Drafting your discourse community ethnography

Drafting• Start drafting your methodology section.• What do you need to include?

– Observations– Interviews– Collecting texts

Structuring your ethnography

Looking at structure: Wardle

• (Introduction)• Identity• Authority• Learning to Write in a New Workplace: Alan’s

story– Who is Alan and what is his place in the humanities

department?– What was Alan’s view of himself and his authority?– How did Alan relate to the department in writing?

• Discussion

Looking at structure: Mirabelli

• (Introduction)• Literacy and contemporary theory• Methodology• Lou’s Restaurant• The Menu• Conclusion

Looking at structure: student paper

• (Intro)• Expertise• Genres • Lexis• Intercommunication• (Conclusion)

What about your structure?• Introduction

– Jot down the names of the scholars you will refer to.• Methodology

– Jot down what methods you will need to describe.• Results/Discussion

– Decide what organization will best suit your argument and create subject headings.

• By Swales’s characteristics• By questions (see Wardle)• By community-specific topics (see Mirabelli)• By descriptive concepts (see McCarthy)

• Write it on the board; let’s compare notes.

Drafting methodology• What do you need to include?

– Background information about your community • Can be here, in your introduction, or at beginning of your results

(Wardle, Mirabelli).– Observations

• What • When• How long• How you recorded observations

– Interviews• Who• How many times/how long

– Collecting texts• What texts, how many• How you analyzed them

Organize your data into your outline

• Decide what main pieces of evidence you want to include.

• Add them to your outline. – Copy them onto the page or – Create a number system (1 for intro, 2 for

methods, 3 for expertise section, etc.) and write the corresponding number next to your data

Clarify main ideas• Write a topic sentence for one of your

sections.– Should connect to overall argument and also the

main point of that paragraph/section– Example: “The complexity of language at Publix is

evident in the hierarchy of Publix associates.” • Connects to overall argument (Publix is complex) and

section argument (expertise at Publix)

• Share.• Repeat for each section of your outline.

Start drafting one of your sections.• Decide what evidence you’ll use to

support your topic sentence.• Decide what order to present your

evidence in.– Example:

• Interview with manager: some people worked at Publix since they were teenagers

• Observation: expertise of different departments

Start drafting one of your sections.• Start writing about one piece of evidence.

– Context • “There are associates that are new and taking their first job, but

also seventy-five-year-old store managers who have been through all the different departments and work to occupy their time during the day.”

– Evidence• “In an interview with the Assistant Customer Service Manager, Julia

Pierce, I was informed that she and many of the other managers have been working for Publix since they were teenagers.”

– Analysis• “As opposed to some jobs where a new employee might be handed

a pamphlet and told to memorize it, Publix is a little more complicated. The more experienced associates lead by example to teach the new employees.“

Drafting with evidence• Add another piece. Show the connections.

– Context / topic sentence• “Publix employees’ expertise varies not only by how long they’ve worked at the store, but also

by the part of the store they work in. Publix associates are expected to meet or exceed the expectations of the customers, whatever their needs may be. This is accomplished through

the use of language amongst the different departments.”

– Evidence• “For instance, if a customer has a general question, such as where to find something, an

associate of the customer service department would help them. But say that customer wants to know the difference between different cuts of meat; then, the customer would be referred to the meat department. The customer service associate would then call the meat department, give them a heads-up that a customer is coming back and what the inquiry was.”

– Analysis• “This exchange of information is complex and necessary for smoother

functioning of the store. The customer would never know it was going on.”

Drafting with evidence• Keep adding until the end of the

paragraph/section.• Remember that you can have multiple

paragraphs in each section.• Write an analysis of the section that

connects to your overall argument.• Share.

Remember Swales and the CARS model?

• Establish territory– Claim centrality– Make a topic generalization– Review previous items of research

• Establish niche – Counter-claim– Indicate a gap– Raise a question– Continue a tradition

• Occupy niche– Outline purposes– Announce principal findings– Indicate research-report structure

Let’s establish a territory I remember my first day as a Publix bagger two years ago. I went in thinking, “Shoot, any moron could put groceries in a bag.” On my first day I was paired with Dennis, a sixty-five-year-old bagger who’d been working for Publix for eight years. He didn’t say much, but he told me to watch him and, when I felt I was ready, to go ahead and take over for him. I then observed what to put with what, what to keep by itself, and what to double-bag. It was a little more complicated than I had thought and I was impressed by their means of communicating these rules to me.

(topic generalization)

Let’s establish a territory…continued

Publix is a discourse community. John Swales states that a discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common goals, has mechanisms of intercommunication of its members, uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback, utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims, has acquired some specific lexis, and has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise (Swales 288-91).

(reviewing previous items of research)

Let’s establish a niche

After reading Swales and his criteria, I realized that discourse communities are everywhere and I had never realized it. Even Publix, where I’ve worked as a bagger for two years, is a discourse community according to Swales’ criteria.

(continuing a tradition)

Let’s occupy the niche.

There is a great deal of communication amongst us associates. We have adopted our own lexis which will be talked about later. We also communicate through bulletin boards, newsletters, paycheck attachments, and Post-it notes as well. Publix also has intercommunication as a chain. A latent side effect of working at Publix is learning how to communicate with other people. I plan to examine Publix as a discourse community and expose the complexity of language within the community.

(announce principal findings/outline purposes)

What to include in your paper• Descriptive title• Introduction• Methodology• Results

– Divided into sub-categories with subject headings• Discussion (or conclusion)• Appendix A: interviews• Appendix B: observation notes• Appendix C: copies of texts (or can include in body of the paper,

if you want to refer to them)• Works Cited

Formatting• Major headings should be in bold• Minor headings should be in italics• Headings can be centered, or aligned left• Double-spaced• If you include images in your paper, label,

“Figure 1,” “Figure 2,” etc., so you can refer to them in your writing.

Formatting• Example:

Title This is my introduction. I’m writing something really neat. I’m establishing my territory, and talking about other scholars. Now I’m finding a niche, and occupying it.

MethodologyHere is where I describe my research methods.

ResultsYou could potentially give an overview of your results before you start going into your sub-headings. You could return to your argument, and tell readers what to expect.

ExpertiseIf expertise was one of your categories, here is where you would talk about it, using your evidence, and connecting to your argument.

LexisIf lexis was one of your categories, here is where you would talk about it, using your evidence, and connecting to your argument.

DiscussionHere’s where you wrap things up. You could also title this “conclusion” if you would rather.