ENC 1101 Spring 2013
DISCOURSE COMMUNITY ANALYSIS
Due
r Dr Dates:
aft:
F
M
Fin
al, M arch 2 riday
9
ond
ay,
Apr
il 1
Pee
DESCRIPTION
For this assignment, you’re going to
study then write about a discourse
community.Then you will write an
analysis of that discourse community.
You may formulate your own research
question, or you might answer this one:
What are the goals and characteristics
of this discourse community? How
successful is the discourse community at
achieving these goals?” In other words,
for this assignment you will need to find
a discourse community and go about
studying it: making observations,
collecting data, analyzing that
information, then writing about it.
This project requires you to visit, more
than once, a place or group of people
that are new to you. Projects that have
been relatively unsuccessful in the past
include bars, kids' pizza places (like
Chuck E Cheese's) and other locations
where a lot of different people might
gather that don’t have that much in
common. Since a lot of people gather
in these places, there aren't many
“rules” that are different from everyday
life.
REQUIREMENTS
To collect evidence for this assignment, you will:
● Spend 4–5 hours observing and collecting evidence in
the location you have selected (this will be submitted
when you turn in your revised paper).
● You will also need to interview at least one member of
the discourse community (record, then transcribe this
interview; this will also be submitted)
● Collect two or more documents that are used for the
discourse community’s goals.
● Identify and collect examples of the community’s lexis.
● Consider the rules for membership. How easy is it to
join this discourse community? Is there an official
process? Are outsiders welcome? How does that relate to
the discourse community’s goals?
Some successful projects have included a discussion of a
conference of Deaf people; discussions public transit systems, and
a particular community of Disney cast members. Remember that
a discourse community is not necessarily a physical place, like
Swales’ Hong Kong Study Circle (or 4chan).
We will brainstorm ideas for this project in class, and talk about
their potential challenges. Remember that a successful essay
cannot simply be a list of rules, or a series of observations. You
will need to use your powers of analysis and audience awareness
to create a piece of writing that makes people think about this
discourse community, what it does, and why that matters.
DISCOURSE COMMUNITY ANALYSIS, CONTINUED!
PAGE
2
WHAT I AM LOOKING FOR IN THIS ASSIGNMENT
• Collection of the required pieces of evidence (interview, documents, field notes) that will together make
the argument that this is, indeed, a discourse community.
• You might use Swales, Gee, Johns, or even Mirabelli either to describe the conversation already
happening about discourse communities, or to comment on the one you have studied.
• Ask, then answer, questions. Who has authority here, and why? Are there conflicts within this discourse
community? what are they? What is the lexis and what does it say about the community?
• Purposeful Reasoning and organizational structure. Another way to think of this is to ask yourself how
you can best tell the story of this discourse community.
• Sophisticated use of support and evidence (your own research explained and put in a context/use of one
or more of our readings).
• Presentation of your own perspective and position in relation to the discourse community you are
examining.
• Presentation of others' perspective(s) and position(s) in relation to the discourse community you are
examining (how do you see this place? How might someone else?)
• Discussion of conclusions, implications, and consequences of the situation you have observed.
FORMATTING
Your paper should adhere to the MLA formatting standards unless you present to me a well-reasoned
argument for presenting your paper in another fashion perhaps, in this case, formatting would tell the
reader something about the discourse community). I will show examples in class of nontraditional
formatting for this particular assignment.
,