Metadiscourse guides how readers interact with a text and process the information they find. Because texts differ in purpose and audience, so do patterns of metadiscourse use. This research examines the patterns of metadiscourse use in topic-based writing, developed following a structured authoring method. The resulting writing is modular,…

Through a study of collaborative writing at a student advocacy nonprofit, this article explores how writers distribute their text planning across tools, artifacts, and gestures, with a particular focus on how embodied representations of texts are present in text planning. Findings indicate that these and other representations generated by the…

Discusses professional writers' use of "metaphorical stories" to describe their composing processes. Maintains that fiction writers' ascription of independence to their characters has profound psychological implications. Cites metaphorical stories as an important means by which authors understand and communicate their composing…

Contrasts social constructionist and social interactionist approaches to the problem of discourse. Examines recent social interactionist studies concerning the effects of readers on writers' development, including investigations of word-segmentation skills, peer conferencing, and instructional discourse. (MG)

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…