Readings to draw from:
- McKinney's "I Need You to say "I": Why First Person is Important in College Writing."
- Ocean Vuong's Surrendering
- Gee's Literacy and Discourse Linguistics
Writing Objectives:
- Put different forms of essays in conversation with each other
- Successfully analyze and interweave quotes in writing
- Critically investigate the formation of communities
What to do:
We have spent the last few weeks discussing the formation of a community through both personal and academic channels. We've read both creative and academic works discussing what it takes to "fit into" a community, so now I'm asking you to take this a step further.
How do the pieces we've read inform Gee's idea of a Discourse Community? Your task is to take at least two of the pieces I listed above and discuss how they work in conjunction with Gee's Discourse community. This is an opportunity for you to take multiple different readings and put them in a conversation with each other. What would Gee say about Vuong's classroom experience? How would your classmates feel about McKinney's elevation of the word "I" in college writing?
To summarize: the goal of this piece is to help you establish your expertise in joining the discourse community of Composition. Use the pieces we have read throughout the semester so far to analyze Gee's discussion of discourse communities, and report on the potential difficulties of accessing a discourse community and how to work around them. As a disclaimer, the words of the more successful scholars we're reading are important, but I'm trusting your words as well. Utilize the readings to help you make your point, but know that you don't just have to "agree" with one of the readings and tell me why. I want to hear your analysis.
How to do it:
This assignment can absolutely be completed in a 5 page academic essay in which you discuss how to enter and work within a discourse community.
Article 1- LITERACY DISCOURSE, AND LINGUISTICS: INTRODUCTION by fames Paul Gee
Article 2 "I need you to say ‘I'": Why First Person Is Important in College Writing by Kate McKinney Maddalena