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Subject:Warnings and Cautions, research project From:ROSE NORMAN <UAHRXN01 -at- UAHVAX1 -dot- BITNET> Date:Thu, 30 Sep 1993 03:26:00 CST
Warnings and cautions in farm equipment product literature are
the subject of a research project one of my graduate students is
doing this term for a client who writes manuals for a business in
Alabama. She is seeking information and research on product
safety warnings for machinery, specifically:
* guidelines for preparing and evaluating safety warnings
- in manuals
- on products
* ANSI and other standards (she has one ANSI standard)
* published or unpublished papers on the subject or related subjects
For a practical article, I have referred her to an *IEEE
Transactions in Professional Communications* article on warnings
and cautions. For a more theoretical (speech act theory)
approach, I've suggested David Dobrin's "Do Not Grind Armadillo
in This Mill," which concerns product liability language posing as
instructions. I also have several conference papers from people
working with procedures for the nuclear power industry. These
last make the following distinction in terminology:
* Warning - concerns matters that may lead to bodily harm
* Caution - concerns matters that may harm the product or data
* Note - concerns non-warning/caution material; usage similar to
"footnote"
Perhaps this topic has come up on TECHWR-L in the past and is
archived? If not, I'd like to start such a discussion. I'll be
glad to post full bibliographic information on whatever resources
my student compiles from this list and the library.
Rose
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Rose Norman
Associate Professor of English and
Director of Business and Technical Writing
English Department
University of Alabama in Huntsville
Huntsville, AL 35899
Phone: 205/895-6320 Fax: 205/895-6949
Internet: UAHRXN01 -at- ASNUAH -dot- ASN -dot- NET Bitnet: RNORMAN -at- UAHVAX1
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"Conventionality is not morality." Charlotte Bronte
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