Written Communication Jul 2001

Genre Systems at Work

CAROL BERKENKOTTER

Abstract

In this article, I describe four interrelated analytical concepts useful for studying the discursive practices of professional writers: intertextuality, interdiscursivity, genre systems, and recontextualization. Drawing on structuration theory and neo-Vygotskyan activity theory to provide a framework for the above concepts, I present three theoretical assumptions: (a) genre systems play an intermediate role between institutional structural properties and individual communicative action, (b) a central means for identifying texts in a genre system is their intertextual activity, and (c) the concept of “genre systems” enables the analyst to foreground the discursively salient components of human activity systems. An elaboration of each of these assumptions is followed by an illustration of genre systems at work in one psychotherapist's session notes and the process I call rhetorical recontextualization.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
2001-07-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088301018003004
Open Access
Closed
Topics
genre theory

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (29)

  1. Wickman (2025)
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  2. Russell (2024)
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  3. Wickman (2023)
    Genre and Metagenre in Biomedical Research Writing
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  4. Russell (2022)
    From Methodology to Method in Genre-Based Ethnographies
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  5. Weedon et al. (2021)
    Embodied Genres, Typified Performances, and the Engineering Design Process
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Show all 29 →
  1. Ahmed (2021)
    “Helping Me Learn New Things Every Day”: The Power of Community College Student…
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  2. Weedon (2020)
    Emotion and the Economy of Genre in a Design Presentation
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  3. Read (2019)
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  4. Rachul (2019)
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  5. Cimasko et al. (2017)
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  6. McNely (2017)
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  7. Campbell (2017)
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  8. Little (2017)
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  9. Smart et al. (2017)
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  10. Jones (2016)
    Found Things: Genre, Narrative, and Identification in a Networked Activist Orga…
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  11. Read (2016)
    The <i>Net Work</i> Genre Function
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  12. Dave (2015)
    Categories as Rhetorical Barriers and the Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina
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  13. Wickman (2015)
    Locating the Semiotic Power of Writing in Science
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  14. Schryer et al. (2012)
    Creating Discursive Order at the End of Life
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  15. Bremner (2012)
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  16. Pryal (2010)
    The Genre of the Mood Memoir and the<i>Ethos</i>of Psychiatric Disability
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  17. Spafford et al. (2010)
    Accessibility and Order: Crossing Borders in Child Abuse Forensic Reports
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  18. Swarts (2008)
    Information Technologies as Discursive Agents: Methodological Implications for …
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  19. Ding (2008)
    The Use of Cognitive and Social Apprenticeship to Teach a Disciplinary Genre
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  20. Little (2007)
    Achieving Objectivity through Genred Activity: A Case Study
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  21. Killoran (2006)
    Self-Published Web Résumés
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  22. Schryer et al. (2005)
    Genre Theory, Health-Care Discourse, and Professional Identity Formation
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  23. Barton (2004)
    Discourse Methods and Critical Practice in Professional Communication
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  24. Tardy (2003)
    A Genre System View of the Funding of Academic Research
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    Written Communication
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CrossRef global citation count: 76 View in citation network →

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