The Composing Processes of an Engineer

Since Janet Emig over a decade ago investigated The Composing Processes of Twelfth-Graders, many researchers have studied various aspects of writers' composing habits. However, because it has mostly considered only unskilled beginning writers, student writers working in academic contexts, or professional writers like novelists or journalists, that research has had relatively little impact on the teaching of technical writing.' Little work has been done on the composing strategies of people who call themselves engineers or scientists, not writers or students; little study has been devoted to people who compose within the limitations of the workplace. Although as a profession we know what scientists and engineers write at work, we know far less about how they plan, arrange, write, and rewrite on the job. As a result, teachers of technical writing have been unable to teach students reliable ways to succeed under the special and dynamic circumstances presented by on-the-job writing.