Spinuzzi, Hart-Davidson, and Zachry – Chains and Ecologies: Methodological Notes toward a Communicative-Mediational Model of Technologically Mediated Writing
Spinuzzi, Clay, William Hart-Davidson and Mark Zachry. “Chains and Ecologies: Methodological Notes toward a Communicative-Mediational Model of Technologically Mediated Writing. Abstract: Studies of knowledge work tend to take one of two research foci: either on communication (the transactional, intersubjective exchange of information, thoughts, writing, or speech among participants, performed in serial chains) or mediation (the nonsequential,... Read More
Swarts – Recycled Writing: Assembling Actor Networks from Reusable Content
Swarts, Jason. “Recycled Writing: Assembling Actor Networks from Reusable Content.” JBTC (2010): 127-163. Abstract: Drawing on a study of writers reusing content from one document to another, this study examines the rhetorical purpose of reuse. Writing reuse is predominantly studied through the literature on single sourcing and enacted via technologies built on single-sourcing models. Such theoretical models and derivative technologies... Read More
Reyman – Rethinking Plagiarism for Technical Communication
Reyman, Jessica. “Rethinking Plagiarism for Technical Communication.” Technical Communication 55.1 (2008): 61-67. Print. R. begins the article by noting that tech comm’ers are increasingly confronted with an alarmist discourse surrounding plagiarism in the workplace and on college campuses. Yet, as R. notes, the situation is complex for TC’ers because they write: 1) using boilerplate materials and templates; 2) by relying... Read More
Ballentine – Professional Writing and a ‘Whole New Mind’: Engaging with Ethics, IP, Design, and Globalization
Ballentine, Brian D.. “Professional Writing and a ‘Whole New Mind’: Engaging with Ethics, Intellectual Property, Design, and Globalization.” IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 51.3 (2008): 328-40. Print. Abstract: This paper describes a new cross-curricular design for an engineering communication course based on four themes: (1) ethics, accountability, and professionalism; (2) intellectual property; (3) design,... Read More
Winsor – Writing Like an Engineer: A Rhetorical Education
Winsor, Dorothy A. Writing Like an Engineer : A Rhetorical Education. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1996. Print Preface W. provides some interesting methodological points in her preface. She notes that, paradoxically, when we research we often make objects out of our subjects (while calling them subjects). To address this univocal representation of infinitely complex human beings she provides a section called “backtalk”... Read More
