Community Essay

Readings to draw from: (In the attachment )

● 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. This essay should

contain well-integrated quotes or paraphrases from the readings listed above.

 Combinate the essay with discourse community and diagnostic essay in the attachment.