Based on 10 years of research in contexts as diverse as a doctoral program in rhetoric and composition and a scientist's peer review correspondence, this book develops a dynamic, activity-based theory of genre. Disciplinary genres, the authors propose, are constituted by evolving, communal, historically sedimented practices of "insiders" responsive to the dynamics of (re)current rhetorical situations.

To support their unique perspective, Berkenkotter and Huckin draw on empirical findings from both micro- and macrolevel investigations including case studies of individual writers in action and large-corpus analyses of evolving genre features.

The research methods and the theoretical framework presented should raise provocative questions for scholars, researchers, and teachers in rhetorical studies, communication, sociology, applied linguistics, education, and other fields interested in disciplinary communication.