Personal Research Guide
Project 1: Personal Research Guide
Introduction/Rationale:
The personal research guide is an opportunity for you to begin to explore a professional or disciplinary discourse community you are joining or intend to join. Using primary and secondary research methods, you will explore the literacies of the discourse community by identifying significant genres, key experts, important publications, professional organizations and conferences, online presence, commonly employed research methods in the field, major topical or conversational trends from the last 5-10 years, and broad disciplinary values. You will use this exploration of key disciplinary and/or professional literacies to begin to develop research questions about the discourse community.
Assignment Prompt:
Begin by identifying the disciplinary or professional discourse community you wish to enter and work through the knowledge you already have about the discourse community. Then, using Swales’ six characteristics of discourse communities as a heuristic (bulleted below) generate questions about the field’s purposes, discursive practices, genre conventions, etc. based on your knowledge gaps. What do you need to know or want to find out?
· What are the “common public goals” of the discourse community?
· How do members of the discourse community share ideas and information with each other?
· What kinds of ideas and information do members of the discourse community share with each other?
· What genres does the discourse community use to accomplish its goals?
· What are some key features or examples of the lexis of the discourse community?
· What are the parameters of membership in this discourse community? Who are key figures in the field?
From there, make contact with at least one working professional, scholar, or graduate student in the field to learn more about the key moves of this discourse community:
· Interview a professional or academic in the field about key genres, commonly used research methods, recent major topics, important journal publications, professional organizations, web sources, and conferences. Follow up on that interview with your own research: (1) search for and review several examples of items mentioned in your interview and (2) research the topics or current events that are important in that discipline or profession.
· (Optional) Talk to a WSU librarian about how members of a particular discipline might use various library resources when they conduct research or want to read in the field. Work through some keyword searches to learn how to use the databases as well as to discover journals, conference proceedings, and/or any other prominent resources the database supplies.
Your research guide should articulate at least three major communicative practices used by members of the discourse community to accomplish their goals. These goals should reflect, or at least connect to, reading, writing, and research values uncovered during your meeting with the expert you interview.
Minimum Requirements:
Once you have conducted your research and analysis, compose a 750-1,000 word research guide that includes the following information:
· Swales’ six characteristics of discourse communities as a heuristic that organizes the information you’ve gathered and formats the guide for easy reference
· A definition of the discourse community in terms of its “common public goals” as understood both by a practicing member as well as any professional organizations associated with the specific discourse community.
· At least three major communicative practices used by members of the discourse community to accomplish the above goals.
· A list of prominent “participatory mechanisms” or venues where members publish, share, and discuss information. This includes the field’s major journals, conferences, databases, and other forums for important conversations in the discipline.
· A description of significant “mechanisms of intercommunication” or genres typically used by members of the discourse community to share, discuss, and critique new disciplinary information. This section should include specific examples, not just broad categories like “articles” or “websites” or general statements of topics like “issues in medicine.” Thus, for each genre described, students should reference a specific example and briefly highlight the major issues or topics addressed by the specific “mechanism” under review.
· A description of contemporary major topics of conversation as well as any significant changes in your chosen field of study that have taken place over the last 5-10 years. This section should also identify a short list of the most important terms, acronyms, and key words that make up the disciplinary vernacular.
· 2-3 of your own research questions about the contemporary major topics of your discourse community (as identified above). These questions and their revisions will continue to drive your research over the course of the semester.
· A bibliographic list of all pertinent resources you have uncovered during your search (even if uncited), using the citation method appropriate to the field.
· An invention portfolio that shows how the project was composed over time by assembling all planning and drafting documents.
Learning Objectives:
Research
· Use primary and secondary research methods to discover key disciplinary or professional genres, research methods, organizations, topics, etc.
Write
· Describe key communicative practices using concrete evidence and examples from research.
· Compose research questions that follow from this analysis and description.
· Work through careful revision and editing based on peer and teacher feedback and the student’s own review of and reflection on a draft.
Due Date(s)
Rough draft: May 20th at 11:59 PM
Final draft: May 27th at 11:59 PM
Grading
Your work will be evaluated according to the following criteria: