Article: Connor: Rise of TW Instruction

Connors, Robert J. The Rise of Technical Writing Instruction in America. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, Vol. 12 (4), 1982. 329-352.

Overall history of TW instruction from 1900-1980. Focuses on the personalities, key textbooks, and forces that "shaped courses in technical writing during the period 1895-1980," as well as the growth & success of the TW courses.

329 TW fills the need for people communicate with each other about their tools.

330 Morrill Acts 1862 & 1877 founded & promoted land-grant ag & mechanical colleges

330-31 Civil War/ Indust Rev increased need for engineers and thus for their writing/communication, and thus TW increased while there were few courses actually given in TW--training was primarily FYC

332 1911 Samuel Chandler Earle, Father of TW: The Theory and Practice of TW

333 until 1950s TW and Engineering writing were synonymous

333-4 issues between English & Engineering: cultural supremacy bias versus philistine engineer bias; Engl depts producing lit scholars who wanted to teach lit; hostilities between the depts. was big

334 encultration and humanizing ala Aydelotte vs. reading and writing skills ala Earle.

335 TW/Engineering English classes seen as low-status, low-interest classes--resented/regarded very much like FYC is today: let new, powerless people teach

335 1923 first "modern" TW textbook: English for Engineers by Sada A Harbager; organized according to the "technical forms

337 usage texts vs. forms texts

337 TW teachers: no respect from lit folks; Eng profs dissed many TW teachers; Eng students oft dissed TW profs (again, it reminds me of composition)


340 quote near bottom of page "The engineering professor who saw no pressing need fo r curricular changes viewed composition courses as service adjuncts to his activities, not important to fight for, and the humanistic-stem supporters did not see writing courses as humanistic enough to be included under their rubric." [In context of discussing the Hammond Reports of 1940 & 1944]


341 WW2 vital for TW: high demand to write manuals for all the new gear; quote by Jay R. Gould

342 1950s when TW "grew up"

343 "...arguably the single most important postwar technical writing text: Gordon Mills and John Walter's Technical Writing."

343 two most important assumption Walter & Mills learned from their survey of TW writing situations:
a rhetorical approach rather than "types of reports" was best
only good criterion for TW is "does it work?"--writer/reader relationship is most important


343-4 in late 50s & early 60s TW expanded out of engineering into other fields

344 1957 Sputnik led to tech race/war & increased work for TW; still, teaching TW was low prestige

346 Mills & Walter 1954: nobody's tried to say exactly what TW is
346 in the 60s, a variety of folks try to figure out what TW is

Key early essays: Robert Hays, 1961; W. Earl Britton, 1965


346 Britton's conclusion was TW defined most by "the effort of the author to convey one meaning and only one meaning in what he says." quoted in Connors.

346 first empirical research into TW and teaching TW took place in 60s

Early research/experiments
1964 Harry E Hand errors
1967 Richard M. Davis efforts of variable in tech description

347 1970 Journal of TW & Comm started; 1973 ATTW founded; 1976 MLA the first TW panel appeared

348 popularity, need, & growth of TC led to more courses, more tenure, and some more respect in 70s















Vocabulary:
diachronic
limne
quondom




Another article to get:
Composition for the culture of professionalism: notes on thehistory of technical writing instruction
Russell, D.R.
Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA;

This paper appears in: Professional Communication Conference, 1989. IPCC '89. 'Communicating to the World.', International
Publication Date: 18-20 Oct 1989
On page(s): 39-41
Meeting Date: 10/18/1989 - 10/20/1989
Location: Garden City, NY, USA
References Cited: 0
INSPEC Accession Number: 3695088
Digital Object Identifier: 10.1109/IPCC.1989.102095
Current Version Published: 2002-08-06



Abstract
The history of technical writing instruction reveals an increasing specialization which mirrors growing specialization in both engineering and the wider culture. Since World War II, professional communicators have taken on the role of translators, bridging the inevitable communication gaps between communities of specialists. Technical writers are specialists in specialization