WRITING ON THE JOB : AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF WRITING IN AN ORGANIZATION

Abstract

A common reaction among potential users of computer manuals is to discard the manual and obtain help from people who already know how to operate the software. In this study, which investigates the influence of the social context on the shaping of texts in a company that produces computer manuals, a detailed study of two texts and the context in which they were written has revealed some possible reasons for this reaction. In the first chapter, the need for the study of writing from the social, perspective (motivated by Faigley, 1985:236) is discussed, in relation to the purpose of this particular study, followed by a description of the methodology used, triangulation, which involves the use of a variety of research methods. In this case, a systemic-functional analysis of the text, using the Hallidayan framework, is supported by information gathered from the actual writing context through interviews with the writers and on-site observations and by reference to the literature in the field. The second chapter provides a description of the organization under study, its aims and the processes involved to produce the manuals. The third to fifth chapters discuss the findings of the text analysis, done according to Halliday's field- tenor-mode framework, in relation to information gathered from the social context and compared to findings in other similar studies. The concluding chapter focuses on the factors which influence the shaping of the texts wider study, with the purpose of creating the awareness of the requirement that writers be more conscious of their readers' needs in order to produce more usable manuals.