The textbook is the main teaching tool for instructors. Typically, teachers select a text based on how well it supports their views of and approach to the subject. Looking at texts suggests how the subject has been taught over the years and what assumptions are made about students. This informal look at pre-1970 textbooks characterizes the early teaching of technical writing by examining such features as author's background, contents, assumed reader, and focus.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
ConnorsR. J., The Rise of Technical Writing Instruction in America, Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 12, pp. 329–351, 1982.
2.
SoutherJ. W., Teaching Technical Writing: Theory and Practice, in Technical Writing: Theory and Practice, FearingB. E. and SparrowW. K. (eds.), Modern Language Association, New York, pp. 2–13, 1989.
3.
RussellD. R., Writing in the Academic Disciplines, 1870–1970: A Curricular History, Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale, 1991.
4.
RickardT. A., A Guide to Technical Writing, Mining and Scientific Press, San Francisco, 1908.
5.
RickardT. A., Technical Writing (3rd Edition), John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1931.
6.
SchmelzerR. W., The First Textbook on Technical Writing, Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 7, pp. 51–54, 1977.
7.
NelsonJ. A., Writing the Technical Report, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York, 1940.
8.
AggT. R. and FosterW. L., The Preparation of Engineering Reports, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York, 1935.
9.
ThomasJ. D., Composition for Technical Students, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1949.
10.
ThomasJ. D., Composition for Technical Students (3rd Edition), Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1965.
11.
MillerW. J. and SaidlaL. E. A. (eds.), Engineers as Writers: Growth of a Literature, D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., New York, 1953.
12.
HendricksK. and StoddartL. A., Technical Writing, Utah State Agricultural College, Logan, Utah, 1948.
13.
HicksT., Successful Technical Writing, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1959.
14.
MitchellJ., Handbook of Technical Communication, Wadsworth, Belmont, California, 1962.
15.
GravesH. F. and HoffmanL. S. S., Report Writing (4th Edition), Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1965.
16.
JeansonneJ., The Paradigm Shift in Technical Writing Textbook Pedagogy, Ph.D. dissertation, Oklahoma State University, 1996.
17.
WarrenThomas L., Words into Type (4th Edition), Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey [in press].
18.
WarrenThomas L., Tenure and Promotion in Technical Writing Programs, Anthology, Perspectives on Promotion and Tenure for Faculty in Non-Academic Discourse: Guidelines for Effective Research, Teaching and Service, TebeauxElizabeth (ed.), Association of Teachers of Technical Writing, pp. 99–109, 1995.
19.
WarrenThomas L., Issues in Internationalization of Documentation: Quality Control, anthology of selected papers from “Quality in Technical Documentation,”Conference held University Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands, May 6–7, 1993, Utrecht Studies in Language and Communication, Utrecht, The Netherlands, pp. 171–184, 1994.
20.
WarrenThomas L., Technical Communication in the U.S.A.: Educating Engineers to Write, anthology of selected papers from International Symposium on Technical Documentation in Education, Gotha and Berlin (Technical University of Berlin), October 1992. Franfurt am Main, Peter Lang, pp. 176–187, 1994.
21.
WarrenThomas L., Readers and Microcomputers: Approaches to Usability, in Writing Instruction Manuals, SouthardSherry (ed.), Society for Technical Communication, Arlington, Virginia [in press].
22.
WarrenThomas L., Three Approaches to Reader Analysis, Technical Communication, 40:1, 1993, reprinted in (ISTC-England) Communicator, ns 4:2, 1993.
