We just got our course assignments for winter term, and I found out I’m teaching WR214: Writing in Business again (2 sections) and 2 sections of WR317: Technical Writing. I’m excited; this should be fun.
However, we have to have our textbook choices into the office by the 15th, which gives me a week to decide upon a textbook. I checked out quickly what books have been used by other instructors at OSU:
Technical Communication Today, 2nd ed., by Richard Johnson-Sheehan (amazon.com)
The Handbook of Technical Writing, 8th ed., by Gerald J. Alred, Charles T. Brusaw, and Walter E. Oliu (amazon.com)
Technical Communication, 8th ed., by Mike Markel (amazon.com)
Writing for the Technical Professions, 4th ed., by Kristin R. Woolever (amazon.com)
Right now I’m leaning toward using Markel’s text, but I’m not sure. I’ll have to spend some time this week flipping through books. I’ve ordered a desk copy of it, along with Teaching Technical Communication: Critical Issues for the Classroom, edited by Dubinsky (amazon.com). I also came across Johndan Johnson-Eilola and Stuart A. Selber’s collection Central Works in Technical Communication (amazon.com), which I might try to find a copy of as well.
This is all to say that I’m excited and gearing up to pick a book. If anyone who reads this has taught technical writing and has any suggestions on texts, let me know what you think.
I’ve used Paul Anderson’s Technical Communication and liked it– as much as any of those gigantic, expensive can be liked. It has a bit of a corporate focus, but most of the tech writing books I’ve seen are the same. I liked Anderson b/c it emphasized an audience awareness approach.
Good luck deciding!
I have copies of Woolever and Alred you can borrow to look at. Let me know. Some people like to add the handbook type book because students will more likely keep that one for their future career.