This article argues that in spite of some attempts to expand the diversity of approaches in Technical Communication, the field remains rooted in an expedient, managerial, techno-rational discourse, where discourse is understood as the values that guide research, practice, and teaching. The article draws on approaches from Communication Studies,…

Shows the path to professionalization through four phases of ornithological discourse history, drawing upon articles in "The Auk," published from 1890-90. States that, originally a single discourse form, the personal narrative of natural history served ornithological science. Finds that a gap between science and public understanding was…