Business and Professional Communication Quarterly Dec 2021

Teaching Workplace Genre Ecologies and Pedagogical Goals Through Résumés and Cover Letters

Sara Doan

Abstract

This study examines how and why 20 instructors (17 tenure-line and 3 nontenure-line) in introductory service courses enact their pedagogical values and address current concerns (e.g., personal branding, LinkedIn, and applicant tracking systems) when teaching résumés and cover letters. Research methods included a demographics survey, qualitative interviews, and critical discourse analysis of assignment sheets and deidentified student examples. Results provide an opportunity to renegotiate gaps between Business and Professional Communication’s research and pedagogical methods, shifting from overemphasizing formatting and checklists and toward understanding job applications as workplace genre ecologies to encourage deeper learning.

Journal
Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
Published
2021-12-01
DOI
10.1177/23294906211031810
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Topics
discourse analysis empirical research professional writing

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (3)

  1. Moore et al. (2026)
    LinkedIn in Business and Technical Communication: A Textbook Analysis Grounded …
    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  2. Lookadoo et al. (2025)
    Is Your Résumé/Textbook Up-To-Date? An Audit of AI ATS Résumé Instruction
    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  3. Townley (2025)
    International Merger and Acquisition: A Site of Interdisciplinary and Intertext…
    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly

Cites in this index (19)

  1. Randazzo (2020)
    A Framework for Résumé Decisions: Comparing Applicants’ and Employers’ Reasons
    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  2. Shelton (2020)
    Shifting Out of Neutral: Centering Difference, Bias, and Social Justice in a Bu…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
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    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
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    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
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    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
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    Rhetorics of Proposal Writing: Lessons for Pedagogy in Research and Real-World …
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
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    Using Storytelling as a Job-Search Strategy
    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
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    Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
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CrossRef global citation count: 9 View in citation network →

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