Sequence 2: Language, Community, Identity, & Power
SHORT PAPER 2.1: UNDERSTANDING & IDENTIFYING THE ARGUMENT
Date Assigned: ____________________________
Date Due: ________________________________
Now that we have read Mary Louise Pratt’s speech, we are going to combine our skills by engaging
in both summary and analysis to help us more deeply understand Pratt’s ideas, particularly that of
the “contact zone.” To do this, one must first determine Pratt’s central argument as well as subclaims through close reading, copious note taking, discussion, and the asking pertinent questions of
peers and myself—sound familiar? Because all of our essays for this sequence will be built on
your understanding of Pratt’s concepts and ideas, it is very important that you take the
requisite time to complete the deep reading, and writing for this piece.
In this assignment you will be working on Pratt’s essay. The AUDIENCE for your essay will be high
school teachers/administrators that have NOT read Pratt’s work and are not familiar with her
concepts (OC1). Your assignment should address all of the following points and basic structure:
Introduction: Includes a short summary of Pratt’s speech, note the central claim that Pratt is
positing, as well as any major sub-claims. (The claim in this essay will be Pratt’s argument, plus a
note on HOW she argues her points—this is what we did with Anzaldua’s essay in SP1.2).
Body:
1. Summarize the evidence (content) that supports her central claim, and offer at least an
overview and a direct quote to solidify how this evidence connects to the claim.
2. Analyze how the argument is made by Pratt—(Rhetorical Modes, Evidence types, use of
quotes, organizational sequencing, or other method)—make sure to use evidence directly
from Pratt to prove your assertions.
--Both of these methods are used for you to demonstrate Outcomes 2 and 3.
Conclusion
Tie it all together with a nice little bow, but include what the implications of Pratt’s central ideas are
in our daily lives—we need to begin to connect Pratt’s ideas to our own lives and world.
Format:
2-3 double spaced pages
MLA for heading, title, running head etc… and WORKS CITED
ALSO DUE: Explain how you have demonstrated that Outcome 2 in this paper. Give at least 1
example from the Outcome language itself (heading sentence and/or bullet points) AND evidence
(quotes) from your own paper, AND explain the relationship between the two. This will be
attached to your SP2.1. This is to practice for writing the portfolio cover letter at the end of the
semester. It is PART of the assignment—if you don’t do it, the paper will be considered
INCOMEPLETE and you will receive no credit or feedback.
Sequence 2: Language, Community, Identity, & Power
SHORT PAPER 2.2: YOUR LOCAL CONTACT ZONE
Date Assigned: ___________________________
Date Due: _______________________________
For this next short paper you will be working with the idea of the contact zone. Imagine that Mary
Louise Pratt is taking a Visiting Professor position at the UW Tacoma and frequently visits Lakes
High School. Pratt is intending to teach a course on local contact zones. Unfortunately, she is not
familiar with contact zones in Lakewood, Tacoma, or JBLM and surrounding areas. So she’s asked
each of you write to her and propose a contact zone that would work for her course.
For this assignment you will write a short paper for Pratt (Pratt is your AUDIENCE for this
piece—so you want to focus on using language and rhetoric appropriate to appeal to her
sensibilities—hint: academic language for this top-notch professor might help) in which you explain
how a particular space in our area is a contact zone. You must do more than describe your contact
zone – you must analyze what about it makes it a contact zone. As such, you will want to use
specific evidence from Pratt’s essay to argue that your space is a good example of a contact zone,
such as:
 quotations
 key terms (beyond “contact zone” and its definition)
 comparisons to her examples
Be sure to clearly explain the connection between evidence from Pratt’s essay and the analysis you
are making of your own contact zone.
You may also wish to emulate some of the methods of analysis Pratt uses, such as:
 a brief analysis of an artifact from the space (a sign, a flyer, a song playing, a conversation
overheard, etc.) the way Pratt analyzes Guaman Poma's New Chronicle
 a brief analysis of an anecdote from your own life (an experience in the space, or in a
different space that nonetheless illustrates the type of interactions you're describing) the way
Pratt analyzes her son's experiences with baseball and his homework assignment
Important: You will be working on this space for the entirety of this sequence, leading up to
making your own "protest" regarding the power relationships in it, so be sure to pick a contact zone
with cultural interactions that are sufficiently complex and which interest you! (The contact zone
need not involve a culture with which you identify, but it might help if it does.) As such, I ask that
you post your ideas about the type of contact zones you are thinking of using for this sequence as a
turnitin discussion post. Additionally, you are invited to respond to other people’s ideas for contact
zones. Please submit these ideas to the discussion board by ___________________).
Format:
2-3 double spaced pages
MLA style in-text citations and Works Cited
Sequence 2: Language, Community, Identity, & Power
SHORT PAPER 2.3: YOUR PLACE IN THEIR SPACE
Date Assigned: ____________________________
Date Due: _______________________________
Now is the time for you to follow up on your initial presentation of your contact zone by
conducting some primary research. As a corollary to your initial inquiry, you are being asked to
perform a detailed observation of your space and the power relationships between the groups there.
Remember that you are ultimately working toward a “protest” of this contact zone, so keep that in
mind as you collect and record your evidence.
For this short paper, please perform an observation of your contact zone, focusing on the power
relationships between the groups—how those power dynamics are affected by the space itself, and
how they are evidenced by the artifacts in the space. Produce a 2-3 page report clearly detailing the
results of your observation. The AUDIENCE for this piece is your peers—you will need to make
sure your writing will be understandable and clear for this audience.
Use a “lab report” style of structuring and formatting your paper, appropriate to your particular
investigation, evidence, and conclusions.
Topics for analysis should include some of the following:
 Observed movements and interactions between members of the groups of your contact
zone
 Artifacts within your contact zone, and how individuals interact with them
 Spatial organization / physical structures of your space, and their effects
 How the above dictate, reinforce, or reflect the power relationships of your CZ
In order to deepen and complicate your investigation and analysis, you may wish to reference Pratt’s
examples of analysis of artifacts of contact zones.
Format:
2-3 pages
MLA format for any citations that you may make in this paper
ALSO DUE: Explain how you have demonstrated that Outcome 1 in this paper. Give at least 1
example from the Outcome language itself (heading sentence and/or bullet points) AND evidence
(quotes) from your own paper, AND explain the relationship between the two. This will be
attached to your SP2.3. This is to practice for writing the portfolio cover letter at the end of the
semester. It is PART of the assignment—if you don’t do it, the paper will be considered
INCOMEPLETE and you will receive no credit or feedback.
Sequence 2: Language, Community, Identity, & Power
MAJOR PAPER 2: POWER & PROTEST IN THE CONTACT ZONE
Date assigned: __________________________________
Draft due for Peer Review: ________________________________
Make sure to bring 1 newly revised copy of your essay to each session, NOT the same essay or
papers from the first session to the second session. This is important in meeting Outcome 4 and
will figure into your performance grade—you will not receive credit for having the same old version,
there MUST be evidence of revision work done in order to receive credit.
Final draft due: ___________________________________
This assignment can be approached from a variety of perspectives. You can create your protest as
yourself, as a fictional or real member of the contact zone other than yourself, as a journalist, as an
advocacy organization, or some combination of more than one of those. Whoever you choose to be,
you have decided to address an issue related to the power relations in your contact zone through
some form of “protest.”
For your second major paper, please create a “protest” regarding an issue involving the power
relations between the groups in the contact zone you’ve identified. This “protest” need not be literal
protest narrowly defined, but can take any of a variety of strategies (as we will discuss).
Your “protest” can be in one of two formats:
o Option 1: A 5-7 page, formal text-based genre, such as an academic paper, a letter to the
editor, a letter to a fictional or real participant in the contact zone, a speech, etc.
o Option 2: A “protest” artifact in some genre (picket signs, a flyer, proposed graffiti, a song, a
poem, a play, a graphic novel, a cartoon, an ad in an appropriate publication, etc.)
PLUS a 4-6 page “Statement of Artistic Intent” explaining and justifying your artifact (what
is it protesting, what claim is it making, why did you pick this genre, how does the artifact act
to persuade its audience, what result do you intend for this to have, what are the stakes, etc.)
A successful assignment will demonstrate awareness of the following guidelines:
 Protest is a genre where you will want to put your entire main claim at the start or your
paper to set out your argument forcefully from the beginning.
 Be sure to include analysis of the power relationships and cite multiple kinds of evidence to
support your argument. Decide whether it’s better to make your warrants explicit and justify
them, or leave them implicit. At the same time, consider which types of appeals may be most
persuasive for your argument.
 You must explicitly consider and rebut counter-claims to your argument / qualify your
position in response. Remember, complexity enhances credibility and accuracy, and thus the
persuasiveness of your protest!
 You must make use of (and cite!) at least one of the readings from this sequence.
 You must be sure to articulate the stakes of your protest – why it matters.
5-7 pages in appropriate format OR Artifact plus 4-6 pages in MLA format.