ABSTRACT
Reports stand as the heart of what all technical communicators would call “technical writing.” As a result, any history of technical writing must involve the origin, definition, and development of reports. In Chapter 7, I offered my theory of the development of the proposal and suggested its link to the report. In this chapter, I extend my theory of the development of the practical report by showing its relationship to the petition and the proposal. This chapter will show how modern concepts of reports-organization, genre, visual displays (drawings and tables), and concise style-all appear by the mid-decades of the 17th century. The term report suggests a transfer of information from one person to another person or group. With this definition, we can infer the writer’s awareness of the needs and perspective of the intended readers. As we look at the large number of extant petitions presented from Edward II onward, we can easily define petitions as a form of report: As Dodd states, petitions were documents that allowed Edward’s subjects to approach him with their problems, their requests, and recommendations for solutions [1, pp. 19-48]. At the same time, the petitions informed/reported to the King the events occurring in his realm. Petitions asked and proposed solutions while informing, and they clearly exemplify the awareness of the power distance between the petitioner and the King. These short petitions, penned to be read aloud, most likely by the clerks, were directed to the King, parliament, chancery, treasurer, or perhaps the exchequer and served as content guides to the readers. Many, written in Norman French until the 14th century, were likely translated into English by readers (clerks) for the benefit of auditors (triers), who over the years, knew less and less French. As I discussed in the previous chapter, petitions had an organization, almost a formulary, which anticipates the form of the modern report as well as the proposal.
