Directives: Argument and Engagement in Academic Writing

Successful academic writing involved both clear exposition and appropriate audience relationships, but the use of directives potentially undermines the harmony of such relationships. Because they instruct the reader to perform an action or to see things in a way determined by the writer, directives are potentially risky devices which are often regarded as bald‐on‐record threats to face (Brown and Levinson 1987). The widespread use of this...