For this assignment, you are being charged with the task of creating an introductory training guide for novice members of your discourse community. You may already have an idea of where you want to start in creating this handbook, but if not, try using the following steps to get going.
Tips for Creating a Training Guide
1. Compile the information that the handbook/training guide needs to cover.
Carefully read through the assignment requirements. It may help to write out the questions that you need to be sure to answer. Then, before looking anything up online or in texts, try to answer the questions on your own. Consider what you already know about your discourse community, and then look to see what you need to learn to fill in the blanks.
2. Create an outline for your handbook/training guide.
Before writing the bulk of your assignment, you should take the time to write an outline so that your audiencenovice members of the discourse communitydo not get lost while reading your guide. Depending on your discourse community, you may take different approaches to creating your training guide. You may choose to set up your training guide chronologically, such as with the steps to enter the guide first, discuss various responsibilities that someone in the DC may take on, important terminology, and round out with ways that an individual could progress in the DC. Alternatively, you may choose to create self-contained sections that together build a guide. Be sure to have your order outlined before starting to write so you dont find yourself repeating things unnecessarily.
3. Develop strong introduction and conclusion paragraphs.
Make sure that when you are writing your handbook/training guide you are creating clear and strong introductions and conclusions. Your introduction should be a means of giving a brief overview to the discourse community and what you will be going into in further depths later in the guide. Right out of the gate, your readers should know that this is a training guide for individuals who want to be a part of the DC. Your conclusion should summarize the information youve provided, and give the reader a chance to take stock of everything they just read.
4. Review your information and organization.
While checking your grammar and mechanics is important, you should also revise your DC Handbook for correct information and organization of paragraphs. Ask yourself while your reading if the order of your information makes sense. Consider having a peer who is not in your DC read your training guide and write a list of questions that you could answer to be more clear. 5. Consider your expertise. You probably know more than you think you know about your selected discourse community (DC). For this assignment, you’re being asked to analyze and describe the discourse of your chosen profession, with the goal of helping novice members succeed. This should resemble a training guide for the discourse community, or an introduction to the DC. Create a handbook How does one become a member of this DC?
What values, attitudes, and beliefs are needed to succeed in this field?
What are the common public goals of the discipline?
Where do professionals go to exchange information with each other? (John Swales calls these “participatory mechanisms.”) For example, trade journals and conferences are common participatory mechanisms.
How are those participatory mechanisms used? (In other words, what kinds of information and feedback are commonly conveyed?)
What role does writing play within this DC? What kinds of documents are commonly produced, and what are they used for?
You should also include representative examples of discourse-specific lexis (i.e., specialized terminology, jargon, acronyms, etc.).
