Many researchers see writing as a resource that allows the explicitation of ideas/knowledge. Few, however, have addressed its role in the constitution of ideas. We propose that writing (understood as a sense-making process) has considerable potential in knowledge constitution. This potential depends on negotiations between the author and the social "voices" with which he/she dialogs during text production. An analysis of text production among university students suggests that the process develops over time, alternating between moments of stability and variability. These latter moments materialize in the sub-process of Local Revision, which we suggest is characterized by negotiations of a dialogic-argumentative nature. We propose that the epistemic potential of the writing process resides precisely in the argumentativity inherent to such negotiations.
Argumentation; Constitution of knowledge; Dialogicity; Writing