The task of teaching writing to students in business, engineering, design, computer science, accounting, and other professional areas raises the question of what knowledge the writers call upon to create a rhetorically effective writing plan. Research suggests three plausible answers: their knowledge of schemata, the structure of their topic…

This paper explores some ways research can be used to create a more integrated theoretical understanding of the interaction between individual cognition and social/cultural context as the motive force in literate acts. Drawing on data from recent research on writing, the paper proposes three principles that inform a more complicated interaction…