FW: Documentation Help Needed

[amc1 at comcast.net]

For technical writing, I usually reference Philip Rubens' "Science and Technical Writing: A Manual of Style", second ed.

For business writing of a technical topic, I refer back to this reference.

For business writing of a non-technical topic, I default to the APA, if there's nothing else overriding this guidance.

-------------- Forwarded Message: -------------- 
From: "Jim and Sue O'Neil" <jsoneil1063 at comcast.net> 
To: "stc-ac" <stc-ac at lists.stc.org> 
Subject: [stc-ac] Documentation Help Needed 
Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2007 14:49:17 +0000 

Imagine having taught for over 40 (forty) years and still not sure of what 
"proper" documentation style to use in business! 

I sit here in my little study, retired, surrounded: Gregg, MLA, APA, IEEE, 
CMS, Campbell, Turabian. 

Life was so simple in 1959 in Chicago: "Use Turabian." 

Now, what do I recommend, use, teach, show, illustrate, demonstrate--to my 
business majors who are taking a business writing class taught by the 
English Department? 

Oh, easy for Gregg/Sabin: "You may need to familiarize yourself with more 
than one style." For sure. After writing all those MLA graduate papers on 
Chaucer and Shakespeare, did I get surprised when I took my first course in 
the education program. "APA All the WAY!" 

My latest Technical Communication (italicized, or underlined?) states that I 
should submit manuscripts using The Chicago manual of style, 15th edition. 
But the References in the text are quite like APA. BECAUSE Chicago states 
that "two basic systems preferred by Chicago--notes and bibliography on the 
one hand and the author-date system on the other" are described, compared, 
and illustrated in the 15th edition: 

Doniger, Wendy. ...Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999. ["favored 
by many writers in literature, history, and the arts"] 

OR 

Doniger, W. 1999. ...Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ["used by many in 
the physical, natural, and social sciences"] 


BUT: 

"Among other well-known systems...Modern Language Association, American 
Psychological Association, and American Medical Association.... 

AND HERE IS GREGG (and the Business Style shown in the text I am using, 
Contemporary Business Communication by Scott Ober): 

Doniger, Wendy, ...University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1999. [author, book 
title, publisher, place of publication, date. Note commas.] 


MY QUESTION OR SEARCH: 

1. What do you teach/prefer in technical writing courses? 

2. What do you teach/prefer in business writing courses? 

3. What do you use in technical writing? 

4. What do you use in business research reports? 

Any answers are welcomed. 

Thanks. 

Jim O'Neil 


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