The Composing Process of Technical Writers: A Preliminary Study
http://www.jacweb.org/Archived_volumes/Text_articles/V3_Roundy_Mair.htm
  peer-reviewed

Roundy, Nancy and David Mair
JAC
1983

Abstract:

Janet Emig's 1971 study, The Composing Process of Twelfth Graders, spurred an interest in the writing process: how writers compose rather than simply what they compose. However, a survey of current literature indicates that little has been published on the composing processes of technical writers. Perhaps we have assumed that technical writers compose as other writers do. In order to test this assumption, we conducted the research on which we base this study.