English project

Class Overview

• The session centers around understanding discourse communities and genres in academic writing.

Daily Challenges

• Personal anecdotes related to arriving to class, emphasizing the importance of preparation (e.g., forgetting a laptop).

Assignments Overview

• Focus on exploring discourse communities and academic writing for the upcoming assignment.

Key Concepts

• Discourse Communities: Groups that share a common language, norms, and practices associated with a particular field.

• Genres: Different types of writing/forms within discourse communities that adhere to specific conventions and styles.

• Rhetorical Situation: Examining how context, purpose, and audience influence communication.

Assignment Details

• Exploratory Essay: Students will write an essay that:

  • Examines how disciplines share information and create new knowledge.

  • Involves selecting and analyzing one scholarly text from a journal.

• Focus on integrating personal academic interests related to professional goals to make assignments more relevant.

Scholarly Texts

• Students are to select a peer-reviewed scholarly article that aligns with their academic interests or major.

• Importance of identifying current topics in the field; rely on articles published in the last five years.

Research Skills

• Students will learn how to search for scholarly articles effectively and differentiate between types of sources (academic vs. popular).

Genre Discussion

• Students are required to find a second genre related to their topic aimed at a different audience (e.g., social media posts, magazine articles).

  • This includes comparing how the same topic is approached in academic versus popular contexts.

Assignment Structure

• Drafting the Essay:

  • Introduction

  • Clear definitions of discourse communities and genres.

  • Explore how knowledge is constructed and shared within their discipline.

Critical Thinking Elements

• Incorporate questions that provoke thought about the field's construction and sharing of knowledge.

• Identify how newcomers integrate into the discipline through academic avenues (e.g., attending classes, engaging in discussions).

Rhetorical Choices

• Analyze the audience and rhetorical techniques used in the selected academic and popular texts.

• Discuss differences in language, formality, and presentation between scholarly and non-scholarly work.

Resources for Research

• Utilize the library's resources (e.g., research guides, peer-reviewed article databases).

• Importance of choosing appropriate databases and understanding how to filter search results effectively.

Examples of Sources

• Peer-reviewed articles, professional blogs, trade magazines relevant to the field.

• Criteria for selecting popular articles should align with the academic article's topic, even if not perfectly matched.

Writing Guidelines

• Follow citation styles appropriate to the discipline (e.g., APA, MLA).

• Ensure the reference page is separate from the page count of the actual essay content.

Finalizing the Assignment

• Review and revise drafts before submission, ensuring to compare both genres adequately.

• The essay should be about 5-7 pages in length, excluding the reference page, and adequately reflect all assigned elements.