Part II-how newcomers learn to write: resources for guiding newcomers

Abstract

For part I see ibid., June 1998. Part I focused on what newcomers need to learn in order to write appropriately on the job and suggested resources and strategies to help supervisors guide their new employees through the maze of organizational discourse conventions. This article, based on the same ethnographic study of newcomers in two organizations which provided the basis for Part I, will describe theories that explain how newcomers learn, show evidence of those theories in action, and provide further suggestions for facilitating learning about writing in the workplace.