Abstract

In this chapter I review genre as a theoretical concept, paying particular attention to the way it is used by researchers to generate insights about workplace discourse. I briefly outline three of the main approaches to genre analysis concentrating on the issues, important analytical considerations and debates genre researchers in these three schools (and more generally) aim to contribute to. I then illustrate these analytical aims through an analysis of a core workplace genre in the nursing profession, the nursing handover meeting. I conclude the chapter by considering some of the implications of a genre research agenda.