Re: Roberta's request about texts.
I've used the Brusaw, Oliu etc BUSINESS WRITER'S HANDBOOK (5th
ed, 1997) and find it useful mainly at the introductory level.
The alphabetical format makes it easy for intro. students and
writers in a hurry to find material, and its price is not
unreasonable, but I do mind the lack of extended examples. Also,
I think a good business or tech. comm handbook should incorporate
issues of gender, culture, and ethics, as well as details about
computer mediated communication, and show how these all shape
and reflect current communication practices. The BWH isn't much
up to snuff there. I haven't used the BUSINESS WRITER'S
COMPANION (1996) by the same authors. It's arranged according
to genres of business comm. and seems to incorporate more
discussion and examples (including on-the-job stress!).
Kitty Locker's BUSINESS & ADMIN COMMUN.(3rd ed. 1995) is rich,
detailed, chock-full of gorgeous full-colour illustrations,
redolent with examples donated by real companies, and discusses
far more than the mechanics of tech/pro comm. I would, however,
be reluctant to require my students to buy it because (a) it's
too American, (b) it's really designed for a full-year course
in my view, and (c) the price is somewhere way west of $100 by now.
I could go on about some other texts, but these days I'm moving
further away from using texts. In the 2nd-3rd-year tech/pro comm
course I've developed, I ask students to read various on-line
documents/journals in the field, and I ask them to buy a readings
package (licenced under CANCOPY I should hastily add) with excerpts
from various texts, STC's TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION, TECHNOSTYLE,
TCQ, and other bits and pieces. The packages seldom cost much more
than $15.
Amanda Goldrick-Jones . . . . . . University of Winnipeg
Secretary-Treasurer, Cdn. Assoc. of Teachers of Technical
Writing (CATTW/ACPRTS). . . . . . 515 Portage Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba CANADA, R3B 2E9
[log in to unmask]
Phone: 204-786-9453 . . . . . . . Fax: 204-774-4134
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http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/~caw/amanda.htm
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