MA Thesis

examples of the conventions of the discourse and provide students with rules that writing within their particular discourse must follow.

Similarly, business writing must adhere to the conventions of its genre. The genre not only indicates the form the writing should take, but also plays a role in defining the audience and the institution's expectations. Thus, both types of writers, in order to be successful, must write within the conventions of their particular discourse. To do so, they must understand the rules and conventions of that discourse and satisfy the needs of an audience that is also influenced by the discourse.

Implications One of the most important implications of this study is that while students must learn the conventions of a new discourse to successfully transition from writing in academic settings to writing in the business world, many values of successful writing are shared by both settings.

Indeed, school writing serves as the foundation for business writing, and while writing skills may not be called upon in the same ways in the business world, the knowledge must be there to be called upon. The university is where writers must learn to successfully produce texts, as most employers do not teach new employees how to be successful writers, yet expect them to be able to write successfully.

In regards to business and academic writing, Dias, Freedman, Medway, and Pare claim that while one doesn’t prepare a student for the other, schools afford space and time to learn theoretical concepts that are also required for workplace writing, as well as the opportunity to be critical of received notions, consider alternatives, speculate, and hypothesize (223). These are skills the workplace demands, but not skills that it teaches. Thus, while we must accept that