In a minimum 5-page essay, you will use Gee’s idea of discourse communities to look at a career of interest to you. You will use Gee’s concept of discourse communities to:
· Explain the most important values, actions, language, and belief systems of your career
o You must also explain WHY these things are valued and how they align or conflict with your own values
· Discuss other discourse communities that it is connected to and how it is connected
o For example, a police officer is connected to several different discourses—criminals, victims, emergency services (and many more)
· Explore a controversial issue in your career and how the controversy is connected to different (but related) discourses or sub discourses in the same field
· Explain which parts of the discourse you see as needing to be acquired and which parts you see as needing to be learned and why
· Finally, end by discussing your own membership in this discourse
o Where do you see yourself in terms of having a full “identity kit” in this discourse?
§ You should consider and analyze all of the aspects of an identity kit
o What do you still need to learn and how do you plan to learn it?
o What do you still need to acquire and how do you plan to acquire it?
o What parts of the discourse conflicts with other discourses you belong to?
o What else has stood out to you in learning about this discourse?
Special notes:
INTRODUCTION: In addition to introducing the career, a successful paper will introduce Gee’s idea of discourse communities and connect it to the career in the first paragraph (or two) of your paper.
GEE AS A FRAMEWORK: Your paper should extensively use Gee’s ideas as a way to analyze your career as a discourse. You are expected to quote/paraphrase from Gee often.
RESEARCH: In order to do this project successfully, you will need to do research about your discourse community. You will need to use at least four outside sources, not including Gee.
Requirements:
ü Four outside sources in addition to Gee
ü Minimum 5 pages
ü Either APA or MLA format and citation
ü See syllabus for due dates
