Essay

Following MLA formatting standards, write a minimum of 2 page essay that serves as a definition for a secondary discourse community to which you belong. This essay will be written from the first-person perspective. Your audience will be non-members of your secondary discourse community. Your purpose is informative. Be creative when selecting a secondary discourse community to write about. You should reference Gee’s “What is Literacy?” when writing this essay. Answer (at a minimum) the following questions when writing this essay. You might consider writing one paragraph for each bullet point below that you choose to discuss in your essay:

• What “values and viewpoints” are important within your community?
• What opposing discourses exist?
• What objects or concepts are emphasized in the discourse?
• Is there a hierarchical structure within the discourse? In other words, what is the structure of power within the community?
• How did you get into this community?
• What is the origin of the community? (You might need to do some brief research here.)
• Provide an anecdote (a true story that explains an experience from within the community). Provide details and use figurative language to paint a picture for your reader of what it’s like to be in the community.
• What is the perception that others have about this community?
• Compare / contrast this community to similar communities.
• What are some key terms used within the community that originated within and/or are only used within that community? Define the terms and be sure to explain what they mean, use them in a sentence, etc.
• Explain why this community makes you who you are — why did you choose to write about this community in particular?