Huettman, Elizabeth
Writing for the Unknown Reader: An Ethnographic Case Study in a Business Setting
School: PURDUE UNIVERSITY (0183)
Degree: PHD
Date: 1990 pp: 298
Advisor: Lauer, Janice M.; Sullivan, Patricia
Source: DAI-A 52/01, p. 154, Jul 1991
Subject: LITERATURE, GENERAL (0401); LANGUAGE, MODERN (0291)
ISBN:
UMI Number: AAT 9116406
Abstract:
This ethnographic case study investigated how one business writer made decisions based on audience concerns as she wrote one feasibility report. The purpose of this research was threefold: to analyze if and how the organizational culture affected the ways that business professionals create texts, to analyze a writer's individual composing processes, and to analyze the readability level of the completed report. The findings are a result of a thirty month study, during which time multiple sources of data were collected and analyzed. Based on rhetorical and composition theory, in addition to a well documented and established research methodology, this study will broaden our understanding of audience addressed/audience invoked theory and the writing that takes place in a work environment.
