From Editing and Writing to Editing/Writing

Reframing a Professional and Technical Communication Program through Critical Archival Studies

Abstract

Recent scholarly, social, and technological shifts prompted revisions to an editing course in a professional and technical writing program after students’ project logs revealed persistent views of editing as mere error correction, undermining the course’s learning outcomes. Guided by concepts from Critical Archival Studies (CAS), course revisions reframed editing as editing/writing: A socio-cultural, interpretive practice shaped by power, context, and technological mediation. These changes, including an application of CAS to L.M. Montgomery’s journals, prompted a broader program-level rethinking of writing and editing as inextricable practices with ethical and cultural impact. This showcase concludes by considering implications for programs that prepare students to navigate authority, authenticity, and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence in professional and technical communication.