Technical and Professional Writing Commons^™

Communication Risk And Strategy In Temporary Organizations, Shelley R. Mcivor

Theses

Communication is a critical and emerging metric for successful outcomes in the high-stakes field of project management. Professional management societies have quantified financial losses caused by ineffective communication. Consulting project management exemplifies a maximum communication risk environment - misunderstanding threatens project finances, strict deadlines, and technical benchmarks - exacerbated by the complexity of a temporary organization structure.

The context of work in a temporary organization adds layers of ambiguity to project communications - an ill-structured domain in technical communication terms. Formal study of communication in temporary organizations is relatively new. Recent studies are derived from engineering and business management perspectives. …

Mapping Ms-Ptc Programmatic Core Competencies To Emerging Professionalization Standards: Are Our Students Fully Prepared?, Faye Newsham

Theses

This paper explores evaluation of graduate student preparedness for work in technical communication and emerging professionalization standards by way of an alumni survey. This paper argues that these core competencies can be evaluated and aligned and provides an example confirming both the New Jersey Institute of Technology Masters of Science in Professional and Technical Communication (NJIT MS-PTC) and the Society of Technical Communication (STC) Body of Knowledge (BOK) and core competencies used in STC certification. The study was conducted through the month of October 2013 and queried alumni of the NJIT MS-PTC program. This paper seeks to suggest a method …

Using Latent Semantic Analysis To Detect Non-Cognitive Variables Of Academic Performance, Daniel Richard Aalderks

Theses

This thesis explores the possibilities of using latent semantic analysis to detect evidence of intrapersonal personality variables in post-secondary student essays. Determining student achievement based on non-cognitive variables is a complex process. Automated essay scoring tools are already in use today in grading and evaluating student texts based on cognitive domain traits, but at this time are not utilized to analyze non-cognitive domains such as personality. Could such tools be configured to detect non-cognitive variables in student essays? Key concepts in this proposal—personality traits, latent semantic analysis, automated essay evaluation, and online cinema reviews—are explored followed by a literature review …

Online Resources For Technical Communication In Writing Across The Curriculum At Technological Universities - A Case Study, Deborah A. Hulse-Miksiewicz

Theses

Writing across the Curriculum (WAC) initiatives have begun to embrace multiple resources to aid in the evolution of writing and technology. WAC initiatives enhance the teaching of writing across the disciplines by incorporating the writing instruction directly into the discipline courses, in addition to providing guidance designed to complement the instruction provided in the technical classroom. This thesis will explore the WAC initiative, discuss why this initiative is important, and examine case studies of successful implementations in technological universities.

Web-Based Portfolio Assessment : An Open Source Solution For Platform Design, Regina Collins

Theses

Summative assessments of student writing performance have been instrumental in the evaluation of student ability and analysis of educational programs. One method used to perform summative assessments of writing performance in post-secondary education is through the evaluation of student portfolios. Using an evidence-centered design approach, NJIT faculty researchers have developed rubrics to measure the acquired skills of students. Classroom instructors from the department meet periodically to score the students' portfolios containing constructed responses to predetermined writing tasks. The paper-based assessments are then manually key-stroked into Microsoft Excel for storage, with the scores then analyzed in SPSS and SAS.

This thesis …

J-Horror : A Discourse In Cross-Cultural Communication And Cinematic Hybridity, Marylou Quillen

Theses

Film visually communicates the idea of culture, leaving interpretation open to an impressionable audience. Though a genre's recognizable iconography can transcend boundaries, understanding a film's intended message still requires a certain amount of foreknowledge. J-Horror, the common term for Japanese horror among fans, is a sub- genre of Horror that has been catapulted into Hollywood's limelight due to adaptations such as The Ring (2002). Based upon a novel, Ringu, by Koji Suzuki and Nakata Hideo's 1998 cinematic creation of the same name, Gore Verbinski adapted the terrifying plot for Western audiences in his 2002 counterpart.

With the cross-cultural transition, certain …

Traumatic Brain Injury : Traditional And Narrative Assessment Techniques, Sharon M. Katzman-Teller

Theses

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) causes impairment of executive functioning, as well as cognitive and language abilities of various degrees. Standard language tests currently focus on very specific language disorders and can not identify language disorders of TBI subjects with high-level language functioning. Although these standard tests can not adequately identify subtle language disorders, these TBI subjects lack cohesiveness in their conversation, which can have a strong effect on socialization.

Through the use of narrative analysis, research in narrative and conversational discourse, which incorporates linguistic, cognitive skills, as well as executive functioning and social abilities, seems to be more appropriately address …

Presentation Type, Perceived Credibility, And Perceived Validity : A Document Usability Analysis, Jason Langkamer-Smith

Theses

This descriptive research investigated usability measures reported by subjects who reviewed procedures formatted as decision tables and numbered lists taken from a microchip product specification document. The research subjects (n = 15) are employees of Agere Systems (headquartered in Allentown Pennsylvania, United States) where this researcher also worked as a technical writer. Subjects represented various national origins and were stratified into two groups of six Eastern and nine Western.

The independent variables, presentation type, perceived credibility, and perceived validity were studied for their interaction with the dependent variable, usability. The variable model was queried between the two groups. Three findings …

Assessment And Change : Using Verbal Analysis To Update Criteria In The Technical Communication Service Course, Michele-Andrea Fields

Theses

Assessment is the discussion, research, and analysis of information, concluding with a value of the information discussed. This project is a qualitative analysis of a Technical Communication service course assessment calibration session held in May 2005, which was recorded. After transcribing the discussion, I am using NVivo, a data coding and modeling program, to analyze the terms, categories, concepts, processes, and abstract ideas. In addition, the paper looks at how the current paradigm for technical service courses is shifting toward electronic writing and document design. The conclusion applies the results to the ongoing curriculum and criteria assessment in English 352.

Sparklines As Effective Graphics, George Francy

Theses

This research explores a method of graphical display called a sparkline. Sparklines are a valid method to convey statistical information, supported by an easy familiarity among users and a desire, expressed by information design expert Edward Tufte, for greater density in data display. The subject is examined in light of the broader concept of the integration of pictures and text, tracing this tradition back to medieval illuminated texts, through history to Galileo, and to such diverse modem techniques as emoticons. The historical perspective is expanded upon through an examination of perception theory and implications for data graphics. Ethical issues of …

Blogs : Open-Source Diaries, Kelly Schab

Theses

Weblogs, or blogs, are Web sites maintained by one person or a few select people, are usually about one distinct subject, are constantly updated, and attract repeat visitors. This form has become a popular means of self-expression because it empowers both the writer and the audience. Blogs empower writers by providing them with an easy way to self-publish their points-of-view to a wide audience. Blogs empower the audience when the writer either provides informative hyperlinks and references that the audience can use to verify the writer's claims or allows the audience to append their own text to the blog that …

Instruction Of Throwing Events In Track And Field : An Historical Analysis, Marilyn Louise Coleman

Theses

Track and field throwing events (discus, javelin, hammer and shot put), originating in ancient Greece and pre-Medieval Ireland and Scotland, require complex physical interaction. An historical analysis of the features of traditional media which have been used as coaching tools in these events - books, video, audio, diagrams, photographs and hypertext - provides the foundation on which future multimedia tools can be developed.

Variables associated with effective coaching are based on technique, science, use of expert models, and motor learning theory. Training in these events is enhanced through the use of multimedia, a tool uniquely suited to the variables of …

Comparing The Writing Ability Of Transfer And Non-Transfer Students Enrolled In A Technical Writing Course At New Jersey Institute Of Technology : A Case Study, Lisa S. Young

Theses

The mission statement of New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) calls for the preparation of "leaders in the technology-dependent economy of the 21st century" (http://www.njit.edu/about/overview/index.php). NJIT's students, therefore, need to have established prior to graduation communication skills at a level of performance that allows at least this aspect of NJIT's mission to be met. But with no assessment of community college writing education other than the incoming transcripts of the transfer students, the quality of academic preparedness that transfer students bring to their degree programs at NJIT is difficult to determine.

A case study was performed in January …

The Illusion Of Science : Images Of Science On Stage, Preethi Ganapathy

Theses

Science has long been regarded as a process of thinking, of pursuing the truth. This quest traditionally has been reserved for an elite group of thinkers, since at least the time of Aristotle, who was considered as the undisputed authority on philosophical truth, including that which we call science. The Scientific Revolution challenged Aristotle's authority and paved the way for the new method of evaluating scientific truths developed by Bacon, Descartes, and Galileo. Science became, over time, a process of inquiry open to all social and economic classes and accessible to all. In the twentieth century, the role of science …

Chat And Instant Messaging : The Risks Of Secondary Orality, Gregory P. Kohn

Theses

The synchronous nature of chat and instant messaging (IM) make them unique among computer-enabled communications technologies in that their real-time exchange of data allows for rich media experiences, even though users can only use text symbols to trade messages. Chat and IM are also important in that they enable secondary orality, or the merger of the most beneficial aspects of orally-based cultures with the well-documented benefits of print and text. Where print in the modem day has fostered contemplative behavior and inward thought among human beings, chat and IM breathe vitality into print and, in a sense, allow print to …

Wickedness In High Places : A Rhetorical Analysis Of The Film Hitler's Children, Alicia Pearlette James

Theses

The premise of this investigation is that propaganda works best when presented through a fictional work rather than through factual documents. The fact/fiction combination of the non-fiction book, Education for Death: The Making of the Nazi (1941) and the fictional feature-length film, Hitler's Children (1943) is used to illustrate how film propagandists use camera angles, lighting, music, dialogue, narration, storyline, footage from other films, and cinematic conventions to dramatize and emphasize several scenes from the book. Attention is also paid to scenes in the film that dramatize government war aims, as supplied by the Bureau of Motion Pictures of the …

The Challenges Of Hypertext Writers : A Case Study, Nandita Das

Theses

This thesis examines the challenges of hypertext writers with respect to six aspects of writing: authority, audience, organization, document design, style and multimedia use. This study is primarily based on the theories presented in the three books-Jay David Bolter's Writing Space, George P. Landow's Hypertext 2.0 and Ilana Snyder's Hypertext. Information is collected by means of structured interviews from Bolter and Snyder. This study reveals that the hypertext medium does pose challenges to writers who are used to writing for the print medium and are new to the hypertext medium. Hypertext environment requires that the writer should either …

The Technical Communication Industry : A Study Of Today's Job Requirements In The United States, Maria Conte

Theses

Technical communication, "the process of gathering information from experts and presenting it to an audience in a clear, easily understandable form," (Society for Technical Communication) has grown more popular in the last decade, even as an academic discipline (Staples and Omatowski xi).

The growth of the technical communication profession has led to an increase in skill requirements needed to obtain a position as a practitioner.

This study, using Glaser and Strauss' Grounded-Theory approach, identified the requirements of today's technical communication job candidates by examining recent technical communication job advertisements in ten of the top newspapers in the United States. The …

Computer Anxiety's Impact On Computer User Documentation, Brenda Y. Moore

Theses

Computer anxiety is the fear or avoidance of the computer and the environment it represents. The anxiety can manifest in all computer users regardless of their experience or complexity of the tasks they must complete. The anxiety can be alleviated on one task, but as technology changes and advances, the user's comfort level is compromised and the anxiety reappears. Understanding computer anxiety as it relates to computer user documentation is a compelling research question. Although there have been many efforts to understand computer anxiety, there has been no clear way for technical communicators to resolve this problem in their approach …

Comparing The Effectiveness Of Instructor-Led Training To Stand-Alone Web-Based Training : A Case Study, Robert P. Myre

Theses

Web-based Training (WBT) is still a relatively new technology, and the full extent of WBT functionality has yet to be realized. Most of corporate America recognizes the necessity of a well-trained workforce; however, instructor-led training is often difficult to implement due to a variety of logistical issues. These issue, include cost constraints, location issues, and limited resources.

WBT has been touted in recent years as a viable alternative to traditional, instructor-led training. However, the effectiveness of WBT versus instructor-led training has been questioned by its many critics. This case study tested the effectiveness of a stand-alone web-based training program and …

The Public Rhetoric Of Privatization : The Value System Of The Water And Wastewater Industry, Claire St. Louis

Theses

Politicians involved in the water and wastewater industry invoke core American values in their rhetoric to persuade their audience to support or decry privatization. By weaving these values into their rhetoric, politicians provide moral and social justification for their audiences to support them, whether in election or privatization.

This thesis places these rhetoricians in their historical context It analyzes the legacy of environmentalism, from the 17th and l8th century religious preachers to the 19th and 20th century Greenspeak writers to the 21st century leaders of America's largest cities. It provides a detailed discussion of the American value system as defined …

Translating Cyberculture : An Analysis Of American And Brazilian Cultural Differences Evidenced In The Translation Of A Popular Computer Text, Angela M. Ferrao

Theses

This thesis examines the translation of a popular American computer book and its translation into Brazilian Portuguese to determine whether current discourses on computers and technology are being literally translated or culturally adapted for their target audience. The selected text adopts a humorous approach to learning new software applications and replaces complicated technical explanations with culturally-bound examples that are inextricably tied to American attitudes toward technology.

An analysis of the translation reveals that the ideologies and social codes at work in the book threaten to impede the Brazilian reader's understanding due to the translator's failure to adapt the text for …

A Thumb On The Scale : Biological Determinism And The Essays Of Stephen Jay Gould, Kevin F. Ryan

Theses

Biological determinism is a field of scientific theory that attributes human behavior, relationships, and social structures predominantly to hereditary and biological rather than cultural and environmental influences. In almost twenty-five years of published essays, the Harvard evolutionary biologist, Stephen Jay Gould, has sounded an alarm that biological determinism-through its scientific rationalization of slavery, eugenic sterilization, Nazi atrocity, and more subtle forms of injustice perennially poses a real and dangerous threat to humanity. This thesis explores the career-long anti-hereditarian thread permeating Gould's published works on evolutionary history and the history of science. Gould's assertions regarding the cultural embeddedness of science are …

Digital Library Development : A Case Study Of New Jersey's Virtual Academic Library Environment Project, Paulette Joan Talbot

Theses

Students could become aggressive users of digital libraries and electronically distributed information. This paper shall give background of digital libraries in general and of New Jersey's Virtual Academic Library Environment, VALE, specifically. It shall emphasize research into the dynamics of user and organizational aspects of VALE member organization performance in framing a direction of libraries in the state for years to come. Does the academic libraries of VALE focus on value added to information resources in the academic arena or are the potential users their primary focus?

Rhetorical Analysis Of Sunoco, Inc. Chairman And Chief Executive Officer Address To The World Fuels Conference : Requirements For Economic And Environmental Competitiveness In The 21st Century, Arleny C. Barrios

Theses

The present thesis examines the rhetorical dimensions of the speech presented by Sunoco, inc. Chairman and Executive Officer before the World Fuels Conference held in Washington DC, October 23, 1997. The focus of the thesis is to examine the effectiveness of the speech. Principles of rhetoric were explained and applied to evaluate the effectiveness of the speech as a means of persuasion. The rhetorical analysis of the speech illustrates how language can be used as a symbolic means of inducing cooperation from individuals.

Characteristics Of Expert Web Site Developers : Creativity, Construction Of Meaning, And Problem Solving/Program Development, Nancy E. O'Daniel

Theses

This thesis examines the areas that determine what characteristics produce an expert Web developer. The focus of the study is in the following three areas: creativity, construction of meaning, and problem solving.

To date, no other formal study of this type has been reported. We know much about the World Wide Web itself, but nothing about the people who create the Web sites.

This thesis shows that the idea of an expert Web developer is a misconception. The top-rated sites seem to have been created by a team of developers, each bringing to the group a strength in at least …

Samuel Florman And Literature Of Technology, Paul F. Sharke

Theses

In 1996, engineer and author Samuel Florman asked why engineering and technology had been represented only lightly in literature. From a mere handful of books dealing with this topic, he named The Control of Nature (1989), by John McPhee, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974), by Robert Pirsig, and The Soul of a New Machine (1981), by Tracy Kidder, as being among the best examples of a literary expression of engineering. These three works are examined here in light of Florman's own four books on the subject of engineering, The Existential Pleasures of Engineering (1976), Blaming Technology …

Psychodynamics Of Language, Pamela Ann Margerm

Theses

This work examines the origins of our existing principles of communication to observe patterns of language and their causes. The study surveys twenty-five hundred-years of Western language and writing and its evolution through cultural interaction. The nature of this evolution is the topic of this thesis. There are four periods of time that are studied for their influence on language and writing: the Late Classical Period, the Early and Late Medieval Period, the Early Renaissance, and the Twentieth Century. The study revealed that language and writing have always had a significant metacognitive function within Western culture. Language and writing have …

Electronic Research Administration : Implementation At New Jersey Institute Of Technology, Lauren V. Rethwisch

Theses

Electronic Research Administration has become the current focus and future direction of the professional field of research administration. It is commonly acknowledged that by the end of this century, all administrative grant functions will be performed by means of electronic data interchange. How well positioned is New Jersey Institute of Technology, a mid-size public research university, to implement pre-award Electronic Research Administration? My research evaluates the readiness of the university community to convert its various pre-award manual processes to an on-line system. The proposed evaluation takes place through a series of internal questionnaires and structured interviews with subject matter experts. …

Usability Of Hypertext : Factors Affecting The Construction Of Meaning, Kathryn L. King

Theses

One type of hypertext application, information retrieval, has become increasingly popular and accessible due to the explosion of activity occurring on the World Wide Web. These hypertext documents are referred to as web sites. Readers can now access a multitude of web sites and retrieve a wide variety of information.

The uniqueness of a hypertext document centers around the concept that text is broken into an array of non-sequential text chunks, or nodes, which are connected through links. The hypertext reading can be considered an interactive experience requiring the reader to effectively navigate the document. The potentially complex link and …