Argues that most levels-of-editing systems focus on issues important to the technical editor at the expense of the issue most important to author and audience: technical content. Redesigns the lowest level of editing in order to better serve the author in the limited time available to produce a document. (SR)

Discusses the purposes served by visual elements in a document, and notes some conventions that have been dropped in the last few years in an attempt to eliminate clutter. (SR)

Argues that the greatest value of technical communicators accrue not from style book editing but from "content editing." Offers suggestions for content editing. (SR)

Discusses the care required in constructing written explanations of numerical data. (SR)

Students in a basic writing course at Ferris State University, an open-admissions, career-technical institution, are required to buy "The Family in America," a casebook in the Opposing Viewpoints Series. The book is suitable for a student who is struggling to write on a high school level and does not have the basic educational background…

Argues that absentee coaching is a successful instructional method to improve journalism students' writing because it provides specific feedback, writers maintain control, it builds writers' confidence, and it develops reader awareness. Discusses putting it into practice, coaching and grading, and the advantages of coaching. (SR)

Describes the importance of metaphors in technical writing. Presents an explanation of metaphor from G. Lakoff and M. Johnson's "Metaphors We Live By." (SR)

Discusses briefly some ways professional writers create fine titles, using allusions, puns, rhyme, alliteration, and paradox. (SR)

Supplements existing rhetorical scholarship by returning to the notion of invention as general preparation of the communicator. Explores the need for invention in technical communication and summarizes Kenneth Burke's theories of dialectic and rhetoric. Presents strategies for invention, and offers advice for incorporating them into teaching…

Presents five beliefs about teaching writing that include (1) writing teachers should write well; and (2) writing workshops are the best place to learn both how to write and how to teach. Argues that the implements with which writers work, such as the pen and paper, have a direct effect on the quality of the writing. (NH)

Discusses three books on Zen and writing that (1) question assumptions of Western discourse and literacy practices; (2) offer ideas to help individual writers unearth their creative energy and potential; (3) advocate alternative discursive practices; (4) discuss possibilities of an embodied literacy predicated on kindness and compassion; and (5)…

Describes a seminar for sociologists designed to improve their writing skills. Explains that peer critiquing by seminar members led to healthy constructive criticism and provided a forum where writing was no longer an isolated experience. (BSR)

Argues that corporate style guides create consistency in documents, promote a professional image, train new employees, and define document generation. Describes how to develop a corporate style guide. (SR)

Examines the paradigm "the writer is self-contained," which underlies current writing practices in business and education. Discusses how creating a supportive climate for the writing process relates to the paradigm "every writer needs an editor." Discusses the implications of making such a change in business, industry, and education. (SR)

Argues, from the point of view of an undergraduate engineering student, that making the pass/fail grading system mandatory for college freshman composition students will help them achieve the goal of learning to write. (SR)