Visual metadiscourse: Designing the considerate text
Author:
- 1 September 2000
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Technical Communication Quarterly
- Vol. 9 (4) , 401-424
Abstract
Visual metadiscourse can provide design criteria for authors when considering the needs and expectations of readers. The linguistic concept of metadiscourse is expanded from the textual realm to the visual realm, where authors have many necessary design considerations as they attempt to help readers navigate through and understand documents. These considerations, both textual and visual, also help construct the ethos of authors, as design features reveal awareness of visual literacy and of the communication context. Visual metadiscourse complements textual metadiscourse in emphasizing the necessity of rhetoric in technical communication.Keywords
This publication has 8 references indexed in Scilit:
- Metadiscourse: A Technique for Improving Student WritingResearch in the Teaching of English, 1996
- Supra-Textual Design: The Visual Rhetoric of Whole DocumentsTechnical Communication Quarterly, 1996
- The use of metadiscourse in good and poor ESL essaysJournal of Second Language Writing, 1995
- I conclude not: Toward a pragmatic account of metadiscourse1Rhetoric Review, 1993
- Metadiscourse in Persuasive WritingWritten Communication, 1993
- The Rhetoric of Textbooks: MetadiscourseJournal of Curriculum Studies, 1984
- How Inconsiderate are Children's Textbooks?Journal of Curriculum Studies, 1983
- A Humanistic Rationale for Technical WritingCollege English, 1979