One of the issues that interests me most as a teacher is the relationship
between professional writing and professional *development*. This is an
indirect way to go at a definition, but I think the various ways of teaching
professional writing say something about the various ways it can be defined:
Some courses focus on standard genres/formats for novices, while others
teach rhetorical strategies assuming that novices becoming managers need
more rhetorical awareness; still others focus on big-picture, ethical issues
placing students in the position of corporate leaders and policy makers, or
at least consultants/spokespeople. While I don't like the hierarchical bent
of this description, I think the question of writing for professional/career
development is an important one. I, personally, prefer to subordinate
issues of form and genre to rhetorical and ethical issues. Change is the
only constant: writers in the professions, I think, need to be able to adapt
to volatile technical and economic environments. So for me professional
writing is less about particular genres and conventions and more about
rhetoric and ethics.
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