Solving Problems in Technical Communication
- Contents
- Review Quotes
- Awards
Table of Contents

Contents
Introduction
Johndan Johnson-Eilola and Stuart A. Selber
Johndan Johnson-Eilola and Stuart A. Selber
Part 1: Mapping the Field
1 What Are the Boundaries, Artifacts, and Identities of Technical Communication?
Richard J. Selfe and Cynthia L. Selfe
2 What Are the Work Patterns of Technical Communication?
William Hart-Davidson
3 How Can Technical Communicators Fit into Contemporary Organizations?
Jim Henry
4 How Can Technical Communicators Develop as Both Students and Professionals?
Kelli Cargile Cook, Emily Cook, Ben Minson, and Stephanie Wilson
Part 2: Situating the Field
5 How Can Rhetoric Theory Inform the Practice of Technical Communication?
James E. Porter
6 How Can Work Tools Shape and Organize Technical Communication?
Jason Swarts
7 What Can History Teach Us about Technical Communication?
Bernadette Longo and T. Kenny Fountain
8 What Is the Future of Technical Communication?
Brad Mehlenbacher
Part 3: Understanding Field Approaches
9 How Can Technical Communicators Work in an Ethical and Legal Manner?
J. Blake Scott
10 How Can Technical Communicators Plan for Users?
Antonio Ceraso
11 How Can Technical Communicators Study Work Contexts?
Clay Spinuzzi
12 How Can Technical Communicators Evaluate the Usability of Artifacts?
Barbara Mirel
13 How Can Technical Communicators Manage Projects?
R. Stanley Dicks
Part 4: Developing Field Knowledge
14 What Do Technical Communicators Need to Know about Genre?
Brent Henze
15 What Do Technical Communicators Need to Know about Writing?
Ann M. Blakeslee and Gerald J. Savage
16 What Do Technical Communicators Need to Know about Information Design?
Karen Schriver
17 What Do Technical Communicators Need to Know about New Media?
Anne Frances Wysocki
18 What Do Technical Communicators Need to Know about Collaboration?
Rebecca E. Burnett, L. Andrew Cooper, and Candice A. Welhausen
19 What Do Technical Communicators Need to Know about International Environments?
Kirk St. Amant
List of Contributors
Index
Review Quotes
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
"Using heuristics at both a macrolevel and a microlevel, the editors offer a robust framework for investigating, engaging, and resolving
workplace situations that technical communicators often encounter. . . . Solving Problems is an ideal book for students in upper level undergraduate or graduate courses in technical communication. Yet, with its insightful chapters detailing professional development, new media, and visual rhetoric, the book is also valuable to experienced technical communicators, who will find content that is applicable in today’s competitive, mediainfluenced workplace."
workplace situations that technical communicators often encounter. . . . Solving Problems is an ideal book for students in upper level undergraduate or graduate courses in technical communication. Yet, with its insightful chapters detailing professional development, new media, and visual rhetoric, the book is also valuable to experienced technical communicators, who will find content that is applicable in today’s competitive, mediainfluenced workplace."
Technical Communication Quarterly
"In Solving Problems, leading scholars explain how their areas of expertise contribute to technical communication. In assembling these scholars, Johnson-Eilola and Selber offer a collection that introduces readers to 19 areas of content relevant to the discipline, including new media, international environments, and information design. . . . The editors and contributors show readers how their technical communication education will influence the workplace and vice versa. To that end, they help readers see that education does not end with a degree; the workplace will be a learning experience for readers, and readers must adapt as needed."
IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
"An accessible introduction to major topics in the theory and practice of technical communication."
Programmatic Perspectives
"Provides a richer theoretical approach to technical communication. Such a collection is long overdue."
Tracy Bridgeford, University of Nebraska at Omaha
“Solving Problems in Technical Communication is excellent, sound, and credible. Every chapter is engaging, easy to follow, and accurate, which doesn’t surprise me given the editors and contributors—all are distinguished leaders with long vitas chronicling the major conversations in the field.”
National Council of Teachers of English: Conference on College Composition and Communication
Won
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