STACC / English 1A Discourse Community Ethnography

Writing Prompt: An ethnography is a descriptive study. To prepare you for your career beyond
college, research and write a 1750-2500 word (7-10 page) ethnography of a professional discourse
community, analyzing a community of which you would like to be a member. In your
introduction, make a claim with your thesis that based on your research, the group you are
analyzing does indeed qualify as a discourse community.
Sources: Your sources will come both from our syllabus and from research you do on your own.
Quote from the five academic essays on discourse communities (Swales, Gee, Johns, Wardle,
and Mirabelli). In addition, collect and analyze at least four samples of texts people in your
discourse community read or write, such as newsletters, memos, emails, reports, and/or charts
(one of these must be a scholarly article found through the PCC library databases). Finally, you
must interview one person who already is a member of your discourse community. Thus, you
will have ten sources.
Annotated Bibliography: Before drafting your essay, write an annotated bibliography (see
section R3-a of your Writers Reference handbook) so that you really understand your sources.
For each of your ten sources, write an MLA works cited entry (see the MLA-4 section of your
Writers Reference handbook). Following each works cited entry, write a developed paragraph
that summarizes the authors thesis and major supporting pointsand describes how you will
integrate the article into your own essay. Double-space and put the MLA entries in alphabetical
order by author. Completing this assignment will prepare you to draft your essay. (70 points;
draft due for peer review April 13th; final draft of annotated bib due April 15th.
Drafts: The more developed your rough drafts, the better feedback you will receive from peers
and me, and the further along you will be in the research and discovery process. With each draft,
revise your essay to organize and improve it. (Drafts due for peer review on April 20th, 22nd, and
27th; 10% deducted from final draft grade if rough drafts are not submitted by the beginning of
class on their due dates). Feel free throughout your drafting process to come to my office hours
for feedback.
Presentation: The objective of this assignment is to share your essay with the class by creating a
slide presentation (e.g. GoogleDrive or PowerPoint). Your presentation must convey to the class
the highlights of what you discovered by completing this ethnography. The entire presentation
should be 5-10 minutes. Be prepared to answer questions from me and your classmates. As part
of your presentation grade, on the days you are not presenting, you must attend class, be
engaged, and ask at least one question. (30 points; you will sign up to present on April 27th, 29th,
or May 6th)
Final Draft: Turn in a highly organized essay that you have read aloud multiple times and
meticulously proofread; turn in an essay you are proud of! Dont forget to include your works
cited page. (final draft worth 200 points)