This text prepares students for the work required of writers in a variety of discourse communities, each of which operates from distinct assumptions and within specific rhetorical and social parameters. Students are introduced to the techniques of discourse analysis, genre theory, and primary (including ethnographic) and secondary research. The text also engages students in extensive practice and a sequence of increasingly complex and comprehensive “Writer's Profiles,” ending with a researched literature review and argument. Two casebooks offer illustrative and thematically-linked readings from a wide variety of public and professional sources.