Technical and Professional Writing Commons^™

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.