Signs, Genres, and Communities in Technical Communication

This important new text invites readers to step back from their busy professional lives and look at technical communication philosophically, to ask fundamental questions such as what does it mean to communicate? and how do language and graphics - the "signs" or "tools" of the technical communicator - relate to action in a technological world? Through this excursion in the theory of technical discourse, you will discover a fresh approach to reports, manuals, and proposals produced and consumed daily in business, government, and research organizations around the world. The authors examine familiar genres in two relatively new ways.

List of contents

Foreword Joe Chew
Acknowledgments
List of Tables and Figures
Introduction: A Three-Part Theory of Technical Communication
PART I. SIGNS
A General Theory of Signs
Representation in Document Design
PART II. GENRES
Genres of Technical Communication
Generic Audiences in Technical Communication
Generic Authors in Technical Communication
PART III. COMMUNITIES
Style and Human Action in Technical Writing
Communities of Discourse
Management and the Writing Process
The Range of Instrumental Discourse
Bibliography
Index

About the author

M. Jimmie Killingsworth, Michael Gilbertson

Product details

• Authors: Michael Gilbertson, Michael K Gilbertson, Gilbertson Michael, M Jimmie Killingsworth, M. Jimmie Killingsworth, M. Jimmie Gilbertson Killingsworth, Killingsworth M. Jimmie
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 30.01.2019
• EAN: 9780415784689
• ISBN: 978-0-415-78468-9
• No. of pages: 272
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Medicine > Non-clinical medicine; Non-fiction book > Psychology, esoterics, spirituality, anthroposophy > Psychology: general, reference works; English, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Communication Studies, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / Semantics, Communication Studies, Writing and editing guides, Semantics, discourse analysis, stylistics, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Writing / General, Technical Writing, Semantics, discourse analysis, etc