Your second major assignment for Composition 102 is an ethnographic research article on a discourse community of your choice, using Swales six characteristics as the basis for your inquiry. The article will examine a particular discourse community in action.
Research: on DCF workers
-Observe members of the dcf workers community in action. Take notes on their roles, interactions and language.
-Collect anything members of the community read or write: newsletters, reports, brochures, memos, notes, text messages, etc. What Genres does this discourse community use, and for what purposes?
-Interview a member(s) of the community. Example questions might be: What is your role in this community? How did you become involved? Are there any words that are specific to your community? What are they and what do they mean? How do you communicate with members of your community? Are members able to communicate with you?
Write the Article:
-Use Swales six characteristics of a Discourse Community to analyze your research. Use your research notes to make connections to Swales text.
-The basic structure of this essay can look like this:
1.Thorough introduction (1/2-1 page). It may be helpful to read a few ethnographies to get a sense of what that looks like.
2.Outline your research methods(1/2-1 page). Talk about how you gathered material.
3. Body paragraphs (3-4 pages). Break down your research and discuss/analyze using Swales 6 characteristics.
4. Conclusion (1/2-1 page). Reflect on your findings and analysis.
