Requirements: The discourse analysis should be 2200–2800 words (approx. 7–8 pages long, double spaced, MLA format with a Works Cited page; don’t count your Works Cited page in your total word/page count). It should rely on both primary and secondary research (with the emphasis resting on primary research).
Our first assignment asked you to explore what literacy has meant in your own experience; this last assignment asks you to consider the composing and meaning-making practices of others.
You are asked to write a research paper that is grounded in research and that explores composing practices of some kind in a certain context.
Some possibilities:
Explore the meaning of literacy in a culture or discourse community that you are a part of or that is relevant to your interests. How does your discourse community create knowledge, communicate, use texts, and teach members skills/literacies valued by that community?
Examine how the texts and genres used by your discourse community shape the actions of their users. For example, study how lab meetings and scientific journal papers shape the research practices of biologists. Or, study how safety/training manuals shape the literacies and discourses of lifeguards. How do these genres reveal values, beliefs, and attitudes about what counts as knowledge within certain discourse communities?
Observe the writing done in the context of a club or organization.
Observer the writing practices of particular members of a club, organization, or community—such as the secretary of a fraternal organization, the writing of a faculty member in your discipline, or of someone in a field you’re interested in.
Reddit, blog, or other social media or Web 2.0 discourse communities, genres, or writing cultures.
Analyze the revision processes of a group of UC students—maybe those of students in this class—the UC plagiarism policy, and students’ understanding of it.
Whatever direction you take this project, I will be looking to see you articulate what is interesting, unique, and/or complex about the literacies, discourses, and/or genres of your chosen discourse community.
You will use primary research methods and close observation to document and analyze the literacy practices particular to your chosen community: interviews, observation, and rhetorical analysis of artifacts. You should also use our readings and discussions to help you generate interesting questions and concepts to study.
