Textual Dynamics of the Professions: Historical and Contemporary Studies of Writing in Professional Communities

Edited by Charles Bazerman and James Paradis
Digitized by the Colorado State University Library in 2022. Edited for digital presentation in 2004 by Nicole Ashton and Heidi Scott.

In Textual Dynamics of the Profession, 15 essays examine the effects of texts on professional practices in academic, scientific, and business settings. Editors Charles Bazerman and James Paradis characterize "textual dynamics" as an interaction in which professional texts and discourses are constructed by, and in turn construct, social practices. Lauded for its contribution to the field of rhetoric and composition, this landmark collection offers essays that make a significant contribution to the scholarship of professional discourse practices.

Table of Contents

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Front Matter and Table of Contents

Introduction, Charles Bazerman and James Paradis

Part One Textual Construction Of The Professions

How Natural Philosophers Can Cooperate: The Literary Technology of Coordinated Investigation in Joseph Priestley's History and Present State of Electricity (1767), Charles Bazerman

Stories and Styles in Two Molecular Biology Review Articles, Greg Myers

The Rhetoric of Literary Criticism, Jeanne Fahnestock and Marie Secor

The Medieval Art of Letter Writing: Rhetoric As Institutional Expression, Les Perelman

The Role of Narrative Structure in the Transfer of Ideas: The Case Study and Management Theory, Ann Harleman Stewart

Scientific Rhetoric in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries: Herbert Spencer, Thomas H. Huxley, and John Dewey, James P. Zappen

Part Two The Dynamics Of Discourse Communities

Toward a Sociocognitive Model of Literacy: Constructing Mental Models in a Philosophical Conversation, Cheryl Geisler

Social Context and Socially Constructed Texts: The Initiation of a Graduate Student into a Writing Research Community, Carol Berkenkotter, Thomas N . Huckin, and John Ackerman

Meaning Attribution in Ambiguous Texts in Sociology, Robert A . Schwegler and Linda K. Shamoon

Texts in Oral Context: The "Transmission" of Jury Instructions in an Indiana Trial, Gail Stygall

Part Three: The Operational Force Of Texts

Text and Action: The Operator's Manual in Context and in Court, James Paradis

Understanding Failures in Organizational Discourse: The Accident at Three Mile Island and the Shuttle Challenger Disaster, Carl G. Herndl, Barbara A. Fennell, and Carolyn R. Miller

Creating a Text /Creating a Company: The Role of a Text in the Rise and Decline of a New Organization, Stephen Doheny-Farina

Intertextuality in Tax Accounting: Generic, Referential, and Functional, Amy J. Devitt

A Psychiatrist Using DSM-III: The Influence of a Charter Document in Psychiatry, Lucille Parkinson McCarthy

Index

Contributors

Publication Information: Bazerman, Charles, & James, Paradis (Eds.). (2004). Textual Dynamics of the Professions: Historical and Contemporary Studies of Writing in Professional Communities. The WAC Clearinghouse. https://wac.colostate.edu/books/landmarks/textual-dynamics/ (Originally published 1991 by University of Wisconsin Press)

Publication Date: March 21, 2004

Contact Information:
Charles Bazerman's Home Page: http://www.education.ucsb.edu/~bazerman
Charles Bazerman's Email: bazerman@education.ucsb.edu

Landmark Publications in Writing Studies

Series Editor: Mike Palmquist, Colorado State University

This book is available in whole and in part in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF).

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