Many scholars call for systematic empirical research in technical writing. This article reviews the Westley-MacLean communication model and provides an example of the model within a technical communication context. The author suggests use of the Westley-MacLean model as a means to conceptualize the technical communication process, and illustrates how the model can be used as a technical writing paradigm.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BalachandranS., Technical Writing: A Bibliography, American Business Communication Association, Urbana, Illinois, and Society for Technical Communication, Washington, D.C., 1977.
2.
GoldbergJ. J., A Survey of Scholarly Works in Technical Writing, Technical Communication, 22: 1, pp. 5–8, 1975.
3.
ChapanisA., Engineering Psychology, in Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, DunnetteM. D. (ed.), John Wiley and Sons, New York, pp. 697–744, 1983.
4.
GieselmanR. D., Research in Business Communication: The State of the Art, The Journal of Business Communication, 17: 4, pp. 3–18, 1980.
5.
WrightP., Behavioral Research and the Technical Communicator, Technical Communication, 25: 2, pp. 6–12, 1978.
6.
McQuailD. and WindahlS., Communication Models for the Study of Mass Communications, Longman, New York, 1981.
7.
KuhnT. S., The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 2nd edition, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1970.
8.
BarlundD. C., A Transactional Model of Communication, in Foundations of Communication Theory, SerenoK. K. and MortensenC. D. (eds.), Harper and Row, New York, pp. 83–102, 1970.
9.
KolersP. A., Introduction, in Processing of Visible Language 2, KolersP. A.WrolstadM. E., and BoumaH. (eds.), Plenum Press, New York, pp. 257–258, 1980.
10.
LinN., The Study of Human Communication, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis, 1973.
11.
ShannonC. E. and WeaverW., The Mathematical Theory of Communication, University of Illinois Press, Urbana, 1949.
12.
AckoffR. L., Toward a Behavioral Theory of Communication, Management Science, 4: 3, pp. 218–234, 1958.
13.
HeiderF., Attitudes and Cognitive Organization, Journal of Psychology, 21, pp. 107–112, 1946.
14.
HeiderF.The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1958.
15.
NewcombT. M., An Approach to the Study of Communicative Acts, Psychological Review, 60: 6, pp. 393–404, 1953.
16.
WestleyB. H. and MacLeanM. S.Jr., A Conceptual Model for Communications Research, Journalism Quarterly, 34, pp. 31–38, 1957.
17.
BachmanC. W., Data Structure Diagrams, DATA BASE, 1: 2, pp. 4–10, 1969.
18.
MeisterD., Behavioral Foundations of System Development, 2nd edition, Krieger Publishing, Malabar, Florida, 1985.
19.
HarperW. L., Data Processing Documentation: Standards, Procedures and Applications, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1973.
20.
LomaxJ. D., Documentation of Software Products, National Computing Centre, Manchester, England, 1977.
21.
ThomasS., Some Problems of the Paradigm in Communication Theory, in Mass Communication Review Yearbook, Vol. 3, WhitneyD. C.WartellaE., and WindahlS. (eds.), Sage Publications, Beverly Hills, California, pp. 79–96, 1982.
22.
FiskeJ., Introduction to Communication Studies, Methuen Inc., New York, 1982.
23.
MartinJ., Application Development without Programmers, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1982.
24.
KlareG. R., Readable Technical Writing: Some Observations, Technical Communication, 24: 2, pp. 1–5, 1977.
25.
Development of a Measure to Evaluate Documentation, Proceedings of the Third Annual American Institute for Decision Sciences, Doctoral Consortium, November 10, pp. 12–13, 1985.