Written Communication Jul 1989

An Engineer's Writing and the Corporate Construction of Knowledge

DOROTHY A. WINSOR

Abstract

Previous research on the writing process in the workplace has given inadequate attention to the collaborative nature of work in an organization. Examination of the processes an engineer goes through as he writes a routine and a non-routine document shows that those processes are strongly affected by the degree to which his company has previously accepted the claims he makes as given or as knowledge. Claims are established as knowledge in an organization by being “inscribed,” that is, by having a series of increasingly general symbolic representations assigned to them by a series of writers at work. The inscribing process both resembles the writing process and affects it.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
1989-07-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088389006003002
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
collaborative writing
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (26)

  1. Read (2020)
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  5. Angouri et al. (2008)
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  3. Dannels (2003)
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  4. Hovde (2000)
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  5. Smith (2000)
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  6. Dannels (2000)
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  7. Smart (1999)
    Storytelling in a Central Bank: The Role of Narrative in the Creation and Use o…
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  8. WINSOR (1998)
    Rhetorical Practices in Technical Work
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  9. FABER (1998)
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  10. GUNNARSSON (1997)
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  11. MEDWAY (1996)
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  12. ORNATOWSKI (1995)
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  13. WINSOR (1994)
    Invention and Writing in Technical Work: Representing the Object
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  14. Rehling (1994)
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  15. HAAS (1994)
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  16. BLYLER (1993)
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  17. WINSOR (1993)
    Owning Corporate Texts
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  18. Burnett et al. (1993)
    Collaboration in technical communication: A research continuum
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  19. Blyler (1992)
    Narration and knowledge in direct solicitations
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  20. DUIN (1991)
    Computer-Supported Collaborative Writing: The Workplace and the Writing Classroom
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  21. HAAS (1990)
    Composing in Technological Contexts: A Study of Note-Making
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CrossRef global citation count: 50 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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