Research problem: In light of the growing popularity of LinkedIn as a self-promotional tool for the job search process, this paper examines the rhetorical structure of LinkedIn Summaries. Research questions: (1) Which rhetorical moves are found in the Summary sections of LinkedIn profiles? (2) Do the Summary sections display similar patterns of textual organization? (3) What strategies do the writers of the Summary sections deploy to achieve these rhetorical moves? Literature review: This paper has a genre analytic theoretical orientation of approach, whose underlying assumption is that genres sharing the same purposes and context of use are likely to have similar organizational patterns and to deploy similar strategies to achieve these purposes. Previous research on LinkedIn has focused on characteristics of the service and its impact on interactions, but not as a medium used in the classroom. A much deeper literature exists on job application letters, which concludes that a job application uses similar rhetorical moves, or discoursal units that perform distinct communicative functions, to a sales promotion letter. The moves include: introducing candidature, establishing credentials, essential detailing of candidature, indicating value of candidature, offering incentives, enclosing documents, using pressure tactics, soliciting response, and ending politely. Methodology: It is a study that analyzed the rhetorical structure of LinkedIn Summaries of 50 professional résumé writers in the US from a genre analytic perspective. Results and conclusions: The LinkedIn Summary shares many moves in common with the job application letter. Moves that were found in all or nearly all of the texts were establishing credentials, identifying target market and detailing service; an additional move, not seen in job application letters, was also identified-that of personal branding. However, a rigid organizational structure was not seen. The results and the methodology used to obtain them will be of use to students and others wishing to use LinkedIn to promote themselves to potential employers. The study is limited to one particular professional group in one region, but there is ample scope for further research looking at LinkedIn profiles in other professions and other parts of the world.

This article investigates student behaviour on collaborative assignments, looking at the relationship between task type and interaction, and considers the implications for task design. Students reported on interactions in a year-long workplace-focussed group communication project, comparing these with interactions on other academy-based group assignments. Differences were seen in the amount of brainstorming, the criteria for dividing up work, the intensity of editing, and how conflict was managed. Contributing factors to these differences included the presence or absence of a creative element, the instrumental nature of the task, and the need for a collective approach inherent in the task design.

This article tracks the socialization of a Chinese intern into a Hong Kong PR company and considers the factors that enabled her to move toward acquiring the discourse of the profession. Taking a case study approach, the research is based on a detailed daily journal written by the intern during her internship, and two interviews. Over the 3-month period of the internship, her written discourse changed considerably, revealing the extent of her socialization into the organization. Specifically, the intern’s writing changed from detailed general descriptions of her activity to discourse resembling that of PR practitioners. The study demonstrates the power of the workplace as a context for learning, yet data show that the academy, by providing tools for understanding and reflecting on organizational culture, also has a role to play in socialization processes.

This article, using data from a year-long study of writing processes in an institutional context, looks at the demands made on writers in workplace environments as they make requests of their colleagues. Building on Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory, the study takes a view of context as being a key factor in framing requests, in addition subscribing to the notion of context as an ongoing dynamic, or mutually constitutive activity system. Although the variables of relative power and degree of imposition are important factors in the choices writers make, a further consideration is the need to balance their own relational needs with the expectations of the institution as they create texts for multiple audiences. In addition, the linguistic choices writers make in such contexts as they position themselves in relation to their peers and those further up the hierarchy may also serve to define and reinforce their identity within the institution.