What Writing Does and How It Does It offers a sophisticated introduction to methods for understanding, studying, and analyzing texts and writing practices. It presents a variety of approaches to analyzing texts, and considers the processes of writing, exploring textual practices and their contexts, examining what texts do and how texts mean rather than what they mean.

Contents: C. Bazerman, P. Prior, Introduction. Part I:Analyzing Texts.T. Huckin, Content Analysis: What Texts Talk About. P. Eubanks,Poetics and Narrativity: How Texts Tell Stories.E. Barton, Linguistic Discourse Analysis: How the Language in Texts Works. C. Bazerman, Intertextuality: How Texts Rely on Other Texts. M.Z. Buell, Code-Switching and Second Language Writing: How Multiple Codes Are Combined in a Text. A.F. Wysocki, The Multiple Media of Texts: How Onscreen and Paper Texts Incorporate Words, Images, and Other Media. Part II:Analyzing Textual Practices.P. Prior, Tracing Process: How Texts Come Into Being. K. Leander, P. Prior, Speaking and Writing: How Talk and Text Interact in Situated Practices. G. Kamberelis, L. de la Luna, Children's Writing: How Textual Forms, Contextual Forces, and Textual Politics Co-Emerge. J. Selzer, Rhetorical Analysis: Understanding How Texts Persuade Readers. C. Bazerman, Speech Acts, Genres, and Activity Systems: How Texts Organize Activity and People.