ERH 101: Writing and Rhetoric, Lt. Col. Hodde

Essay 3

Length: 1400 words (body); Include: Interesting Title and Works Cited Style: MLA; 12 point font, 1.5 spaces, Times New Roman, insert pages 
 

Prompt: (D)iscourse Communities provide people more than a common language, they offer an “identity toolkit” (Gee), a way of belonging, valuing, practicing, and communicating common goals and purposes. We’ve discussed some personal (D)iscourse affiliations, those we brought from home, and those we aspire to belong to at college, and beyond. But as we know, gaining membership and authority in DC’s is not always easy. There may be dissent within its ranks regarding goals or best practices. Members may voice varying perspectives on what’s required to belong, or the direction of the mission. For this essay, identify a Discourse Community of interest that is either recreational, cultural, or occupational. Your ultimate goal is to write an essay that provides evidence to define and evaluate how members identify with and accept conventions of that community, resist or seek to change its authority. 

This essay requires 4 sources (1 scholarly, 2 trade, 1 misc. media). We’ll use search engines like Academic Search Complete, Access World News to gather sources that broadly represent the DC’s purpose, identity and practices for stakeholders:

1. A scholarly journal article published in the last 10 years that studied communication practices/ responses to issues in your DC 
2. A trade publication or association web site affiliated with your DC-- (home website page, blog, professional magazine) 
3. A “news” piece from a journal or newsfeed with public reach (i.e., regional paper, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The Atlantic, Reddit)
4.  An additional public source with visual / audio elements (Podcast or Ted Talk or with field “experts”, documentary, advertisement, brochure, institutional or convention web site)