Written Communication Jan 1998

Disciplining Discourse

CHERYL GEISLER ; EDWIN H. ROGERS ; CYNTHIA R. HALLER

Abstract

The authors report an investigation of the discourse practices of the “affiliated professions” of software engineering design. Lists of design issues generated by students in computer science and technical communication were compared to lists produced by experts affiliated with software engineering and by students entering an unaffiliated profession. The results suggest that (a) the affiliated experts addressed a more balanced set of issues, (b) the students in computer science looked more like the affiliated experts in their attention to technical issues and more like the unaffiliated students in their attention to human issues, and (c) the students in technical communication looked more like the affiliated experts in their attention to the human issues and more like the unaffiliated students in their attention to the technical issues. The results are discussed in terms of a landscape of highly clustered, fractured, and stratified affiliated professions over which students travel during their educational and professional careers.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
1998-01-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088398015001001
Open Access
Closed
Topics
multimodality technical communication place and space

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (5)

  1. Warnock et al. (2007)
    Expressive/Exploratory Technical Writing (XTW) in Engineering: Shifting the Tec…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. GEISLER (2001)
    Textual Objects
    Written Communication
  3. Vélez et al. (2001)
    When a Production Worker is Technically a Writer: Using Craft and Rhetorical Kn…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Gruber et al. (1999)
    <i>Writing4practice</i> in engineering courses: Implementation and …
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. MacNealy et al. (1999)
    Can This Marriage Be Saved: Is an English Department a Good Home for Technical …
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

Cites in this index (5)

  1. HAAS (1994)
    Learning to Read Biology
    Written Communication
  2. Spellmeyer (1993)
    "Too Little Care": Language, Politics, and Embodiment in the Life-World
    College English
  3. Ackerman (1991)
    Reading, Writing, and Knowing: The Role of Disciplinary Knowledge in Comprehens…
    Research in the Teaching of English
  4. CLARK et al. (1990)
    Public Discourse and Personal Expression
    Written Communication
  5. McCarthy (1987)
    A Stranger in Strange Lands: A College Student Writing Across the Curriculum
    Research in the Teaching of English
Also cites 9 works outside this index ↓
  1. Bender, T.
    Intellect and public life: Essays on the social history of academic intellectuals in the …
     ↗
  2. 10.1002/j.2168-9830.1993.tb00065.x
     ↗
  3. 10.2307/358587
     ↗
  4. Collins, R.
    The credential society: An historical sociology of education and stratification
     ↗
  5. Geisler, C.
    Academic literacy and the nature of expertise: Reading, writing and knowing in academic p…
     ↗
  6. 10.2307/358177
     ↗
  7. 10.2307/357995
     ↗
  8. Oleson, A.
    The organization of knowledge in modern America, 1860-1920
     ↗
  9. 10.2307/377955
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 9 View in citation network →

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