Scholars within academic disciplines often participate in both informal and formal discourse communities. This assignment introduces student to both of these communities.

1. Informal Discourse Communities

When a practitioner needs to research a solution to a problem, where does he or she go? Do Some online research and find an informal discourse community. Are there websites, biogs, or wilds that discuss problems within IS, perhaps issues with databases, security, or storage? Locate one of these sites, and then describe its conventions. Is the language formal or informal? Flow is it organized? Is it easy to locate information? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this kind of communication?

2. Formal Discourse communities

When academic researchers explore solutions to problems, they usually do so in academic circles such as professional organizations, journals, or even at conferences. Locate 3-5 scholarly articles on an is topic of your choice. Read the articles, and then choose one of the articles as the topic of your paper. After you've chosen your article, write a description - what format does it utilize? What are the section headings? What is the purpose of the article? What methods were used in the research, and what results were discovered? What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of this type of writing?