The Expanding Dimensions of Technical Writing

Abstract

MOST OF US who teach technical writing today concentrate on assisting students in science, engineering, and other technologies to develop greater proficiency in written presentation. As important as this educational objective is, however, other dimensions of technical writing stand in the wings awaiting our attention. Scientific and technical writing as a profession has much greater dimensions than many people realize. Today, for example, more writers and editors are involved in scientific and technical publication in business, industry, and government in this country than in the mass media. Scientific and technical publication is marked by a variety of writing requirements from the standard technical report on one hand to television manuscripts and public health educational programs on the other. Scientific and technical writing is a rapidly growing and changing field, one that is assuming greater importance. It is a field that has an extremely important contribution to make if we are to bring our technology to bear on the social problems of today. Even though their present number is small, the graduates of professional technical writing programs within the next ten years will very likely represent the rule rather than the exception among newcomers to the profession. Yet how many of our colleges and universities are doing anything to meet the needs of this growing field? Those of us who teach technical writing are in an excellent position to contribute to the development of professional programs if we are willing to expand our horizons and to join with our colleagues in other academic departments. Surely the profession is more apt to follow the lead of these programs at an increasingly rapid pace if we but develop them. At the University of Washington, we are now pressing for the approval of a Master's program in Medical and Technical Communication, and I would be awfully surprised if we were the only chool presently moving into the field. Putting together our proposed graduate program turned out to be a rather eyeopening experience. Perhaps sharing some of our thoughts and experiences will encourage and assist some of you to expand your horizons in technical writing. We see the graduate of our program as working in four broad areas: