Technical writing and the creation of knowledge from within another discipline: a case study from an academic workplace

This thesis presents a case study of a briefing paper coauthored by a technical writer employed at an agricultural research center at a land-grant university. The intent of the briefing paper is to create new knowledge about the European Union\u27s ban on imports of beef from cattle produced with growth-promoting hormones and intended for human consumption. Given the complexity and length of the US-EU dispute over the use of growth-promoting hormone in beef production, the case study discusses the need for the writer to hold extensive topical expertise, which includes knowledge about current research and about the historical political, economic, and social context of the hormone issue. On the other hand, the technical writer does not hold the educational and publishing credentials normally required for creating knowledge within the discipline of economics, where the research center resides. The case study explains how the technical writer\u27s rhetorical decisions about content for the briefing paper address the institutionalization of power and authority inside and outside the university and how this power and authority both benefit and constrain the technical writer\u27s efforts to create knowledge in an academic workplace