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1.6.06
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Context
Analysis
Purpose
To better
understand the conventions of writing that will be expected of you, you
will want to first learn
the context and the culture that you are writing within. This assignment
gives you the opportunity to examine a specific discipline or context
that you anticipate that you will be writing within and asks you to learn
more about the institutional culture and your anticipated audience.
Instructions
Choose a
context that you are writing
within or that you will be writing within. This can be either a professional
context (e.g., a business, school-as instructor) or an academic context
(e.g., university-as graduate student). In some situations, you will have
to choose a context that approximates the one you want to study.
Epistemological
Process
Once you
have determined the context that you will study, you will want to conduct
research to learn about the culture. Use our discussions about institutions
and discourse communities to develop an appropriate inquiry. You may
find answers to your research questions by...
- drawing
upon your experiences and knowledge of the institution
- doing
scholarly research on this institution or similar institutions
- studying
the institution, division, or program on the web (what does the institution
say about itself? what do others say about the institution?)
- contacting
people who work at the institution (conducting a formal or informal
interview)
- studying
documents produced by this institution
Contact
the instructor if you are having problems doing research.
Writing
Compose
a 3-4 page white paper
in which you inform an audience who entering this context what
they will want to know to be a successfulboth within this community
and as a writer . Within this document, provide specific suggestions
that your audience should consider when approaching this context. Your
claims should be supported by evidence that appropriately illustrates
the point that you making.
You will
choose the organization of your text based upon what you believe is most
important to report about this context and what order this information
should be reported.
Criteria
Logistic:
In addition
to the general evaluation
criteria, the instructor will be looking for evidence of...
- a sense
of audienceis this document informative and illustrative? is this
document written in a way that an uninformed audience would feel more
confident about approaching this context?
- your
ability to support your claims with appropriate evidence
- viable
suggestions for approaching this context
- an informed
understanding of disciplines, institutions, and discourse communities
- appropriate
use of conventions, including appropriate use of APA citations if applicable
- a professional
persona
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