Project 1: Analysis of Writing in Profession/Discipline

Project
1: Analysis of Writing in Profession/Discipline
This assignment engages you with how people in
your field communicate in writing – a look at your profession’s discourse
community. Discourse communities can only have similar interest and shared
knowledge because they continually produce, distribute, and consume written (as
well as oral and visual) texts. This textual exchange defines a discourse
community, sustains it over time, and allows it to adapt to changing social
conditions. In other words, discourse communities share not only interests and
knowledge, but language, and the particular
uses of language within a community keep that community alive.
This assignment asks you to explore these
questions: What kinds of writing do people in your profession or discipline
create, consume, and distribute? How is it delivered? Who are its specific
audiences? What are its specific purposes?
Length:2500 words
Audience: instructor, classmates, and
people not a part of your major/discipline
Format: APA,
or the major citation style in your field (see Links on BB for citation
resources).
This assignment should have
three main parts:
I. An overview of your field, characteristics,
activities, and values of your field. Include some discussion of your relation
to these values and activities, i.e. your interest or what you plan to do.
II. An overview of the genres (types) of writing
in your field and the variety of audiences. Again include some statement of
where you stand or expect to stand in relation to these genres. What genres
would you expect to use to explore the inquiry questions you’ve posed so far in our course? What genres might best
express findings from that inquiry?
III. An in-depth analysis of a professional
organization/society’s Web site in your field. This should be the bulk of your
essay.For your conclusion, consider
how this site reflects and enacts the values, practices, and genres you discuss
in the first two parts of your essay.
As you analyze the text of the site, consider
these questions. Please note you do not need to explore each of these criteria,
nor are you limited to them. They are guidelines to help you think about ways
to analyze this source. Be sure to use specific examples from the text to
illustrate what you’re saying, i.e. quotations:
•
Author/s: How many
authors are there and what do you know about them? How do you know it? Is there
a note? If so, where is this note? How does/do the author/authors establish
authority?
•
Purpose: Does the
text seek to inform, instruct, analyze, persuade, argue, or evaluate? How do
you know?
•
Audience: Does the
text write to members of the community or to outsiders or to both? Is the texts
primarily targeted to equals, experts, or beginners? In short, who is the
audience and how do you know?
•
Context: Where is
this text situated/published? Are there ads surrounding the text or anything
else? What can you tell about the venue as a whole?
•
Sources: Does the
site use other sources? If so, how many and of what kind? Are they
peer-reviewed sources or not? How can you tell? How does the author treat the
sources? Respectfully or critically or both? How are the sources cited?
•
Content
Level: How specific or broad or difficult is the content, the ideas and information
in the text?
•
Format: What is
the structure or layout of the text? Is there an abstract? Are there key terms?
Are there sections or is it one long text? Columns? Endnotes or footnotes?
•
Language: How would
you characterize the tone of the text? The writing style? Is the passive voice
or active voice dominant? Is the first person or third person dominant? Are the
sentences long or short? Is there use of figurative language such as metaphors
and similes? Offer a sample sentence or two as evidence for analysis.
•
Visuals: Are there
any visuals, such as charts, graphs, or pictures?
Rubric for
grading:
·
Effectively identifies modes of writing in the
profession.
·
Effectively locates the writer’s own relation to
the modes of writing within the profession.
·
Demonstrates careful reading of the text chosen
for investigation. Demonstrates analysis of genre, author/s, purpose, audience,
?context, sources, content level, format, language and visuals.
·
Uses sufficient examples.
·
Demonstrates careful crafting, including
structure, with respect for his/her primary audience.
·
Is sufficiently developed.
·
Demonstrates clear writing and is grammatically
correct.
·
Shows effective use of citation conventions.

Discourse community is a common goal by having a mutual
exchange mechanism. The members use special vocabulary in the group, and the
language plays an important role. Every member should understand and learn
these special vocabulary, because they should use this skill to get into this
discourse community; on the other hand, it is a necessary to maintain the
discourse community, community development and change only it can be achieved
through participation in language.

1.
My discourse community is Chinese Students
Physics Study Group (CSPSG). We have a common public goal, which is helping
Chinese students to study and understand Physics. The members help each other
to improve their English skill in physics, and help them to get a higher GPA to
graduate.
2.
The purpose of our common public goal is default
and public, because all group members join this group is studying physics and
getting a good grade.
3.
The way of communication in this study group is
periodical meeting and email. Our group leader will send the meeting time and
address (if it changed) every week. We also use email to talk our ideas and
questions about physics. When I have some physics questions that I do not know
how to solve, I will write them down and email other members. They always give
me several angles in solutions.
4.
Every member has a responsibility to participate
this study group. We have to go to meeting every week to put questions or solve
questions. Although some members do not have physics questions, they must join
meeting and solve other members’ questions. We use this way to keep our
identity in CSPSG.
5.
In this study group, members only can exchange
the ideas about physics. If there was someone put a question in other field,
this question will be ignore. And this member may be kicked out.
6.
Because all the group members are Chinese, we
use Chinese to communicate. Usually, we use some abbreviations and these
abbreviations are based on Chinese: sliding friction (DMC), static friction
(JMC), slider (HK) and movable block (DHL). They are easy to express and
explain, so we use them a lot.

Suggestions:

The instructions for this project say that
you need to write on how people in your field in your case engineering
communicate in writing, so whatever you engineer is, that is your discourse community.
So i dont know if by you writing about a discourse community you form part
of its okey.

Seems that you know and
understand discourse community the way that Swales explains and
writes.

You still need a lot of work by explaining
all 6 characteristics that Swales gives to identify a
discourse community.