Tacit Knowledge

Tacit Knowledge is Related Concepts: Felt Sense; The Secret, Hidden Writing Process: How to Tap Your Creative Potential “I shall reconsider human knowledge by starting from the fact that we can know more than we can tell“ Michael Polanyi In The Tacit Dimension, Michael Polanyi (1966), theorized that we know much more than we can express. ...

Medium, Media

Medium is a method of communication a communication channel a tool, a material, used to communicate the processes writers, speakers, knowledge workers . . . engage in to transmit, receive and archive messages The plural for Medium is Media. Synonyms: Communication Channel; Materials, Writing Tools; Writing Spaces Medium (or Media) is a broad term that ...

Post-Positivism

Post-positivists assume that any attempt to ground knowledge outside human consciousness is futile. While post-positivists do not, of course, deny the existence of a physical world, they argue that all knowledge about that world is constructed by human consciousness through language. Related Concepts: Epistemology Why Does Post-Positivism Matter? Post-positivism is an important philosophical perspective that ...

Research Communities

Definition Methodological Communities are Related Concepts Audience Awareness; Discourse Community; Epistemology; Research; Rhetorical Analysis Why are Research Communities Important? Just as people with similar religious beliefs, political loyalties, or cultural practices can be said to make up a community—even though they have never met—those who share research methods and philosophies of knowledge–ways of knowing–may also ...

Positivism

What is Positivism? Positivism is a philosophical and scientific approach that emphasizes the use of empirical evidence and observable facts to develop and evaluate knowledge. Positivists assume Positivists conduct observational studies to uncover these regular, nonrandom patterns and the relationships among the patterns. Working collaboratively and inductively, positivists sort through a multitude of relationships, seeking ...

Discourse Community – Community of Practice

What is a Discourse Community? A discourse community refers to a group of people who are in conversation with one another. Members of a discourse community share interests, goals, or fields of study. They share language practices, employing jargon, genres, rhetorical appeals, rhetorical moves, and discourse conventions. For instance, the field of medicine serves as ...

Research Question

What is a Research Question? The Research Question is the question the author is exploring. Related Concepts: Organizational Schema Research Question A research question is a guiding question that an author uses to guide his or her research while gathering information for a project. Research questions typically appear in an annotated bibliography or other summary ...

Writer, Speaker, Knowledge Worker . . .

Writers, Speakers, Knowledge Workers . . . are authors. They are symbol analysts: they use symbols (e.g., alphabets, sign language, computer codes) “to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute” (UNESCO 2006). They use language, media, rhetorical analysis, and rhetorical reasoning to communicate. Related Concepts: Agency; Composing; Information, Data; Literacy; Rhetoric; Rhetorical Context; Semiotics Writers, ...

A severe dust storm changes road conditions on a highway / John Read

Occasion, Exigency, Kairos – How to Decode Meaning-Making Practices

Occasion, exigency, and kairos are cornerstones of effective communication, guiding how you construct and deliver your message. Occasion (the rhetorical situation) is the larger environment or event that prompts a response, exigency is the urgent issue that needs addressing, and kairos is the opportune timing for your message. As a communicator, grasping these concepts helps ...

Exposition

Exposition is a mode of discourse, a way of categorizing texts by purpose or aim. When writers or speakers engage in exposition, their purpose is to inform readers or listeners about a topic. Texts that are categorized chiefly as acts of exposition are also called Expository Writing. Key Terms: Expository Writing; Modes of Discourse; Styles ...