Toward Bridging the Gap Between Theory and Practice: Analogy and Person in Technical Communication

Abstract

Technical communication inherited many of the stylistic conventions ad hered to within scientific discourse. This article examines current theories and research that support the contention that some of these conventions should no longer be applied across the board. In particular, the effect of analo gy and direct address (2nd person versus 3rd person) on novices' comprehension and experts'preference are discussed and evaluated through a series of controlled experiments. The results of these experiments suggest that analogies have a tremendous effect upon the ability of readers to freely recall material at a later time. Direct address does not appear to affect comprehen sion, although subject-matter experts preferred 2nd-person to 3rd-person sentence construction.