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Thesis ID: CBB001562858

“The Stars Belong to Everyone”: The Rhetorical Practices of Astronomer and Science Writer Dr. Helen Sawyer Hogg (1905--1993) (2009)

University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Alred, Gerald

Publication Date: 2009
Edition Details: Advisor: Alred, Gerald
Physical Details: 204 pp.
Language: English

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Academia.edu

Rhetoric in scientific discourse Public understanding of science Communication of scientific ideas Astronomy Women in science Popularization 20th century Canada Hogg, Helen Sawyer

Astronomer and science writer Dr. Helen Sawyer Hogg (University of Toronto) reached a variety of audiences through different rhetorical forms. She communicated to her colleagues through her scholarly writings; she reached out to students and the public through her Toronto Star newspaper column entitled "With the Stars," which she authored for thirty years; she wrote The Stars Belong to Everyone , a book that speaks to a lay audience; she hosted a successful television series entitled Ideas ; and she delivered numerous speeches at scientific conferences, professional women's associations, school programs, libraries, and other venues. Adapting technical information for different audiences is at the heart of technical communication, and Sawyer Hogg's work exemplifies adaptation as she moves from writing for the scientific community (as in her articles on globular cluster research) to science writing for lay audiences (as in her newspaper column, book, and script for her television series). Initially she developed her sense of audience through a male perspective informed largely by her scholarly work with two men (Harlow Shapley and her husband, Frank Hogg) as well as the pervasive masculine culture of academic science. This dissertation situates Sawyer Hogg in what is slowly becoming a canon of technical communication scholarship on female scientists. Toward this end, I discuss how she rhetorically engaged two different audiences, one scholarly and one popular, how Sawyer Hogg translated male dominated scientific rhetoric to writing for the public, and how science writing helped her achieve her professional goals. Complementing the archival research in addressing the questions of this study, I employ social construction analysis (also known as the social perspective) for my research methodology. She was ahead of her time and embodied the social perspective years before its definition as a rhetorical concept. In short, my study illuminates one scientific woman's voice, thoughts, and work and the benefit of that knowledge to the field of Technical Communication.

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Description Cited in ProQuest Diss. & Thes. . ProQuest Doc. ID 305036304.

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