Critical Summary of Journals in Technical Writing

Critical Summary of Journals in Technical Writing

Kymber Berson

October 2002

Introduction and Historical Overview

Technical writing has gone through tremendous growth in the last twenty years. This augmentation can be seen in both the areas of academia and professional practice. Along with this growth, the journals in the field tell the story of a struggle technical writing has faced to branch away from being a primarily academic field and establish itself as a discipline. According to David Russell, “by the late 1950’s technical writing had become a profession, including both teachers and practitioners, the first technical writing journals, and the first graduate program.” (250) He also attributes gains in the field after WWII when “industry began to compete with academia for skilled technical writers.” The postwar economic boom demanded technical writers take various positions such as technical writing for the government. Russell also notes that the first professional organization (The Society for Technical Communication) was established in the 1950’s.

The field continued to grow as more technical writing programs slowly showed up in universities. Technical writing seemed to plateau in the mid 1970’s and there was little substantial change that took place until the mid 1980’s. It was in the mid 80’s that research became a prominent aim in the field’s journals. What distinguishes technical writing from other forms of writing is the field’s specific audiences, the non-narrative discourse, and that technical writing is generally not designed to entertain but to inform and persuade through other means.

A search for technical writing journals began with suggestions from two Illinois State University professors to look at the three major journals in the field, Technical Communication, Technical Communication Quarterly,” and Journal of Technical Writing and Communication. Through library Internet searches another journal came to the surface; The Technical Writing Teacher was added to the list for review. A problem immediately emerged; there were no recent volumes of The Technical Writing Teacher on the library’s shelves with the others. This finding created more questions, and the need for further research. It soon became clear that not only did The Technical Writing Teacher no longer publish current journals, but also this discovery was the key to answering many other questions about developments in the filed of technical writing.

The struggle for disciplinary status pushed The Technical Writing Teacher to reevaluate its content, purpose and goal for the rapidly developing field of technical writing and communication. The Technical Writing Teacher reconstruct itself as it was renamed, Technical Communication Quarterly in the winter of 1992. I chose to introduce The Technical Writing Teacher here, as its story is now a part of technical writing’s history The new title aimed at going beyond articles of practical and pedagogical orientation, which assumed the audience of the journal were teachers instead of researchers. The new title, Technical Communication Quarterly, immediately came with more responsibly for the staff; The Technical Writing Teacher had only published three issues a year. A new designer would also mean a total redesign in the appearance of the newly named journal. The final issue of The Technical Writing Teacher, XVIII, was published in the fall of 1991. No inclination was given within the content that the change over would take place. There was no editor or guest editor to grace the beginning of the journal; it immediately began with articles. Hopefully this glimpse into The Technical Writing Teacher will help transition into a critical analysis and thorough look at the changes that took place in Technical Communication Quarterly, and other journals in the field.

Journals:

Technical Communication Quarterly (TCQ)

The first edition of TCQ begins with three columns written by the joint editors, the new designer, and the editorial assistant. These columns seek to point out a new direction the journal plans to go. It is interesting to note that while editors, Marry Lay and Billie Wahlstrom, comment immediately on their plan to talk to readers in each issue of the journal, there is not one other editorial column in the any of the 1992 issues. The format of the journal continues to vary from the first journal published to the latest. There is not a set content guideline to be mimicked in each journal edition. Some begin with an editor’s column, some with a guest editor’s column, and some proceed immediately into the article section. A reader can however be assured that if there is going to be commentary by an editor, it will be the first content in the journal. This is also true of book reviews; sometimes they exist heavily as a main content area and once in a while are not included at all. Maybe TCQ decided on this loose content format to enable the journal to publish whatever is most significant at the time, and not be tied down to writing columns, or reviews if there is not anything relevant to say at the time.

Technical Communication Quarterly is still published by the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing (ATTW) at the rhetoric department at the University of Minnesota. Nearing the close of the editor’s column, Lay and Wahlstrom express awareness of the journal’s past and excitement towards the journal’s future, with an understanding of the importance to serve the interests of all readers. “This journal was created to meet the needs of the classroom teacher, and even though we have made a number of changes, we have not abandoned those teachers. We hope that the journal will be able to integrate pedagogy with solid research and theoretical studies as the profession has continued to do.” (6)

According to TCQ’s website, the purpose of the journal is still to go beyond this academic audience “Technical Communication Quarterly (TCQ) is a scholarly journal devoted to the teaching, study, and practice of technical communication in academic, scientific, technical, governmental, and business/industrial fields.” http://www.attw.org/TCQmission.asp

Jerome Norlander, graduate student in the Scientific and Technical Communications (STC) program at the University of Minnesota, and the new designer of TCQ, used his column to discuss changes he worked on for the new TCQ. One change Norlander mentioned is going from electronic typesetting to desktop publishing. A few of his goals included, consistency with current rhetorical theory and research, an exciting visual impact, a scholarly appearance, and an economical typography, allowing a generous number of articles in an issue. (7)

These goals and many more were met as the new journal continued to prosper.

With a new title for the journal, Technical Communication Quarterly began its first edition as Volume 1, Number 1. This is the first differentiating physical attribute to stand out from the Roman numeral system in the old journal. Comparing the articles from The Technical Writing Teacher to TCQ, the content shirts from purely technical writing to cover a wider ranger of topics that could be classified further as technical communication. Of the five articles in the first edition of TCQ, not one is written to serve as a teaching tool for technical writing teachers. Another change adopted by the new journal that brought a fresh look to TCQ was a style change from Chicago Manual Style, to MLA. The table of contents even took on a new look with added section headings, which were never before seen in the journal, to help the reader grasp what the issue entailed. A final note on a physical difference between the two journals is an added 24 pages to each issue of TCQ.

According to TCQ’s website, their articles are both theoretical, having some industrial or pedagogical application, and practical, having a sound basis in theory. The website lists the range of topics covered in the journal. “Articles cover a range of topics that include ethics; dialogue between academicians and practitioners; educational connections between secondary, two-year colleges, undergraduate, and graduate; pedagogy; rhetoric; linguistics; business/industrial communication; organizational communication; intercultural communication; text design; graphics; audience analysis; electronic communication; and documentation issues as they pertain to technical communication.”

The changes made in the journal successfully worked to strengthen technical communication’s status as a discipline. From the switchover to the new journal title, TCQ, articles were first published describing the path to gain status as a discipline. In later issues, TCQ proudly published editorials stating their goal had been met and technical writing had achieved the successful status.

Technical Communication (TC)

Technical Communication is the official journal of The Society for Technical Communication (STC), and is published quarterly. While the journal is directed towards professionals in the industry, TC seems to make a genuine effort to connect academia and the workplace, linking theory and practice. The audience consists of practitioners, educators, and students. Each year, the fourth quarter of TC is a special issue devoted to a single topic and compiled by a guest editor or a team of guest editors.

Looking over many Technical Communication journals during different time periods, notable changes can be traced to the mid 1980’s creating a shift in the journal’s content. In the fourth quarter of 1985, a special issue was published entitled Research in Technical Communication. Editor Dr. Frank R. Smith announced a change that would take TC in a new direction. It was a call for research the field had been missing thus far. In his editorial, Smith spoke of an agreement he and Tom Pinelli, the guest editor, had came upon “(1) There is relatively little research aimed specifically at the process of technical communication, and (2) there must be and will be more as time passes.” (4) As a starting point to move his goal in the right direction, Smith announced a new column called “Current Research in Technical Communication” that would be added to TC to help readers become familiar with research going on in the field. He explained that the column would provide a summary of current research projects and information on how to get in touch with the researcher doing this work.

Pinelli followed up Smith’s editorial with his additional comments and a different approach on the importance of the changes taking place. In this editorial Pinelli stated, “It is time for technical communication to assume its rightful place with the other academic disciplines. A body of knowledge derived from research is the key to attaining that position. To make this transition in status, members of this field must begin to apply the scientific method to analyze relationships and solve problems.” (6) Progressively, after this editorial in TC, future issues began to contain more punitive research and theory based work and less personal preference seen by the writer. TC continued producing articles focused on applied theory and applied research and is noticeable in current issues with George F. Hayhoe, who took over as editor in1996.

The change in editorship however, was not as simple as the previously statement sounds. In the first quarter of 1995, Dr. Frank Smith wrote a moving editorial that would mark his resignation; he explained his diagnosis of multiple myeloma, a form of incurable cancer. With a positive spirit and tone, Smith titled his final editorial “All Good Things” and filled the remainder of the space with the highlights of his history being a part of the STC and Technical Communication. Smith recalls that in either 1957 or 1958 he was appointed to the journal’s Editorial Board, where he drafted the original Editorial Policy that is still in effect today. In 1967 Smith started the “Recent and Relevant” column (explained in more detail later), which is still a regular feature of the journal. In 1976, the Board Directors named Smith editor of Technical Communication, a position he held proudly until the culmination of his final issue in 1995. He was immediately named editor emeritus. Smith informed readers that Dr. Roger Grice had been appointed to take over as interim editor until a permanent replacement was found.

In the second quarter of 1995, Grice’s first editorial, “Passing the Torch,” was dedicated to honoring the Dr. Frank Smith and the incredible influence he had on Technical Communication. His words help explain the dramatic changes TC went through over the years. “He guided the journal, bringing it from a slim collection of case histories and personal experience articles to today’s form as a collection of peer-reviewed articles, feature articles, and departmental columns.” (219)

Although Grice’s term as editor only lasted from the third quarter of 1995, to the first quarter in 1996 (four issues), many changes were seen in the journal. Some of the regular department columns such as “Communication Management,” and “International Technical Communication,” were removed from the journal and placed in a new STC magazine called Intercom. Previously Intercom was a newsletter STC put out ten times a year. At that time, Intercom was expanded to a magazine that would publish ten issues a year as well. According to Grice, the change was made because readers complained the sheer volume of the journal overwhelmed them. “Useful information was often overlooked during “page-turning” exercises. There was just too much information in each journal for most people to absorb.” (396) Another change that was established during Grice’s reign took place in the fourth quarter of 1995 when he asked six people to serve on the first editorial advisory board of TC. The board was established to “help keep the journal focused on the types of information that you, our readers, want and to help ensure that the journal continues to meet your needs.” (542) He also noted that the permanent editor would appoint additional members to bring the advisory board up to a full membership of nine.