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Re: A PhD for Technical Writing?; was, "starting on page 2?"
Subject:Re: A PhD for Technical Writing?; was, "starting on page 2?" From:Phil Snow Leopard <philstokes03 -at- googlemail -dot- com> To:"Porrello, Leonard" <lporrello -at- illumina -dot- com> Date:Fri, 16 Sep 2011 23:48:53 +0700
No, that wasn't at all what I was saying. Apologies if I have misrepresented myself... :0
My point was, and remains, only this:
APA is a valid style. Chicago is a valid style. There's nothing wrong with either in the appropriate context.
I'd add to that the fact that a new employee had to be taught which style was appropriate for his job is neither a remarkable nor particularly grievous crime.
Best
Phil
On 16 Sep 2011, at 23:38, Porrello, Leonard wrote:
> Phil, I totally misread your original message. I thought the gist of your message was to suggest that the likes of Christ Morton shouldn't presume to judge the knowledge of his betters, "his betters" in this case being the greenhorn PhD who was set to oversee his group.
>
> Scientific disciplines and possibly engineering excepted, I tend to think a PhD is a disadvantage when it comes working in the trenches. As we all know, "PhD" stands for "Doctor of Philosophy." Philosophy is a predominantly theoretical endeavor that doesn't necessarily translate into practical ability. And as far as technical writing is concerned, I think a PhD is counterproductive, on several levels, for anyone not interested in a career in academia. Having a PhD in English or technical writing proves that one has mastered at least one facet of English or technical communications theory. It in no way proves that one can work competently as a technical writer or manage a technical writing group.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+lporrello=illumina -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+lporrello=illumina -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Phil Snow Leopard
> Sent: Friday, September 16, 2011 8:03 AM
> To: Fred Ridder
> Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: Re: starting on page 2?
>
> Fred, with all due respect, you seem to be contradicting yourself.
>
> On the one hand you agree with my point that a style guide is specific to a context, and on the other you suggest that Chicago is the "most broadly applicable".
>
> In any given context, a stye guide is either applicable or not. How large the domain of applicability is outside of that context is irrelevant as to whether it should be used or not in any given situation.
>
> Best
>
> Phil
> On 16 Sep 2011, at 21:58, Fred Ridder wrote:
>
>> Phil Snow Leopard wrote:
>>
>>> APA is for academic writing, Chicago is for 'trade' or 'professional' writing.
>> I have to disagree with both parts of this statement.
>>
>> The APA (American Psychological Association) style guide is only appropriate for a small segment of academic writing, namely psychology and the social sciences. It is basically useless and inappropriate for other types of academic writing.
>>
>> And while the Chicago Manual of Style is used in "'trade' or 'professional' writing", it's foundation is *academic* writing, since it is the house style guide of the University of Chicago Press, the largest university press in the US.
>>
>> The point is that there are many different types and subtypes of writing, not just a broad division between "academic" and "trade or professional". And because of this, there is a large number of style guides specific to many of these different types and subtypes. There are at least a half-dozen well known and widely used style guides for academic writing in specific fields (ACS for chemistry, ASA for social sciences, CSE for life sciences, MHRA and MLA for the arts and humanities, IEEE for computer science, etc.). The most comprehensive and therefore most broadly applicable academic style guide is Chicago, largely because the press that compiles it publishes such a broad range of academic and scholarly books and journals. But even Chicago is only partly appicable to most types of technical writing.
>>
>> -Fred Ridder
>>
>>
>
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