Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Oct 1991

Reading Theory and Persuasive Business Communications: Guidelines for Writers

Nancy Roundy Blyler Iowa State University

Abstract

Reading theory is important because meaning is not located solely in texts, but instead results from an interaction between reader and text. Although guidelines for developing such consensual meaning have been derived for the informational level of communications, the arguments underlying this level are not well understood. Reading theory offers insights on this issue. Background is given on reading theory and on guidelines that have already been formulated. The inability of current guidelines to account for the reader impact of one type of persuasive business communication is demonstrated. Three aspects of reading—inferring, reasoning analogically, and learning—are discussed, and their role in building consensual meaning, for persuasive business communications, is demonstrated in sample texts. Four guidelines are proposed for persuasive business communications, to supplement those guidelines already developed.

Journal
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
Published
1991-10-01
DOI
10.2190/juby-56ux-7rnw-nb2m
Open Access
Closed
Topics
multilingual writers

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (1)

  1. Shaffer et al. (1993)
    Assessing the Readability of Government Accounting Standards: The Cloze Procedure
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

Cites in this index (5)

  1. Kent (1987)
    Schema Theory and Technical Communication
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  2. Porter (1986)
    Intertextuality and the discourse community
    Rhetoric Review
  3. BRANDT (1986)
    Toward an Understanding of Context in Composition
    Written Communication
  4. KUCER (1985)
    The Making of Meaning
    Written Communication
  5. LaROCHE et al. (1985)
    Rhetoric and Rational Enterprises
    Written Communication
Also cites 2 works outside this index ↓
  1. 10.1163/9789004368811_003
     ↗
  2. 10.1111/j.1741-5446.1975.tb00666.x
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 1 View in citation network →

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