Information in Action takes a social and rhetorical approach to technical communication, integrating instruction on graphics, oral presentations, collaborative authorship, and electronic production. Using cases and examples, specially highlighted guidelines, a rich array of four-color visuals, and exercises that promote active engagement, Information in Action guides students through the document preparation process with an efficient five-step approach called the CORE method. Students begin by conducting an audience-action analysis that stresses users' needs. Next, they produce a short core document (a position paper, concept paper, or task analysis). Through evaluation, amplification, and revision, they develop this brief document into a graphically rich oral report or briefing, and finally into a complete, action-oriented document that is highly responsive to users' needs. At every stage, students are encouraged to seek feedback from trial audiences, co-authors, editors, and mentors. The text focuses not only on the documents themselves but also on the contexts of technical communication, offering a fuller treatment of ethical, social, and cultural issues than any other text now available.

As an added benefit, packaged inside every student textbook is a FREE World Wide Web Edition CD-ROM. This interactive CD-ROM contains the full text of the book as well as hundreds of contextually placed links — Weblinks — that take students to websites directly related to concepts in the text. Chapter content is expanded beyond the printed pages of the text and supplemented by the most current material available. For professors, this new CD-ROM offers a convenient way to integrate the power of the World Wide Web into their course."