Journal of Business and Technical Communication Apr 2023

Corpus Linguistics and Technical Editing: How Corpora Can Help Copy Editors Adopt a Rhetorical View of Prescriptive Usage Rules

Jordan Smith University of North Texas

Abstract

Scholars have long argued that technical editing should be viewed as a rhetorical practice in which copy editors take “a situational approach to each individual task” (Buehler, 1980/2003, p. 458). Yet many editing pedagogies still treat some language-level editing tasks, like those that involve prescriptive usage rules, as mechanical rather than rhetorical. This article discusses how empirical data from corpora can help copy editors adopt a more rhetorical view of prescriptive usage rules and introduces corpus linguistics as a methodology that can contribute to technical editing pedagogy.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
2023-04-01
DOI
10.1177/10506519221143125
CompPile
Open Access
Closed
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Cited by in this index (7)

  1. Mathison et al. (2026)
    Facilitating Social Justice in the Technical Editing Classroom
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Nadra et al. (2026)
    Is genAI a good editor of academic writing?
    Computers and Composition
  3. Jablonski et al. (2026)
    Introduction: Advancing Technical Editing in the Age of GAI
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Smith et al. (2025)
    Introducing TrackEDT: A Tool to Accelerate Empirical Editing Research
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  5. Schreiber (2025)
    Inclusive and Accessible Technical Editing in the Classroom and Workplace
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Show all 7 →
  1. Schreiber (2024)
    What Is Technical About Technical Editing?
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  2. Mackiewicz et al. (2024)
    Editors’ Perceptions of Singular They
    Technical Communication Quarterly

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CrossRef global citation count: 8 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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