communication issue in construction management

WRIT-201 Project 2: Communication Issue

Spring 2016

Introduction

Project 2 asks you to argue how your chosen discourse community deals with one “communication issue” in the profession.

Learning Objectives (you should be able to…)

• conduct Library database research and evaluate sources with moderate guidance

• synthesize sources effectively to support an argument

• use class readings to help identify and define your “communication issue”

• apply this definition in your discussion of your field

Task and Content

Using the readings we have discussed together so far, define for yourself what a “communication issue” might be. For example, using Swales’ characteristics of discourse communities as a framework, a “communication issue” might be the absence of communication genres that reach new members; an example of a communication issue using Porter’s “intertextuality” as a framework might be the imported and repeated use of a problematic rhetorical strategy.

To make sure that your essay is an argument, and not a summary, you may choose to consider the following questions: Why does this issue exist? What rhetorical context created it? What about your field’s rhetorical context allows the issue to persist? What would need to change in order for this issue to be solved? Whose responsibility is it to solve the issue? To articulate your argument, form your thesis around why or how this problem emerges in the communication of your field.

You may choose a modality other than conventional essay. Consider a modality that is germane to the issue’s audience and context. For example, if you are arguing that one communication issue in Interior Design is the false promise of total renovation that accompanies the genre convention of before/after pictures on a firm’s website, you would likely include examples of before/after pictures; you may decide to experiment with a web essay that includes hyperlinks.

Purpose and Audience

The purpose of your project is to convince your readers (peers, me, others in your major) that this communication issue is significant, how it came to be, and how it could be explored further.

Essay Format

· 7-10 pages, double-spaced, standard font

· a thesis statement, body paragraphs that elaborate on the thesis, and a conclusion

· MLA essay format, including a works cited page

· at least 4 non-encyclopedia sources, including W/D,1-2 sources from WAW, and 2-4 scholarly or professional sources. (You will likely use more than 4 sources.)

-OR- meet with me to discuss a digital/online production of your argument with comparable length and requirements