UNIT TWO: Discourse Community

In order to explain Unit 2, I have to talk about Units 2 + 3 together first, because you can use the research you do now in Unit 2 for your project in Unit 3. So, you’re going to have to use some foresight in the research decisions you make! 

In Unit 3 (the NEXT unit) you can use one section of this piece, the one you use research to create, as the starting point for your longer piece.

For example, in Unit 2, you might write about vaccines. You would then write one piece from the point of view of a parent who is in favor of them, how an anti-vaxxer would talk about them, and how a doctor/researcher would speak about them. If you want to sound like a doctor/researcher talking to others in the field, you will surely need research written by them to back you up.  Whatever you write in Part 3 of Unit 2 can be basis for the research you do in Unit 3. You don’t need to know exactly what you’re going to be doing in Unit 3 yet, but hopefully writing Part 3 of Unit 2 will help you develop those ideas. 

The old saying goes, “before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes,” but what is that criticism when one has already walked that mile? When one is within a discourse community, it is just communication from within. In addition, that critique is re-purposed as information to be used for feedback with the rest of its members.

So, for this piece, you will be asked to put on some new hats, and possibly some old ones. Try and imagine how sets of information can be expressed and shared within a particular discourse community. How would a science fiction movie be discussed by a group of astronomers or a group going to Comic-Con? You will be asked to express this distinctly in three separate parts, but all in one paper. Take one topic, within 9 pages, and express this in the way three separate communities would (3 pages per community).

 

What you’ll be graded on:

  1.   Content: Is it readable and informative? Does it teach us about the genre and community? Does it teach us about the rhetorical situation surrounding each of your communities? 
  2. Research: Did you dig deep– meaning, did you look further than the first three hits on Google? 
  3. Genre: You need at least two formal articles, or one non-print source if applicable to your community.  
  4. Presentation: Basically, can someone outside of the community come to understand what is being discussed. Standard Written English and academic tone don’t matter so much, just as long as it’s done with care and shows that you’ve proofread it.
  5. Citation: If you quote something in Part Three of your paper that’s from one or more of your sources, be sure to cite it.
Part 1:Written from the point of view of one discourse community. This should lay the foundation for the other two parts. Much information should be given here that you can contradict, support, or bolster with your other two parts when needed. 

 

Part 2: Written from the the perspective of another discourse community. You do not need research for this portion. It can be information spoken about from Part 1, but expressed as a different community would state it. 
Part 3:Written from the perspective of a more formal discourse community. For this portion, you will need research. 

Each of these sections should be at least 3 pages a piece.(9 pages total)