On October 9-12, 1996, over 400 scholars, researchers, and teachers gathered at the University of Louisville for the first Thomas R. Watson Conference in Rhetoric and Composition. History, Reflection, and Narrative combines oral histories and reflections collected from the featured speakers at the Conference-scholars, teachers, and researchers whose work has been among the most influential in composition's development-with critical perspectives on the period from 1963 to 1983 by another generation of scholars, many of whom will play an important role in defining composition's future. This book offers an important contribution to our ongoing understanding of how composition came to be the profession it is, how the present builds on the past, and how the present may challenge the future.

This sourcebook demonstrates the vigorous work being done in the field of technical and scientific communication. Collectively, the essays offer researchers a basis from which to begin constructing the theoretical framework necessary for the study of technical communication. The book begins with general concerns and progresses to particular applications. The chapters comprising Part I outline larger theoretical perspectives from which to examine techical communication: humanistic approaches to technical communication, the history of technical communication, communication theory and technical writing, and the teaching of technical writing. Part II examines the relationship of technical communication to traditional rhetorical concerns such as invention, audience, modes of organization, and style. Specific types of technical communication--proposals, reports, and business correspondence, among others--are discussed in Part III. The use of the computer, oral presentations, and specialized forms of technical communication are examined in Part IV. The appendixes offer guides to textbooks and style manuals and an overview of the technical writing profession.

During the week of October 6, 1996, over 400 scholars, researchers, and teachers gathered at the University of Louisville for the first Thomas R. Watson Conference in Rhetoric and Composition. History, Reflection, and Narrative combines oral histories and reflections collected from the featured speakers at the Conference-scholars, teachers, and researchers whose work has been among the most influential in composition's development-with critical perspectives on the period from 1963 to 1983 by another generation of scholars, many of whom will play an important role in defining composition's future. This book offers an important contribution to our ongoing understanding of how composition came to be the profession it is, how the present builds on the past, and how the present may challenge the future.