The paradox of revision: a study of writing as a product in the revision of manuals

Author

Philbin, Alice I. ; Spirek, Melissa M.

Author_Institution

Program in Sci. & Tech. Commun., Bowling Green State Univ., OH, USA

Volume

39

Issue

1

fYear

1996

fDate

3/1/1996 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

30

Lastpage

37

Abstract

Businesses need not do much that is expensive, radical, or new to improve their documentation, and a product oriented approach is much more likely to be used in the workplace instead of the writing as a process approach. These are the two findings that emerged from our study of the revision of manuals as described by practising technical communicators. We conducted in depth interviews with 20 technical communicators from six different types of industries to explore and understand their concept and use of the revision process. The study describes the understanding technical communicators have of revision in their corporate cultures and then discusses the need for an improved understanding of product based writing among educators of technical communicators

Keywords

education; professional communication; user manuals; businesses; corporate cultures; educators; in depth interviews; manual revision; product based writing; product oriented approach; revision process; technical communicators; writing; Business communication; Communication industry; Documentation; Employment; Engineering management; Industrial training; Manuals; Professional communication; Testing; Writing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Professional Communication, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0361-1434

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/47.486045

Filename

486045