Rhetoric & Technical Communication
Rhetoric & Technical Communication
Toscano, Aaron, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Dept. of English

Resources and Daily Activities

  • Dr. Toscano’s Homepage
  • ENGL 2116 sec. 021 & 022: Introduction to Technical Communication
    • August 1st: Ethics and Statistics Catch Up
    • Classmates Webpages (Summer II 2017)
    • ENGL 2116 sec. 021 & 022 Major Assignments (Summer 2017)
      • Final Portfolio Requirements
      • Oral Presentations
    • July 10th: Résumé Stuff
      • Making Résumés and Cover Letters More Effective
      • Peter Profit’s Cover Letter
    • July 11th: More on Résumés and Cover Letters
    • July 12th: Lessons on Plain Language
      • Euphemisms
      • Prose Homework/Practice for Next Class
      • Prose Revision Assignment
      • Revising Prose: Efficiency, Accuracy, and Good
      • Sentence Clarity
      • Topic Sentences
    • July 13th: More on Plain Language
    • July 17th: Writing for the User
    • July 18th: Final Project and Research Discussion
      • Epistemology and Other Fun Research Ideas
      • Making Résumés and Cover Letters Better
      • Research
    • July 19th: Rhetoric of Technology
      • Guglielmo Marconi Paragraph Revision
      • Housing Prices Paragraph Revision
      • Suburbanization Paragraph Revision
    • July 24th: Information Design and Visuals
      • Text and Subtext (Rows 1, 3, and 5)
      • Text and Subtext (rows 2, 4, and 6)
    • July 25th: Catch Up for Research & Visuals
    • July 27th: Continue I, Robot Discussion
    • July 31st: Ethics in Technical Communication
      • Ethical Dilemmas for Class Discussion
      • Ethical Dilemmas for Homework
      • Mapping Our Personal Ethics
    • July 5th: Introduction to the Course
    • July 6th: Audience, Purpose, and General Introduction
  • ENGL 4182/5182: Information Design & Digital Publishing
    • August 21st: Introduction to the Course
      • Rhetorical Principles of Information Design
    • August 28th: Introduction to Information Design
      • Prejudice and Rhetoric
      • Robin Williams’s Principles of Design
    • Classmates Webpages (Fall 2017)
    • December 4th: Presentations
    • Major Assignments for ENGL 4182/5182 (Fall 2017)
    • November 13th: More on Color
      • Designing with Color
      • Important Images
    • November 20th: Extra-Textual Elements
    • November 27th: Presentation/Portfolio Workshop
    • November 6th: In Living Color
    • October 16th: Type Fever
      • Typography
    • October 23rd: More on Type
    • October 2nd: MIDTERM FUN!!!
    • October 30th: Working with Graphics
      • Beerknurd Calendar 2018
    • September 11th: Talking about Design without Using “Thingy”
      • Theory, theory, practice
    • September 18th: The Whole Document
    • September 25th: Page Design
  • ENGL 4183/5183: Editing with Digital Technologies
    • August 22nd: Introduction to the Course
    • August 29th: Rhetoric, Words, and Composing
    • December 5th: Final Presentations
    • Major Assignments for ENGL 4183/5183 (Fall 2018)
      • Efficiency in Writing Reviews
      • Rhetoric of Fear
    • November 14th: Word Usage Fun
    • November 28th: Workshop Fun
    • November 7th: Voice and Other Nebulous Writing Terms
      • Finding Dominant Rhetorical Appeals
    • October 10th: Choices and Variations
    • October 17th: Stylistic Variations
    • October 24th: We Put the “Punc” in Punctuation
      • Punctuation Refresher
    • October 31st: Cohesive Rhythm
    • October 3rd: Midterm Exam Fun
    • September 12th: Verb is the Word!
    • September 19th: Coordination and Subordination
    • September 26th: Modifying Prose
      • Guglielmo Marconi Paragraph Revision
    • September 5th: I’m in Love with the Shape of You(r Sentences)
  • ENGL 4750-090 & ENGL 5050-092 Video Games & Culture
    • Assignments for Video Games & Culture
    • August 25th: Introduction to the Course
    • November 10th: Aggression & Addiction
    • November 3rd: Moral Panics and Health Risks
    • October 13th: Narrative, ludology, f(r)iction
    • October 20th: Serious Games
    • October 27: Risky Business?
    • October 6th: Hyperreality
    • September 1st: History of Video Games
    • September 22nd: Video Game Aesthetics
    • September 29th: (sub)Cultures and Video Games
    • September 8th: Defining Video Games and Critical Theory Introduction
      • Marxism for Video Game Analysis
      • Postmodernism for Video Game Analysis
  • ENGL 6008/MALS 6000 The Rhetoric of Technology
    • August 22nd: Introduction to Rhetoric of Technology
    • August 29th: Introduction to Cultural Studies
    • December 5th: But I Still Love Technology…
    • ENGL 6008/MALS 6000 Rhetoric of Technology Assignments (Fall 2017)
    • History of Technical Communication
    • November 14th: All You Zombies–
    • November 21st: The The Illusion of Democracy & Communicative Capitalism
    • November 28th: Cultural Studies and Technical Communication
    • November 7th: Politics of Cyberspace…and other household technologies
    • October 17th: The Religion of Technology
      • Religion of Technology Discussion
    • October 24th: Identity Politics
    • October 31st: Technology and Gender
    • October 3rd: Science and “Perfect” Technologies
    • September 12th: The Politics of Technology
      • Langdon Winner Summary: The Politics of Technology
    • September 19th: New World Disorder
      • Fordism/Taylorism
    • September 26th: Postmodernism
    • September 5th: Foundational Thinkers in Cultural Studies
      • Rhetoric and Myth Making
  • ENGL 6166/MALS 6000: Rhetorical Theory
    • April 10th: Lyotard’s The Postmodern Condition
      • What is Postmodernism?
    • April 17th: Simulation and Essence
    • April 24th: Jameson Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism
      • Postmodernism
    • April 3rd: Derrida’s (refusal to have) Positions
    • February 13th: Aristotle’s On Rhetoric Books 2 and 3
      • Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 2
      • Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 3
    • February 20th: St. Augustine, On Christian Doctrine [Rhetoric]
      • Oratory and Argument Analysis
    • February 27th: Rene Descartes’ Discourse on Method
    • February 6th: Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 1
    • January 23rd: Plato’s Phaedrus
    • January 30th: Plato’s Gorgias
    • January 9th: Introduction to Class
    • March 13th: Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women
    • March 20th: Roland Barthes’s Mythologies
    • March 27th: Friedrich Nietzsche
    • May 1st: What is Real? Where do Rhetoric and Philosophy go from here?
    • Rhetorical Theory Assignments
  • LBST 2212-124, 125, 126, & 127
    • August 21st: Introduction to Class
    • August 23rd: Humanistic Approach to Science Fiction
    • August 26th: Robots and Zombies
    • August 28th: Futurism, an Introduction
    • August 30th: R. A. Lafferty “Slow Tuesday Night” (1965)
    • December 2nd: Technological Augmentation
    • December 4th: Posthumanism
    • November 11th: Salt Fish Girl (Week 2)
    • November 13th: Salt Fish Girl (Week 2 con’t)
    • November 18th: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Part 1)
      • More Questions than Answers
    • November 1st: Games Reality Plays (part II)
    • November 20th: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Part 2)
    • November 6th: Salt Fish Girl (Week 1)
    • October 14th: More Autonomous Fun
    • October 16th: Autonomous Conclusion
    • October 21st: Sci Fi in the Domestic Sphere
    • October 23rd: Social Aphasia
    • October 25th: Dust in the Wind
    • October 28th: Gender Liminality and Roles
    • October 2nd: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
    • October 30th: Games Reality Plays (part I)
    • October 9th: Approaching Autonomous
      • Analyzing Prose in Autonomous
    • September 11th: The Time Machine
    • September 16th: The Alien Other
    • September 18th: Post-apocalyptic Worlds
    • September 20th: Dystopian Visions
    • September 23rd: World’s Beyond
    • September 25th: Gender Studies and Science Fiction
    • September 30th: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
    • September 4th: Science Fiction and Social Breakdown
      • More on Ellison
      • More on Forster
    • September 9th: The Time Machine
  • New Media: Gender, Culture, Technology (Spring 2018)
    • April 11th: Hyperreality (and some video games)
    • April 18th: The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism, a Historical Perspective
    • April 25th: Workshop Fun
    • April 4th: Social Construction of Sexuality
    • February 14th: Convergence Culture
    • February 21: Misunderstanding the Internet
    • February 28th: Patriarchy, an Introduction
    • February 7th: Capitalist Realism and Zombies
    • January 10th: Introduction to the Course
    • January 17th: Our Public Sphere and the Media
      • Our Public Sphere
    • January 24th: The Medium is the Message/Massage
    • January 31st: Cultural Constructions
    • March 14th: Play on, Playa!
    • March 21st: Performativity
    • March 28th: The Beauty Myth and Images of Women in the Media
      • Psychoanalysis and the Male Gaze
    • New Media Assignments (Spring 2018)
  • Science Fiction in American Culture (Summer I–2019)
    • Assignments for Science Fiction in American Culture
    • Cultural Studies and Science Fiction Films
    • June 10th: Conformity and Monotony
    • June 11th: Cultural Constructions of Beauty
    • June 12th: Interstellar and Exploration themes
    • June 13th: Bicentennial Man
    • June 17th: I’m Only Human…Or am I?
    • June 18th: Wall-E and Environment
    • June 19th: Wall-E (2008) and Technology
    • June 20th: Interactivity in Video Games
    • June 3rd: Firefly (2002) and Myth
    • June 4th: “Johnny Mnemonic”
    • June 5th: “New Rose Hotel”
    • June 6th: “Burning Chrome”
    • May 20th: Introduction to Class
    • May 21st: American Culture, an Introduction
    • May 22nd: The Matrix
    • May 23rd: Gender and Science Fiction
    • May 27th: Goals for I, Robot
    • May 28th: Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot
    • May 29th: Hackers and Slackers
    • May 30th: Inception
  • Teaching Portfolio
  • Topics for Analysis
    • American Culture, an Introduction
    • Feminism, An Introduction
    • Frankenstein Part I
    • Frankenstein Part II
    • Futurism Introduction
    • Postmodernism Introduction
    • Protesting Confederate Place
    • QT, the Existential Robot
    • Rhetoric, an Introduction
      • Analyzing the Culture of Technical Writer Ads
      • Rhetoric of Technology
      • Visual Culture
      • Visual Perception
      • Visual Perception, Culture, and Rhetoric
      • Visual Rhetoric
      • Visuals for Technical Communication
      • World War I Propaganda
    • The Great I, Robot Discussion
      • I, Robot Short Essay Topics
    • The Rhetoric of Video Games: A Cultural Perspective
      • Civilization, an Analysis
    • The Sopranos
    • Why Science Fiction?
    • Zombies and Consumption Satire

Contact Me

Office: Fretwell 280F
Phone: 704.687.0613
Email: atoscano@uncc.edu
ENGL 4183/5183: Editing with Digital Technologies » October 17th: Stylistic Variations

October 17th: Stylistic Variations

Plan for the Day

  • Don’t for get about the many syllabus changes
  • Review Housing Paragraph Prose Revision
  • Review Midterm Exam
  • Ch. 8: Other Stylistic Variations
  • Review #2 (due next week–10/24)
    • I have a music review excerpt to help inspire you.
  • Preview Rhetorical Analysis

Midterm Review

Even if six of you decided to skip again, we’re going over the midterm. Let’s do it now because waiting until the end of class might not be the best idea. Before that, though, we should review the Housing Paragraph Prose Revision.

I’ll pass back your midterms, but you ABSOLUTELY must return these to me. If you need to look at them again, come by my office.

Ch. 8: Other Stylistic Variations

Before we get too far ahead, I want to assure you that you won’t need to know all the Greek words for style. However, the following will be important for the final exam (and I hope your Rhetorical Analysis):

  • polysyndeton: adds the extra ands into a series
  • asyndeton: just uses commas as the conjunction for a series (drops ands)
  • repetition: repeating information for emphasis
  • redundancy: repeating information to uselessly fill up space
  • antithesis: juxtaposing opposite ideas
  • chiasmus: (not in the chapter or book) a mirror-like repetition of words for a pleasing sound.

As I’ve been saying all semester, we’re more concerned with style than correctness. Even grammatically correct sentences can be incorrect when in the wrong context:

  • When speaking to children…“The best thing to do when crossing the street–an action you will do many times coming to and departing from school–is to look both ways, searching for vehicles and bikes to avoid.
    {Don’t baby talk children when discussing something serious, but also don’t be a pompous fool. Speak/write in age-specific terms and structures.}
  • When e-mailing the dean…“Dear Sir/Madame, Please find the attached request for funding for student enrichment for the FY 2019 budget for your review.”
    {On second thought…a dean might like that language.}

This chapter has examples of stylistic choices that may violate other techniques you’ve learned. For instance, passive voice is used to help change the emphasis of a sentence; parallel structure is not always followed in some sentences completely; and fragments are used deliberately. I’ve bolded the three topics above to emphasize a point–knowing the available style choices will help you vary your prose style, which improves your writing.

A bit of caution: many of the choices discussed in this chapter aren’t the most appropriate for traditional technical writing contexts. A general rule that governs technical writing (as opposed to creative writing) is that technical writing limits interpretation. The best thing you can hope your audience does when receiving an unclear message from you is that they get a hold of you for clarification. Because tech writing is often anonymous writing from an organization, their getting a hold of you is highly unlucky. Always consider your audience’s expectations and the purpose(s) of your message.

A Note on Style

The goal of this chapter is “to encourage you to make the kinds of stylistic choices that will engage your readers” (p. 124). Kolln & Gray open by mentioning the following styles: 1) the plain style, 2) the pompous style, 3) the grand style, and 4) the official style. Technical writing aims for the plain style, but that style isn’t exclusively for technical writing. The plain style uses plain language without excess verbiage that obfuscates your intended meaning.

But isn’t plain language just that—plain? Well, yes. But being plain in the sense of clear and concise is a good thing. Don’t think of plain as dumbed down or unsophisticated. Writing in a plain style means you write in a reader-oriented way—you communicate your ideas effectively, so the reader doesn’t have to do all the work or guess at your meanings; language, after all, can be ambiguous. It is difficult to write efficiently and in a plain style. But that’s why we revise—to clean up our prose.

Remember, no one writes because they fetishize grammatically correct sentences; writers write to communicate; professional writers write to communicate in their careers. Regardless of the writing context, all writers must write and subsequently revise with the audience and communication purpose in mind.

In pairs, discuss the following issues:

  • What is jargon? When is it appropriate?
  • What on earth is efficient prose?
  • How do I elevate my writing in order to sound better?
  • When is it appropriate to lie? (obviously, this is a trick question in the context of technical/professional communication)
  • With all this cool technology, why can’t I just get a computer to do my writing?

Did you know there’s actually an organization called PLAIN: The Plain Language Association International? Check it out. The English Department’s very own Deborah Bosley (emeritus) is a member of the above group and was interviewed about language and policy making.

Also, check out what Maxine C. Hairston found regarding what businesses want from employees regarding communication skills. I question if grammar is the golden ticket, but we should follow the standards our audiences expect. Don’t disregard ethos. The Hairston link is for your further inquiry and not for an exam.

This call for efficiency is culturally based to some extent. Although we won’t talk enough about intercultural communication, I want to point out that the push for a plain style is Western-centric and adheres to our “system’s” desire for efficiency and increased productivity. Our concept of efficiency may be very different from another culture’s ideas about efficiency and effective communication.

Absolute Phrases

This is the least important information of the chapter. How about we agree that absolute phrases act an awful lot like sentence appositives. You will rarely (if ever) use them in standard technical communication, but I can see their value in reviews, descriptions, and advertisements. They do have a literary sound to them, which is probably why Kolln & Gray’s examples are mostly literary. Consider the following sentence from a review of the Red Hot Chili Peppers:

Californication, the RHCP’s 1999 album, showcases the band’s rap-funk-alternative style, their melodies trip over each other, their deliberate off-key chords play with expectations.

This could easily be re-written the following way, but what is lost (or gained or changed) in the revision:

The RHCP’s 1999 album Californication showcases the band’s rap-funk-alternative style with melodies tripping over each other and deliberate off-key chords playing with listeners’ expectations.

Time permitting, we’ll look at the Group Discussion on p. 127 and Exercise #29 on p. 128.

Polysyndeton-Asyndeton

Remember these two (pp. 128-129). Polysyndeton uses an extra and to emphasize each item in a series. Asyndeton uses commas instead of conjunctions to speed up prose and leave readers with the assumption the author could keep adding items to the series.

Repetition-Redundancy

We like repetition with variation. Repeating items and words can reinforce concepts for your audience. Repetition without any variation or stylistic attempt at emphasis is redundant. Redundancy is great for networks and safety measures. Not so good for communication. Consider the following:

  • I must forewarn you ahead of time before you meet my parents.
  • Redundancy happens when you unnecessarily repeat information that you don’t need to repeat.
  • Education trains minds to flourish; education lifts communities to prosper; education conditions humanity to advance.
    {This one also attempts to have the series follow the rules of climax.}

Remind me to put up my favorite example of chiasmus, a guarantee you won’t forget it. Bring your attention to the first example on p. 134: Before our engineers design our cars, our racing programs design our engineers. Chiasmus aims to create a pleasing sound, so it’s a bit too poet for professional prose and would seem out of place.

Antithesis

Although this is a well-known literary device, it comes up frequently in professional prose. You will most likely need to argue or advocate for a position in your future, perhaps supporting one plan over another. Juxtaposing ideas is a standard practice when comparing or contrasting. My favorite:

  • If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.

Consider the following antithesis in the context of you trying to draw your boss’s attention to investing in your idea:

  • If we fail to innovate creatively, we’ll succeed at failure spectacularly.

The Nelson Mandela paragraph on p. 134 is a good example from a politician. I’ve pulled out the contrasts invoked:

  • peasant–>doctor
  • worker–>boss
  • farmer–>president
  • have–>given

If you aren’t an orator, Mandela’s style isn’t something you should adopt, but it does highlight antithesis well.

The Deliberate Fragment

The fragment question. Most fragments are unintentional and happen when we poorly punctuate subordinate clauses or any clause that can’t stand alone as a sentence. The deliberate fragment is a conscious choice. A rule to break. In professional prose, you would most likely use a deliberate fragment at the beginning of a paragraph.

Let’s at least discuss the first two paragraphs in the “For Group Discussion” section on p. 135. What techniques deliberately make readers pause on important places in the texts?

Next Class

Please notice that we’re jumping ahead in Rhetorical Grammar to Ch. 13, which is on punctuation. Ch. 16 in Perfect English Grammar is also on punctuation. Ch. 9, 10, 11, & 12 in Rhetorical Grammar discuss higher-level prose topics such as as sentence rhythm, voice, and diction. Although those chapters are important for your Rhetorical Analysis, I don’t expect you to be exhaustive in that assignment. But I do expect you’ll focus on punctuation, so I wanted to put that before the upper-level rhetorical approaches to prose. Remember, that assignment is due in three weeks–Nov. 14.

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