Uses of Metadiscourse in Online Help

Written Communication Oct 2022

Jason Swarts North Carolina State University

Abstract

Metadiscourse guides how readers interact with a text and process the information they find. Because texts differ in purpose and audience, so do patterns of metadiscourse use. This research examines the patterns of metadiscourse use in topic-based writing, developed following a structured authoring method. The resulting writing is modular, nonhierarchical, and nonlinear, which creates user experience issues related to attention as well as information selection, ordering, processing, and navigation. The patterns of language use in topic-based writing reveal how metadiscourse might help readers address these reader experience issues.

Journal: Written Communication
Published: 2022-10-01
DOI: 10.1177/07410883221109241
Open Access: Closed
Topics: technical communication multilingual writers

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