITH GRAPH PAPERS - Hyperbolic Paper - Linear Paper - Semilogarithmic Paper - Logarithmic Paper - Exercises - 5. GRAPHS - Relationship of Graph to Table and Function - Graphs of Regular Functions - Interpolation and Extrapolation - Graphs of Empirical Data - Complex Graphs - Condensed Graphs - Exercises - 6. CALCULATING WITH GRAPHS - Position Relationships - Vertical and Horizontal Displacements - General Distance Relationships - Isometric Translation - Slopes; Graphical Differentiation - Areas; Graphical Integration - Exercises - 7. NOMOGRAPHY - Nomographic Methods - Some Characteristics of Nomographs - 8. NOMOGRAPHS BY SYNTHETIC METHODS - Synthetic Methods - Figures With One Straight Index Line - Figures With Two Parallel Index Lines - Figures With Perpendicular Index Lines - Review of Synthetic Methods - Exercises - 9. NOMOGRAPHS WITH CARTESIAN COORDINATES, - Relationship of Defining Equation to Type - Matrix Transformations - Exercises - 10. NOMOGRAPHS WITH HYPERBOLIC COORDINATES - The Semihyperbolic Coordinate System - Application to Construction of Nomographs - 11. PRACTICAL ASPECTS OF CONSTRUCTING NOMOGRAPHS - Nomographs With Parallel Scales - Nomographs With Oblique Scales - Nomographs With Curved Scales - Exercises - 12. USE OF GENERAL HYPERBOLIC COORDINATES - Hyperbolic Plane Coordinates - The V-Type Nomograph - Fitting Nomograph to a Rectangle - 13. THREE-DIMENSIONED NOMOGRAPHS - Three-Dimensional Hyperbolic Coordinates - Defining Equation for Nomographs - Applications - 14. PROPERTIES OF HYPERBOLIC COORDINATE SYSTEMS - Hyperbolic Plane Coordinates - Semihyperbolic Coordinates - Hyperbolic Solid Coordinates - Semihyperbolic Solid Coordinates - 15. NOMOGRAPHS FROM GRAPHS AND TABLES - Relationship of Graph to Nomograph - Constructing Nomographs From Tables: Symmetrical - Constructing Nomographs From Tables: General - APPENDIX - Values of x = -p/p-r- and 1 - x INDEX -

Help your students improve their science understanding and communicate their knowledge more effectively. Writing Science Right shows you the best ways to teach content-area writing so that students can share their learning and discoveries through informal and formal writing assignments and oral presentations. You'll teach students how to... identify their audience and an appropriate organizational structure for their writing; achieve a readable style by knowing the reader's background knowledge; build effective sentences and concise paragraphs; prepare and deliver oral presentations that bring content to life; use major science articles, abstracts, and summaries as mentor texts; and more! Throughout the book, you'll find a wide variety of sample articles and suggested assignments that you can use immediately. In addition, a list of additional teaching texts and resources is available on the Routledge website at www.routledge.com/9781138302679.

A research paper or graduate essay demonstrating weak English and poor formatting is likely to be rejected by an editor or marked down by an assessor; but why should these gaps in your English knowledge undermine your subject knowledge and skill as an engineer or student of the discipline? Written English: A Guide for Electrical and Electronic Students and Engineers is the first resource to work at the sentence level to resolve the English language problems facing international engineering students and scholars. Informed by hundreds of research papers and student essays, this valuable reference: Covers grammar essentials and key terms in the fields of electrical engineering, electronic engineering, and communication systems Uses real-world examples to reveal common mistakes and identify critical areas of focus Provides practical solutions to formatting, vocabulary, and stylistic issues Written English: A Guide for Electrical and Electronic Students and Engineers equips readers with the necessary knowledge to produce accurate and effective English when writing for engineering.

Examination of the work of scientific icons-Newton, Descartes, and others-reveals the metaphors and analogies that directed their research and explain their discoveries. Today, scientists tend to balk at the idea of their writing as rhetorical, much less metaphorical. How did this schism over metaphor occur in the scientific community? To establish that scientists should use metaphors to explain science to the public and need to be conscious of how metaphor can be useful to their research, this book examines the controversy over cloning and the lack of a metaphor to explain it to a public fearful of science's power.The disjunction between metaphor and science is traced to the dispensation of the Solar System Analogy in favor of a mathematical model. Arguing that mathematics is metaphorical, the author supports the idea of all language as metaphorical-unlike many rhetoricians and philosophers of science who have proclaimed all language as metaphorical but have allowed a distinction between a metaphorical use of language and a literal use.For technical communication pedagogy, the implications of this study suggest foregrounding metaphor in textbooks and in the classroom. Though many technical communication textbooks recommend metaphor as a rhetorical strategy, some advise avoiding it, and those that recommend it usually do so in a paragraph or two, with little direction for students on how to recognize metaphors or to how use them. This book provides the impetus for a change in the pedagogical approach to metaphor as a rhetorical tool with epistemological significance.

Winner of the 2018 CCCC Technical and Scientific Communication Award in the category of Best Book in Technical or Scientific Communication Responding to the effects of human mobility and crises such as depleting oil supplies, Ehren Helmut Pflugfelder turns specifically to automobility, a term used to describe the kinds of mobility afforded by autonomous, automobile-based movement technologies and their ramifications. Thus far, few studies in technical communication have explored the development of mobility technologies, the immense power that highly structured, environmentally significant systems have in the world, or the human-machine interactions that take place in such activities. Applying kinaesthetic rhetoric, a rhetoric that is sensitive to and developed from the mobile, material context of these technologies, Pflugfelder looks at transportation projects such as electric taxi cabs from the turn of the century to modern day, open-source vehicle projects, and a large case study of an autonomous, electric pod car network that ultimately failed. Kinaesthetic rhetoric illuminates how mobility technologies have always been persuasive wherever and whenever linguistic symbol systems and material interactions enroll us, often unconsciously, into regimes of movement and ways of experiencing the world. As Pflugfelder shows, mobility technologies involve networks of sustained arguments that are as durable as the bonds between the actors in their networks.

As colleges and universities across the country continue to deal with regular decreases in state funding, technical communication programs, in particular, are being forced to "do more with less." As budget cuts become the new normal, the long-term health of technical communication depends on our ability to evolve and adapt to an array of internal, external, and technological pressures. The New Normal: Pressures on Technical Communication Programs in the Age of Austerity explores the ways technical communication programs are responding to conditions of economic austerity and investigates how smaller programs, or programs situated in smaller institutions, use increasingly limited resources to meet the challenges of increased student demand, the responsibilities of teaching service courses effectively, the technological demands for online education, and the constant pressure to prepare our students appropriately for the ever-changing needs of the job market in technical communication. More specifically, the contributors to this collection are overtly conscious of the marginalized/peripheral status of technical communication programs within both small and large institutions. This awareness allows them to articulate specific ways that austerity has had a direct, and local, effect on a particular technical communication program and to describe short- and long-term strategies for creating sustainable futures for a technical communication program, despite cuts and marginalization.

As colleges and universities across the country continue to deal with regular decreases in state funding, technical communication programs, in particular, are being forced to "do more with less." As budget cuts become the new normal, the long-term health of technical communication depends on our ability to evolve and adapt to an array of internal, external, and technological pressures. The New Normal: Pressures on Technical Communication Programs in the Age of Austerity explores the ways technical communication programs are responding to conditions of economic austerity and investigates how smaller programs, or programs situated in smaller institutions, use increasingly limited resources to meet the challenges of increased student demand, the responsibilities of teaching service courses effectively, the technological demands for online education, and the constant pressure to prepare our students appropriately for the ever-changing needs of the job market in technical communication. More specifically, the contributors to this collection are overtly conscious of the marginalized/peripheral status of technical communication programs within both small and large institutions. This awareness allows them to articulate specific ways that austerity has had a direct, and local, effect on a particular technical communication program and to describe short- and long-term strategies for creating sustainable futures for a technical communication program, despite cuts and marginalization.

The Other Kind of Funnies refutes the mainstream American cultural assumption that comics have little to do with technical communication-that the former are entertaining (in a low-brow sense) and juvenile, whereas the latter is practical and serious (to the point of stuffiness). The first of its kind, this book demonstrates the exciting possibilities of using comics in technical communication. It defines comics as a medium and art form that includes cartoons, comic strips, comic books, and graphic novels; provides conceptual and historical backgrounds on comics; and discusses the appeals and challenges of using comics-style technical communication. More specifically, it examines comics-style instructions, educational materials, health/risk communication, and political/propaganda communication. The author argues that comics-style technical communication encourages reader participation, produces covert persuasion, facilitates intercultural communication, benefits underprivileged audiences such as children and readers of lower literacy, and challenges the positivist view of technical communication. An abundance of comics-style technical communication examples, carefully selected from across cultures and times, demonstrates the argument. While the book proposes that comics can create user-friendly, visually oriented, engaging, and socially responsible technical communication, it is also quick to acknowledge the limitations and challenges of comics-style technical communication and provides heuristics on how to cope with them. The Other Kind of Funnies is unique in its interdisciplinary approach. It focuses on technical communication but speaks to design, cultural and intercultural studies, historical studies, and to some extent, education, politics, and art.

In the field of technical communication, academics and industry practitioners alike regularly encounter the same question: "What exactly is it you do?" Their responses often reveal a fundamental difference of perspective on what the field is and how it operates. For example, academics might discuss ideas in terms of rhetorical theory, while practitioners might explain concepts through more practical approaches involving best business practices. And such differences can have important implications for how the field, as a whole, moves forward over time. This collection explores ideas related to forging effective academia-industry relationships and partnerships so members of the field can begin a dialogue designed to foster communication and collaboration among academics and industry practitioners in technical communication. To address the various factors that can affect such interactions, the contributions in this collection represent a broad range of approaches that technical communicators can use to establish effective academy-industry partnerships and relationships in relation to an area of central interest to both: education. The 11 chapters thus present different perspectives on and ideas for achieving this goal. In so doing, the contributors discuss programmatic concerns, workplace contexts, outreach programs, and research and writing. The result is a text that examines different general contexts in which academia-industry relationships and partnerships can be established and maintained. It also provides readers with a reference for exploring such interactions.

In the field of technical communication, academics and industry practitioners alike regularly encounter the same question: "What exactly is it you do?" Their responses often reveal a fundamental difference of perspective on what the field is and how it operates. For example, academics might discuss ideas in terms of rhetorical theory, while practitioners might explain concepts through more practical approaches involving best business practices. And such differences can have important implications for how the field, as a whole, moves forward over time. This collection explores ideas related to forging effective academia-industry relationships and partnerships so members of the field can begin a dialogue designed to foster communication and collaboration among academics and industry practitioners in technical communication. To address the various factors that can affect such interactions, the contributions in this collection represent a broad range of approaches that technical communicators can use to establish effective academy-industry partnerships and relationships in relation to an area of central interest to both: education. The 11 chapters thus present different perspectives on and ideas for achieving this goal. In so doing, the contributors discuss programmatic concerns, workplace contexts, outreach programs, and research and writing. The result is a text that examines different general contexts in which academia-industry relationships and partnerships can be established and maintained. It also provides readers with a reference for exploring such interactions.

A research paper or graduate essay demonstrating weak English and poor formatting is likely to be rejected by an editor or marked down by an assessor; but why should these gaps in your English knowledge undermine your subject knowledge and skill as an engineer or student of the discipline? Written English: A Guide for Electrical and Electronic Students and Engineers is the first resource to work at the sentence level to resolve the English language problems facing international engineering students and scholars. Informed by hundreds of research papers and student essays, this valuable reference: Covers grammar essentials and key terms in the fields of electrical engineering, electronic engineering, and communication systems Uses real-world examples to reveal common mistakes and identify critical areas of focus Provides practical solutions to formatting, vocabulary, and stylistic issues Written English: A Guide for Electrical and Electronic Students and Engineers equips readers with the necessary knowledge to produce accurate and effective English when writing for engineering.

For introductory courses in Technical Communication. Technical Communication Strategies for Today offers both and speaks to today's students. Instructional narrative is "chunked," so that portions of text are combined with graphics. The chunked presentation also integrates an awareness of how documents are read-often skimmed by readers seeking the information they need, and it models the way today's technical documents should be designed. The contemporary writing style is matched by an approach that accurately reflects the modern day computer-centered technical workplace: Technical Communication Strategies for Today presents computers as thinking tools that powerfully influence how we develop, produce, design, and deliver technical documents and presentations.

Teachers of technical writing are frequently handicapped by a lack of material to back up discussions in the classroom and in textbooks. This title helps to overcome this weakness.

This book presents an altogether new approach to writing and evaluating writing in digital media. It suggests that usability theory provides few tools for evaluating content, because usability theory assumes only one kind of writing on the Internet. The author suggests three models: user-centric (usability model), persuasion-centric (encouraging the reader to linger and be persuaded--Canon camera ads), and quality-centric (encouraging the reader to linger and learn or be entertained because of the quality of the writing--NASA.gov and YouTube). Designed for professional writers and writing students, this text provides a rubric for writing in digital media, but more importantly, it provides a rubric and vocabulary for identifying and explaining problems in copy that already exists. The Internet has become a pastiche of cut-and-paste content, often placed by non-writers to fill space for no particular reason or by computers with no oversight from humans (e.g., Amazon.com). Because these snippets are typically on topic (but often for the wrong purpose or audience), professional writers have difficulty identifying the problems and an even harder time explaining them. Finding an effective tool for identifying and explaining problems in digital content becomes a particularly important problem as writers increasingly struggle with growing complications in complex information systems (systems that create and manage their own content with little human intervention). Being able to look at a body of copy and immediately see that it is problematic is an important skill that is lacking in a surprising number of professional writers.

This book presents an altogether new approach to writing and evaluating writing in digital media. It suggests that usability theory provides few tools for evaluating content, because usability theory assumes only one kind of writing on the Internet. The author suggests three models: user-centric (usability model), persuasion-centric (encouraging the reader to linger and be persuaded--Canon camera ads), and quality-centric (encouraging the reader to linger and learn or be entertained because of the quality of the writing--NASA.gov and YouTube). Designed for professional writers and writing students, this text provides a rubric for writing in digital media, but more importantly, it provides a rubric and vocabulary for identifying and explaining problems in copy that already exists. The Internet has become a pastiche of cut-and-paste content, often placed by non-writers to fill space for no particular reason or by computers with no oversight from humans (e.g., Amazon.com). Because these snippets are typically on topic (but often for the wrong purpose or audience), professional writers have difficulty identifying the problems and an even harder time explaining them. Finding an effective tool for identifying and explaining problems in digital content becomes a particularly important problem as writers increasingly struggle with growing complications in complex information systems (systems that create and manage their own content with little human intervention). Being able to look at a body of copy and immediately see that it is problematic is an important skill that is lacking in a surprising number of professional writers.

For courses in Technical Writing. This concise and cumulative guide shows students the art of technical writing for a variety of contexts and institutions. Using examples from the business and non-corporate world, the book emphasizes transactional writing through practical explanations, real-world examples, and a variety of "role-playing" exercises. Each section builds on the next as readers learn a variety of models of style and format. This edition features a stronger emphasis on electronic communication, integrated coverage of ethics, and more explanation of how to create technical documents that produce concrete results.

First Published in 2017. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor and Francis, an Informa company.