The release of genetically modified mosquitoes in the Florida Keys is part of a public health initiative to limit the spread of infectious disease. The local debate over this proposed action provides a current case study of a public, scientific controversy in which citizens and officials disagree about what is best for the community. The case…

This article will explore one library's experience creating best practices for the creation of video tutorials. First, a literature review establishes the best practices other creators have used. Then, the authors apply these best practices to the creation of their first video tutorial. Finally, they evaluate the usefulness of each practice in…

Just as WAC pedagogy and writing studies both stress the ways that writing and communication practices can act as both heuristics and products of genre-based, discipline- specific knowledge, in much the same way, performance, too, can be used as a heuristic and as a product and should be more fully explored in WAC theory and pedagogy. This article…

Investigates questions of what the New London Group calls "multiliteracies." Looks carefully at various texts associated with the television show "Felicity" and considers what they have to say about contemporary popular literacies. Considers how "Felicity" acts as a kind of core sample, extracted from the broader soil…

Describes how data displays can be classified into four types: conventional, perceptual, informational, and aesthetic. Argues that conflicts among the standards can be resolved by allowing the rhetorical situation to guide the design process. Explores a case in information design to show how the rhetorical situation shapes data displays, telling…

Presents a case study of one six-year-old that suggests that e-mail messages foster different skills and conventions than does print-based letter writing. Hopes to illuminate the writing practices children might develop as they engage in e-mail communication. (SG)

Notes that while many technical communication instructors declare the benefits of client projects, too often instructors do not prepare students to interact with clients. Reviews a qualitative case study that demonstrates the difficulty students can have interacting with clients. Relates how students may not always be prepared to listen or respond…

Revision, based on a grasp of intertextuality (the relation of texts to one another and the writer's locus relative to her own text and the text of others) and the social nature of all discourse, is a larger process that can be observed in any single piece of writing. This larger conception of revision is a natural outgrowth of…

Describes aspects of Linda Flower's work used by the author in devising writing technical assistance for teams writing technical reports in the United States General Accounting Office. Discusses three brief case studies describing the relationship between the work program structure (a major barrier to audience-based writing) and the writing…

The purpose of this naturalistic study was to extend our understanding of the ways in which consideration of audience may be salient in diverse students' and teachers' approaches to literacy. Data related to literacy interactions in one school were collected from the preschool class and three multiage elementary classrooms. Findings indicated that…

In writing, as in conversation, there are implicit boundaries which separate various modes of communication, and these boundaries cause exclusion, discomfort, and misunderstanding. The existence of these boundaries results in a number of issues, such as the categorization of texts, the differences between writing for English classes and writing in…

Provides analysis of the various kinds of audiences for whom technical materials are written. Describes the functions of the "watchdog" audience, who oversees the written transaction between the author and primary audience. Provides data from an ethnographic case study of engineering authors in a technical setting. (HB)

A study examined the effects of the Children's Television Act of 1990 on television stations' freedom to schedule programs. Subjects were programming directors responsible for scheduling children's blocks in the Flint-Saginaw-Bay City, Michigan, TV market, the nation's 60th largest. The four program directors, whose stations were major network…

Reviews a debate among Roman rhetoricians over declamation, an early case study method. Appraises contemporary concerns about the value of case study as a stimulant to problem-solving skills, its ability to imitate realistic circumstances of business and technical writing, and its emphasis on persona and audience along with its deemphasis of the…

This paper uses two case studies to explore the risk and opportunities of writing from students' personal experiences. Anthony, a high-achieving, Hispanic fifth-grader, and Anita, a low-achieving, African-American sixth-grader, participated in a writing workshop in which students kept notebooks of their personal experiences and reflections. The…