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

Resources and Daily Activities

  • Conference Presentations
    • PCA/ACA Conference Presentation 2022
    • PCAS/ACAS Presentation 2021
    • SEACS 2021 Presentation
    • South Atlantic MLA Conference 2022
  • Dr. Toscano’s Homepage
  • ENGL 2116-014: Introduction to Technical Communication
    • February 1st: Reflection on Workplace Messages
    • January 11th: More Introduction to Class
    • January 18th: Audience & Purpose
    • January 23rd: Résumés and Cover Letters
      • Duty Format for Résumés
      • Peter Profit’s Cover Letter
    • January 25th: More on Résumés and Cover Letters
    • January 30th: Achieving a Readable Style
      • Euphemisms
      • Prose Practice for Next Class
      • Prose Revision Assignment
      • Revising Prose: Efficiency, Accuracy, and Good
      • Sentence Clarity
    • January 9th: Introduction to the Class
    • Major Assignments
  • 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 24th: Introduction to the Class
    • August 31st: Rhetoric, Words, and Composing
    • Major Assignments for ENGL 4183/5183 (Fall 2022)
      • Rhetoric of Fear
    • November 16th: Voice and Other Nebulous Writing Terms
      • Finding Dominant Rhetorical Appeals
    • November 2nd: Rhetorical Effects of Punctuation
    • November 30th: Words and Word Classes
    • November 9th: Cohesive Rhythm
    • October 12th: Choosing Adjectivals
    • October 19th: Choosing Nominals
    • October 26th: Stylistic Variations
    • October 5th: Midterm Exam
    • September 14th: Verb is the Word!
    • September 21st: Coordination and Subordination
    • September 28th: Form and Function
    • September 7th: Sentence Patterns
  • ENGL 4275: Rhetoric of Technology
    • April 13th: Authorities in Science and Technology
    • April 15th: Articles on Violence in Video Games
    • April 20th: Presentations
    • April 6th: Technology in the home
    • April 8th: Writing Discussion
    • Assignments for ENGL 4275
    • February 10th: Religion of Technology Part 3 of 3
    • February 12th: Is Love a Technology?
    • February 17th: Technology and Gender
    • February 19th: Technology and Expediency
    • February 24th: Semester Review
    • February 3rd: Religion of Technology Part 1 of 3
    • February 5th: Religion of Technology Part 2 of 3
    • January 13th: Technology and Meaning, a Humanist perspective
    • January 15th: Technology and Democracy
    • January 22nd: The Politics of Technology
    • January 27th: Discussion on Writing as Thinking
    • January 29th: Technology and Postmodernism
    • January 8th: Introduction to the Course
    • March 11th: Writing and Other Fun
    • March 16th: Neuromancer (1984) Day 1 of 2
    • March 18th: Neuromancer (1984) Day 2 of 2
    • March 23rd: Inception (2010)
    • March 25th: Writing and Reflecting Discussion
    • March 30th & April 1st: Count Zero
    • March 9th: William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984)
  • ENGL 6166: Rhetorical Theory
    • April 12th: Knoblauch. Ch. 4 and Ch. 5
    • April 19th: Jacques Derrida’s Positions
    • April 26th:  Feminisms and Rhetorics
    • April 5th: Knoblauch. Ch. 3 and More Constitutive Rhetoric
    • February 15th: Isocrates (Part 2)
    • February 1st: Aristotle’s On Rhetoric Books 2 & 3
      • Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 2
      • Aristotle’s On Rhetoric, Book 3
    • February 22nd: St. Augustine’s On Christian Doctrine [Rhetoric]
    • February 8th: Isocrates (Part 1)-2nd Half of Class
    • January 11th: Introduction to Class
    • January 18th: Plato’s Phaedrus
    • January 25th: Aristotle’s On Rhetoric Book 1
    • March 15th: Descartes, Rene, Discourse on Method
    • March 1st: Knoblauch. Ch. 1 and 2
    • March 22nd: Mary Wollstonecraft
    • March 29th: Second Wave Feminist Rhetoric
    • May 3rd: Knoblauch. Ch. 6, 7, and “Afterword”
    • Rhetorical Theory Assignments
  • ENGL/COMM/WRDS: The Rhetoric of Fear
    • January 10th: Introduction to the Class
    • January 17th: Scapegoats & Conspiracies
    • January 24th: The Rhetoric of Fear and Fallacies Part 1
    • January 31st: Fallacies Part 2 and American Politics Part 1
    • Major 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
  • LBST 2213-110: Science, Technology, and Society
    • August 22nd: Science and Technology from a Humanistic Perspective
    • August 24th: Science and Technology, a Humanistic Approach
    • August 29th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem (Science), Ch. 2
    • August 31st: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem (Science), Ch. 3 and 4
    • December 5th: Video Games and Violence, a more nuanced view
    • November 14th: Boulle, Pierre. Planet of the Apes. (1964) Ch. 27-end
    • November 16th: Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. 1818. Preface-Ch. 8
    • November 21st: Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. 1818. Ch. 9-Ch. 16
    • November 28th: Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Ch. 17-Ch. 24
    • November 30th: Violence in Video Games
    • November 7th: Boulle, Pierre. Planet of the Apes Ch. 1-17
    • November 9th: Boulle, Pierre. Planet of the Apes, Ch. 18-26
    • October 12th: Lies Economics Tells
    • October 17th: Brief Histories of Medicine, Salerno, and Galen
    • October 19th: Politicizing Science and Medicine
    • October 24th: COVID-19 Facial Covering Rhetoric
    • October 26th: Wells, H. G. Time Machine. Ch. 1-5
    • October 31st: Wells, H. G. The Time Machine Ch. 6-The End
    • October 3rd: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Ch. 7 and Conclusion
    • September 12th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem (Science), Ch. 7 and Conclusion
    • September 19th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Prefaces and Ch. 1
    • September 26th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Ch. 2
    • September 28th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem at Large (Technology), Ch. 5 and 6
    • September 7th: Collins & Pinch’s The Golem (Science), Ch. 5 and 6
  • New Media: Gender, Culture, Technology (Spring 2021)
    • April 13th: Virtually ‘Real’ Environments
    • April 20th: Rhetoric/Composition Defines New Media
    • April 27th: Sub/Cultural Politics, Hegemony, and Agency
    • April 6th: Capitalist Realism
    • February 16: Misunderstanding the Internet
    • February 23rd: Our Public Sphere and the Media
    • February 2nd: Introduction to Cultural Studies
    • January 26th: Introduction to New Media
    • Major Assignments for New Media (Spring 2021)
    • March 16th: Identity Politics
    • March 23rd: Social Construction of Gender and Sexuality
    • March 2nd: Foundational Thinkers in Cultural Studies
    • March 30th: Hyperreality
    • March 9th: Globalization & Postmodernism
    • May 4th: Wrapping Up The Semester
      • Jodi Dean “The The Illusion of Democracy” & “Communicative Capitalism”
      • Social Construction of Sexuality
  • Science Fiction in American Culture (Summer I–2020)
    • Assignments for Science Fiction in American Culture
    • Cultural Studies and Science Fiction Films
    • June 10th: Interstellar and Exploration themes
    • June 11th: Bicentennial Man
    • June 15th: I’m Only Human…Or am I?
    • June 16th: Wall-E and Environment
    • June 17th: Wall-E (2008) and Technology
    • June 18th: Interactivity in Video Games
    • June 1st: Firefly (2002) and Myth
    • June 2nd: “Johnny Mnemonic”
    • June 3rd: “New Rose Hotel”
    • June 4th: “Burning Chrome”
    • June 8th: Conformity and Monotony
    • June 9th: Cultural Constructions of Beauty
    • May 18th: Introduction to Class
    • May 19th: American Culture, an Introduction
    • May 20th: The Matrix
    • May 21st: Gender and Science Fiction
    • May 25th: Goals for I, Robot
    • May 26th: Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot
    • May 27th: Hackers and Slackers
    • May 30th: Inception
  • Teaching Portfolio
  • Topics for Analysis
    • A Practical Editing Situation
    • American Culture, an Introduction
    • Efficiency in Writing Reviews
    • Feminism, An Introduction
    • Fordism/Taylorism
    • Frankenstein Part I
    • Frankenstein Part II
    • Futurism Introduction
    • Isaac Asimov’s “A Cult of Ignorance”
    • Langdon Winner Summary: The Politics of Technology
    • Marxist Theory (cultural analysis)
    • Oral Presentations
    • Oratory and Argument Analysis
    • Our Public Sphere
    • Postmodernism Introduction
    • Protesting Confederate Place
    • Punctuation Refresher
    • QT, the Existential Robot
    • Religion of Technology Discussion
    • 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
  • Video Games & American Culture
    • April 14th: Phallocentrism
    • April 21st: Video Games and Neoliberalism
    • April 7th: Video Games and Conquest
    • Assignments for Video Games & American Culture
    • February 10th: Aesthetics and Culture
    • February 17th: Narrative and Catharsis
    • February 24th: Serious Games
    • February 3rd: More History of Video Games
    • January 13th: Introduction to the course
    • January 20th: Introduction to Video Game Studies
    • January 27th: Games & Culture
      • Marxism for Video Game Analysis
      • Postmodernism for Video Game Analysis
    • March 24th: Realism, Interpretation(s), and Meaning Making
    • March 31st: Feminist Perspectives and Politics
    • March 3rd: Risky Business?

Contact Me

Office: Fretwell 255F
Email: atoscano@uncc.edu
ENGL 4183/5183: Editing with Digital Technologies » October 26th: Stylistic Variations

October 26th: Stylistic Variations

Prose Revisions are due tonight by 11:00 pm. See Canvas for more details.

Plan for the Day

  • Ch. 8: Other Stylistic Variations
  • Three (3) paragraphs for your Prose Revision Assignment (due tonight, 10/26)
    • Follow the directions carefully:
      • Before you revise, make sure you know what the sentence is trying to communicate.
      • Be efficient, but don’t remove any important information.
      • Don’t change the meaning of the original sentence or paragraph.
  • Happy Halloween!

We’re definitely turning a corner in this class and going from standardized, expected syntax and grammar to stylistic variation. Continue to consider these lessons from the perspective of effective/ineffective and not correct/incorrect. However, the “correct” message in the “wrong” context is both incorrect and ineffective…

One thing I just re-learned about communication that is relevant to our class is that it isn’t necessarily what you write but what they read. Your assumption of what you’re conveying will not always be the same assumption(s) of those reading your message. This is the difference between writer- and reader-based prose:

  • Writer-based prose is writing, often composed for oneself, where the author knows what is meant, but they haven’t taken the reader’s context in mind and often make huge leaps in logic and narrative gaps.
  • Reader-based prose is careful writing that communicates with the reader’s context in mind, crafting clear, concise sentences without any logical holes or writer-assumed topics, ideas, information, etc.

For example, consider the following sentences on the same topic.

  • Writer-based prose: The greatest identity marker of the United States is the time at which America became an independent nation as well as the nation which independence was won from.
  • Reader-based prose: The American Revolutionary War, the conflict in which America won independence from Great Britain, is the greatest identity marker of the United States.

I admit the second sentence isn’t a stunning example of prose, but, as a topic sentence, what might you expect to follow?

****************************************************************************

For a lesson on interpretation, let’s consider the first sentence of the paragraph above written this way:

  • One thing I just re-learned about communication relevant to our class is…

What’s the effect of dropping “that is” from the original?

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:

  • 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 mentioned 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 Exalted One, Please find the attached request for funding for student enrichment for the FY 2022 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 unlikely. Always consider your audience’s expectations and the purpose(s) of your message.

Don’t forget, those of you enrolled in the ENGL 5183 section, you have a Rhetorical Analysis bonus assignment, so check the Assignments Page for more details.

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/r 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.

Consider 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.

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 messages. 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.
    • But notice the above sentence is an example of repetition and NOT redundancy.

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. Bring your attention to the first example on p. 134:

Before our engineers design our cars, our racing programs design our engineers.

Juxtaposing ideas is a standard practice when comparing or contrasting. Your audience is going to remember the catch phrase easier than not using antithesis as a technique, a rhetorical strategy. Consider what’s lost with the following:

Our racing programs prepare our engineers before they design our cars.

The sentence above is shorter, but it actually sounds longer when spoken. The one using antithesis flows better than the nuts-and-bolts version above. Of course, use this sparingly, or it’ll lose its effect.

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.

Chiasmus

This isn’t in the book, but it’s my favorite rhetorical strategy to discuss (I doubt I’ve ever used it in writing). Chiasmus is a type of repetition and antithesis that aims to create a pleasing sound, so it’s a bit too poetic for professional prose and would seem out of place. But it would be perfectly fine in reviews or advertisements. Here’s the famous one:

A = “your country”
B = “you can”

This is definitely for political speeches and not technical communication. Of course, you’ll never forget it because the structure of A, B, B, A reminds you of a pleasing sound…just like

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.

If we were in class, we’d discuss the first two paragraphs in the “For Group Discussion” section on p. 135 and consider the techniques that deliberately make readers pause on important places in the texts. I think you should pay close attention to those paragraphs and notice the choices the authors make. Of course, these are from high-brow writers, so their choices are different from the ones you’d most likely make in professional contexts. Then again, is there really just one single professional context?

Happy Halloween

Have a safe and fun, preferably socially distant, Halloween. In the spirit of Halloween, check out the most adorable black kitty on the planet!

Next Week

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. Your Quiz #2 will be on Canvas next week and will cover punctuation mainly from Kolln & Gray. Focus on the punctuation related to conjunctions and subordinate clauses. Formatting dates and locations (cities and states) will be less important…but still relevant to Quiz #2.

As a heads up, the chapters we’re skipping in Kolln & Gray (for now)–Ch. 9, 10, 11, & 12–discuss higher-level prose topics such as as sentence rhythm, voice, and diction. We’ll cover those chapters in later weeks. I hope to have your Review #2 assignments commented on shortly. Remember, those are Portfolio assignments you revise for your Final Portfolio due Dec. 7th…just 6 weeks away.

Skip to toolbar
  • Log In