Discourse Community Project

Purpose and Genre

For this project, you will conduct primary and secondary research about a discourse community
that you are a member of, that you wish to enter, or that you want to learn more about. You will
then present your findings and arguments in the form of a scholarly research article. A
discourse community is a group of people who share genres, purposes, and methods of
communicating (see Swales; we will talk more about this in class). For example, scholars and
students in a particular academic field like philosophy would constitute a discourse community;
a group of political activists who communicate through a site like Twitter might also constitute a
discourse community.
You might be a participant observer as you conduct your research, which means that you
participate in the discourse community while you study it; alternatively, you may observe your
chosen discourse community without actively participating in it. Youll conduct primary research
by interviewing a discourse community member (or multiple members) and by rhetorically
analyzing the genres of the discourse community to determine their purposes, audiences,
conventions, etc. We will study rhetorical analysis and genre in more detail in the coming
weeks.
This project will be part of your final portfolio. You will also deliver a brief presentation of your
research and findings during our final exam period. This presentation should provide a threeminute overview of your analysis that incorporates a visual element of some kind (poster, Prezi,
etc.). You should also be prepared to answer questions from your audience after you conclude
your presentation.
Scholarly research articles are a common genre of academic writing in every field. We will
study examples of scholarly research about discourse communities. This research is most often
published in print (as articles in peer-reviewed journals, or as books published by academic
presses). However, many scholars publish their research in digital form (as documentary video,
digital texts in online journals, etc.). The tone and style of a scholarly article tends to be formal;
these articles often use the jargon appropriate to their subject and discipline. Readers expect
scholarly articles to engage in conversation with research that has already been published on
the topicthis means integrating peer-reviewed academic sources from journals and books.
Citing only a few related research studies is usually not enough to demonstrate that youve
deeply engaged with your topic, so you should try to be as thorough as possible. But, since this
is a small research project, Ill only expect you to cite between four and six secondary sources.
Youll collect these in an annotated bibliography as you conduct your research. (We will review
examples of annotated bibliographies in the coming weeks, but, for now, you should know that
an annotated bibliography is a list of source citations with a short statement of summary and
evaluation for each. It is used as a tool for structuring and organizing academic research in a
number of disciplines.)
Your primary audience for the discourse community project is the academic discourse
community of UWP 1 students and teachers. You will include this project in your final portfolio,
and you also have the option of circulating your research to a wider academic audiencefeel
free to submit it for consideration to the UWPs first-year composition journal Readings about
Writing. You might also consider submitting your research to the UC Davis Undergraduate

Research Conference (https://urc.ucdavis.edu/conference/), the journal Young Scholars in

Writing (http://cas.umkc.edu/english/publications/youngscholarsinwriting/default.asp), or
publishing your research on an online platform (YouTube, Wordpress, etc.)
Format
Research articles have different formats depending on their disciplines. For example, articles in
the hard sciences tend to use a more objective tone, fewer direct quotations, and more visual
elements (charts, graphs). Articles in the humanities may be less reliant on visual
representations of data and more heavily reliant on quotations from textual sources; they also
vary much more widely in tone. In every field, some basic conventions apply: these articles are
often prefaced by an abstract that summarizes the article; theres usually an introduction and
discussion of related research; a discussion of research methods; a presentation of results or
findings; and a concluding discussion of the significant of the findings or of the research more
generally. Some articles use headings to organize this material.
The length of an academic article will depend on the size and scope of the study, as well as any
relevant assignment or publication guidelines. Yours will be a relatively small study, so your
article should be between 1,800 and 2,100 words. Non-print articles (video, audio, etc.) will
probably contain fewer words since more of your labor will go toward creating visual elements,
editing audio or video, etc.
In the field of writing studies, the most commonly used citation style is APA (standardized
according to the American Psychological Association, a professional group). Other humanities
disciplines use MLA style (standardized according to the Modern Language Association). APA
tends to emphasize the year of publication of research; MLA tends to highlight individual authors
or academics. We will use APA style in this class, but if you plan to submit your research to
Young Scholars in Writing, you may use MLA style, which is that journals preferred style. We
will talk more about citation methods in class.
Cover Letters
You will include a cover letter with both your workshop draft and the revised draft you submit to
me. The cover letter for your workshop draft should describe what you think the strengths and
weaknesses of your draft are. You should also detail any questions or concerns you have for
your peer respondents. The cover letter for your revised draft should describe the strengths and
weaknesses of this revision as well as any questions or concerns you have for me. You should
also summarize the feedback you received from your peers during workshop and which
revisions you have (or have not) made.
Criteria for Grading
See the UWP 1 portfolio rubric.
Timeline
Date: Before class, upload your discourse community project proposal to Canvas, and bring a
print or digital copy of your proposal to class.

Date: Before class, upload your annotated bibliography to Canvas, and bring a print or digital
copy to class.
Date: Before class, submit a draft of your article to Canvas. Bring a print or digital copy of this
draft to class.
Date: Before class, submit a revision of your article to Canvas, for feedback from me.
Date: Include a final draft of your article in your portfolio.
Date: As your final exam, deliver a three-minute oral presentation of your research, followed by
a short question-and-answer session.