Advanced writing assignment discourse community

You need to know Concept of Discourse Communities ( GOOGLE IT )
You need to knowGenre :
Genre canTells me how people in the group relate to each other:
Relationships range: personal to formal
Leaders/experts Become clearer
Genre Can help me organize my paper:
Arrange By social media formal electronic communication printeddocumentsetc.
Genre Can tell me how the group does business/meets its goals: Sometimes Explicitly stated
Genre CanTellsMe what niche (collective identity) group occupies (Android users/Apple users)
OUT LINE
1)INTRODUCTION
Answer:
Why do we use a discourse community to
understandlanguage?
End withthesisstatement.
EX. Consistent observation [specific
documents] and an interview with
[expert/novice name & title] reveal
[discourse community name]s
mechanisms/ communicative
aims/goals/ideas about [concept]
(2SUMMARIZE SWALESS
CHARACTERISTICS
One strategy:

Introduce a characteristic (w/citation)

Explain characteristic (w/citation)

Provide examples
Ex. Swales requires specific lexis of any groupth
at might be called adiscou
rsecommunity (222). He
does not rule out terms that can be used in other
contexts (222). For instance a group of roommates
might be just as concerned with parking as acommuni
ty of factory workers and words related to that
ideacan be found in both communities. His em
phasis however is on shared and specialized
terminology as a way to understand groupdynami
cs through communicative formats (222). It would
be more valuable for example to know that in Professor Myerss class DCA is a common
abbreviation for a major assignment than to know that
instructoruses the phrase freak out frequently.
3BASIC INFO

Consider

What makes this group a discourse
community?

What makes the analysis of this DC
unique or interesting?

What matters to members of the
community? What do they do? What
do they value?
3) METHODOLOGY

How did I gather my data?

How often did I observe my DC? In what setting?

Whom did I interview? Why was this person selected?
4) APLY SWALESS CHARACTERISTICS TO
MY DC

Why does the group exist? What does the group do? What are its shared goals?

How do group members communicate with oneanot
her (e.g. meetings phone calls e-mail text
messages newsletters reports evaluation forms blogs online bulletin boards etc.)?

What are the purposes of the groupscommunicati
ons(share information reinforce values make
money improve performance offer support declare identity etc.)?

Which of the above communications can be considered
genres
(i.e. textual responses to recurring
situations that all group members recognize and understand)?

What kinds of specialized language (
lexis
) do group members use in their conversations and in
their written genres?

Who are the old timers in the group with expert
ise? Who are the newcomers with less expertise?
How do newcomers learn the appropriate language genres and knowledge of the group?
5) ANALYSIS

Are there conflictswi
thinthediscourse
community? If so about what? How dotheir
genresaddress those conflicts?

Which genres helpthe
discoursecommunity
worktoward their goals most effectively?

Do some participants in the communityhave
difficultyspeaking or writingwithinit? Why?

Who has authority in thediscourse
community? How was thatauthority
established? How is authoritydemonstrated
inwritten and oral language?
6) CONCLUSION

What can my readers take away from this essay?

Whatfuture work canbe done with the work Ive accomplished here?
MORE INFO
Purpose
The purpose of this assignment is to help you more fully understand how discourse communities use language to function and accomplish theirpurposes andgoals.
Getting Started
Description
Your goal is to compose an interesting description and insightful analysis of the language practices (spoken and written) of a discourse community of your own choosing.
Identify a discourse community that interests or intrigues you. You may be a member of that discourse community; you might be an outsider. For our purposes a discourse community could be any group of people who identify themselvesas a group. Some possibilities include a church group a fraternity or sorority a club or team a social organization an academic or professional organization etc.
If you are uncertain whether a group is indeed a discourse community apply Swales six characteristics of a discourse community (220-22) to see if you can find answers to the following questions:
Why does the group exist? What does the group do? What are its shared goals?
How do group members communicate with one another (e.g. meetings phone calls e-mail text messages newsletters reports evaluation forms blogs online bulletin boards etc.)?
What are the purposes of the groups communications (share information reinforce values make money improve performance offer support declare identity etc.)?
Which of the above communications can be consideredgenres(i.e. textual responses to recurring situations that all group members recognize and understand)?
What kinds of specialized language (lexis) do group members use in their conversations and in their written genres?
Who are the old timers in the group with expertise? Who are the newcomers with less
expertise? How do newcomers learn the appropriate language genres and knowledge of the group?
Collecting Information
Once you have identified a discourse community to study you will need to engage in the following research activities:
Observeandtakedetailednotesofmembersofthediscoursecommunitywhiletheyareengaged
in a shared group activity.(What are they doing? What kinds of things do they say? What do they write? How do you who is in and who is out?)
Collectanythingpeopleinthatcommunityreadorwrite(i.e.theirgenres)official publications newsletters blogsforms IMs textsetc.
Interview at least one member of the discourse community.(How long have you been involved with this group? Why are you involved? What do the terms X. Y and Z mean? How do you communicate with the group? How did you learn to write things to thegroup?)
Analyzing Information
As you gather and review information about the discourse community what catches your interest most? What stands out to you about that community? What surprises you? Listed below are some additional questions that can help you dig more deeplyforyour analysis of the group:
Arethereconflictswithinthediscoursecommunity?Ifsoaboutwhat?Howdotheirgenres address thoseconflicts?
Whichgenreshelpthediscoursecommunityworktowardtheirgoalsmosteffectively?
Dosomeparticipantsinthecommunityhavedifficultyspeakingorwritingwithinit?Why?
Who has authority in the discourse community? How was that authority established? How authority demonstrated in written and orallanguage?
Planning and Drafting
Because your goal is to compose an interesting insightful analysis of a discourse community you will use the material you have gathered from your observations and interview(s). An analysis is your interpretation of all the information you collect. Strive to make sense of everything you learn about the discourse community and convey that to the reader.
Adopt the impartial analytical stance of a researcher conducting a study. Writing in third-person is appropriate (unless perhaps you are a member of the discourse community). Render others words fairly. Your comments and explanations should provide your readers with important background information and connections to the course readings where appropriate.
As you draft your analysis there are many ways you can arrange your material. The suggestions below are not a template but they may help you consider the types of information you should include:
Begin by explaining what a discourse community is by quoting and paraphrasing some of the readings in our textbook (e.g. SwalesMcCarthy)
Identifythediscoursecommunityyoustudiedbyexplainingwhatmakesitdiscoursecommunity (referringtoSwalesscriteriawouldbeuseful)andwhatmakesitworthstudying
Describe how you studied the discoursecommunity
Discuss in detail what you discovered about the discourse community (use examples and quotes from your notes interview and texts you collected) and analyze what makes it significant to understanding thatgroup
Includea workscited page (for interviews genresetc.)
What Makes It Effective?
An effective analysis is vivid: rich with details examples descriptions and insights.
A reader should finish reading your analysis and have a clear sense of the discourse community you studied. If asked a reader could find answers in your analysis to the following questions (in no particular order):
What makes this a discourse community? What makes it unique? Interesting?
What matters to members of the community? What do they do? What do they value? How is membership in the community established? Maintained?
How do members use spoken and written language to accomplish their goals?
An effective portrait will demonstrate that you have done sufficient research; organized the material to present key ideas; and edited and proofread to eliminate grammar spelling and punctuation errors.
Final drafts should be at least 1750 words. Be sure to include an interesting title.
FINALLY I uploaded example