Relates the authors' experience teaching technical writing for two weeks at Suzhou University in China. Discusses activities; examines four technical writing textbooks purchased there; and offers suggestions about how technical communication might be established as a separate academic discipline in Chinese universities. Discusses technical…

Technical writing programs housed in geographically isolated universities face great challenges in regard to getting students career-related work experience. A course in desktop publishing can provide students at rural schools with experience equivalent to internships. In a desktop publishing course taught at Murray State University in Kentucky,…

A midwestern university is testing a program that uses the Apple II computer to help students in an advertising research course develop their skills in preparing and presenting research reports using computer generated graphics for both oral and written presentations. One of the course requirements is the preparation of a final project, including…

A course in advanced technical communication was developed at West Virginia University for upper-division students in engineering and the sciences and those planning careers in technical communication. The first four weeks of the semester are spent copy editing, with the students learning to use standard editing marks and keeping an editor's style…

The issues and problems confronted by a professor of literature when asked to teach a technical writing course for engineers are related in this paper. The first section of the paper explains how the professor was "recycled" from a teacher of literature to a professor of technical writing at his college. The second section describes some of the…

Noting that technical writing is becoming an increasingly important element in the college curriculum, this journal issue presents eight articles that provide information for use by technical writing instructors. The first article surveys resources and strategies currently available, while the second article reflects upon some of the adjustments…

This language arts minicourse guide for Lampeter-Strasburg (Pennsylvania) High School contains a topical outline for a course on technical and business writing. The guide includes a list of five course objectives; an outline of the sequence of instruction in the course; a description of the content, concepts, and writing exercises covered by the…

Cites bibliographies, books, and reviews of books on communication and works on technical communication theory and instruction. (HTH)

Presents two assignments that show (1) how George Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" can be applied to business writing and (2) how structured student-teacher conferences can generate enthusiasm for oral expression in a business communication course. (AEA)

Describes a business-writing course based on academic and industrial collaboration and the conceptual model of social communities. (MM)

This study categorized writing assignments required in undergraduate and graduate business courses and examined the characteristics of as well as skills needed for completing the assignments. Data sources included 95 course syllabi and handouts on writing assignments, 12 student writing samples, and six interviews with business faculty. Data…

Describes student reaction to an internship program in journalism. Suggests that students must learn that formula and boredom are basic to the work world but that they can lighten this routine with their own inventiveness and creativity. (MM)

A course in communications skills for the biomedical sciences is a component unique to the New Mexico State University MARC Honors Undergraduate Program. The program seeks to identify and assist minority students who show evidence of having clear potential to perform at a high level in the biomedical sciences and who show a determination to enter…

A course in technical writing has justification for appearing in a college English department curriculum if course content as it is currently taught is somewhat modified. In general, business or technical writing has been primarily a study of a wide variety of letter and report writing forms. To be taught as a liberal arts course, a technical…

The course is designed to provide students with the skill and knowledge needed to compose effective business reports, including format of a report, informal and formal reports, minutes of meetings, agendas, itineraries, new releases, and advertising copy. Prerequisites include Business Grammar in Good Taste, Spell It Right, and Typing Business…