Genre Uptake as Boundary-Work: Reasoning About Uptake in <i>Wikipedia</i> Articles

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Apr 2021

Genre Uptake as Boundary-Work: Reasoning About Uptake in <i>Wikipedia</i> Articles

Ana Cooke Pennsylvania State University

Abstract

The circulation of scientific and technical genres in online publics can shape both public opinion and policy deliberation about issues such as global warming. While rhetoric and professional writing scholarship has documented the myriad ways that genres are transformed as they circulate across discursive boundaries, few examine how argument shapes those transformation and circulations. Drawing on Gieryn’s concept of boundary-work, this article analyzes arguments in the discussion pages of Wikipedia articles about global warming to document how editors argue about genre as they deliberate over what counts as reliable sources of global warming knowledge. This analysis demonstrates how argument mediates genre uptake and circulation. In doing so, it helps account for how technical and scientific genres circulate in contemporary online publics.

Journal: Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published: 2021-04-01
DOI: 10.1177/0047281620906150
Open Access: Closed
Topics: genre theory professional writing

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (3)

Falconer (2024)

The Discursive Boundary Work of Recontextualizing Science for Policy: Opening t…

Written Communication
Mehlenbacher et al. (2024)

Prolepsis and Rendering Futures in Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Reports

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Moriarty et al. (2024)

Reddit and Engaged Science Communication Online: An Examination of Reddit’s R/S…

Technical Communication Quarterly

Cites in this index (6)

Bray (2019)

How Do Online News Genres Take Up Knowledge Claims From a Scientific Research A…

Written Communication
Kennedy (2016)

Textual Curation

Computers and Composition
Scott (2016)

Boundary Work and the Construction of Scientific Authority in the Vaccines-Auti…

Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Tachino (2012)

Theorizing Uptake and Knowledge Mobilization

Written Communication
BERKENKOTTER et al. (1993)

Rethinking Genre from a Sociocognitive Perspective

Written Communication

Show all 6 →

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Records as Genre

Written Communication

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