Defining the genre of the "case write-up

Although the case "write-up " is the dominant written genre in case-based business schools, it is not well known to communication scholars. Modern genre theory pro-vides a theoretical perspective for understanding the write-up according to its cen-tral purpose: preparing students to participate in the class discussion (oral analy-sis) of the case. Using discourse-based interviews with genre experts (MBA students and instructors at a case-based business school), the study shows that the write-up prepares students for classroom performance as problem-solvers, managers who can act in business situations, and disciplinary thinkers who can apply aca-demic knowledge to the real world. Each action-problem solving, making deci-sions, and applying disciplinary knowledge-comprises a set of "moves " in the write-up, such as offering recommendations and plans for implementation. Although students may effectively integrate the three actions and sets of moves in their write-ups, they more often confront conflicting demands in preparing to per-form for the oral case analysis. The written results are fragmented, even incoher-ent, case write-ups in the eyes of "outsiders. " Defining the genre from the perspec