Purpose and Composition Theory: Issues in the Research  

Unlike audience and context, rhetorical purpose has not been the subject of concentrated, comprehensive research. For example, we do not have a bibliographic overview of purpose as we do for audience (Coney; Ede, “Audience”), and we have not explored the meaning of purpose as we have audience (Park; Kroll; Ede and Lunsford) and context (Brandt; Piazza). However, we need answers to a number of questions concerning purpose. How is it defined? Is it a synonym for goal, intention, end, or aim, as certain research seems to suggest? If so, do these terms differ at all; and if not, what does purpose mean and how does it figure in our theory and pedagogy? Answering questions such as these would assist all composition specialists by encouraging more informed research and teaching about the rhetoric of purpose. In the following article, I begin the task of surveying research on purpose. Although not an exhaustive bibliographic survey, this article can serve as an introduction to the subject.

Blyler, Nancy. JAC (1989). Articles>Rhetoric>Writing

Taking a Political Turn: The Critical Perspective and Research in Professional Communication      

This article examines the critical perspective as an alternative to our current descriptive, explanatory research focus. The critical perspective aims at empowerment and emancipation. It reinterprets the relationship between researcher and participants as one of collaboration, where participants define research questions that matter to them and where social action is the desired goal. Examples of critical research include feminist, radical educational, and participatory action research. Adopting the critical perspective would require that scholars in professional communication rethink their choices of research questions and sites, their views of the ownership of research results, and the types of funding they seek for research initiatives.

Blyler, Nancy. Technical Communication Quarterly (1998). Articles>TC>Writing>Rhetoric

Scholarship, Tenure, and Promotion in Professional Communication  

When thinking about scholarship, tenure, and promotion in professional communication, we must remember that the field has come into its own only in the last decade. Called by different names -- technical writing, technical and scientific writing, business communication, or the more inclusive term we use -- professional communication has now moved from a nearly invisible position in the service ranks of academic departments to recognition as a discipline with its own scholarly agenda.

Blyler, Nancy, Margaret Baker Graham and Charlotte Thralls. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates (1997). Careers>Academic>Tenure>Business Communication