Paper 1: Discourse and Writing Identity 

One belief about writing is that the only “correct” way to write is the way we write on campus. However, that isn’t true: we write according to our audiences or to show we belong to a group or in a place. For example, think of how you speak in the college classroom and then how you speak or act (even think of your body language) with your immediate family or a small group of friends. Even in a text or on Zoom, you’re shifting your tone, language, and exigency (the purpose of writing), among many other things. 

For this first paper, I’d like to hear about your identity as a writer and how it’s shaped by your Discourse. In 1,000 to 1,200 words, you’ll tell me about two spaces—one on campus and one off—and how you experience at least two of Gee’s terms (you’ll be reading about this for Tuesday’s class) in each one: primary Discourse, secondary Discourse, dominant Discourse, non-dominant Discourse, literacy, liberating literacy, and Gee’s First Theorem. You’ll then analyze these choices and explain how they show your campus and non-campus identities. You also might want to reference “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” since this essay touches on the different ways we speak according to our audiences.

When you’re analyzing your Discourses, I want examples and an analysis of each one. A good way to do this is to come up with an example and then stand back and ask yourself what this example says about you. For me, I’m fascinated by the need for dominant Discourse when I’m teaching and with my colleagues, but I think a bit of Anzaldúa when I think about my more specific non-dominant Discourses and how each one changes depending who I’m with. In your paper, you’ll tell me and your classmates about an example in one space (e.g., football practice, your workplace, classroom Zoom) and tell us about it, using Gee’s terms and referencing Anzaldúa. You’d then do that with another space. You could either compare or contrast or both. 

Questions to consider:

• How do you use dominant and non-dominant Discourse?
• How do you speak in one place versus another?
• What do these decisions say about you and the types of discourse you use? Which problems have you run into? 
• How do we show how we belong?
• “NEED HELP WITH THIS ASSIGNMENT? TALK TO US. OUR WRITERS CAN HELP!”