Questions we Can Help you to Answer

Paper Instructions:

DCR Principles Reflection
Introduction/Rationale
Last week, you began to draft an analysis of your sample texts as a genre within your discourse community. The primaray research that was conducted prior to this included interviews and the transcription of interviews with respondents from your discourse community. All of these materials come together this week in the Data Collection Report, which is a major milestone in ENG3010. In order to satisfactorily complete this assignment, you must combine what you've learned from your genre analysis with what you've learned from your interviews in order to discuss a specific genre within its discourse community. The purpose of this reflection is to help you mobilize your undersatnding of genre through both the writing studies scholarship as well as your efforts to analyze genres (both in the research journal and the genre analysis assignments last week). 
Assignment Prompt
Reflect on your work with genres, both through reading and writing about the writing studies scholarship (e.g., Bazerman; Wayne Writer; etc.) as well as talking with respondents from your discourse community, collecting sample texts, and analyzing those smaple texts. What are the key principles about genres and genre analysis that you must understand and use to complete the Data Collection Report? Note: if you haven't already, you may want to carefully read the Data Collection Report assignment description (see Week 9 Materials) before completing this assignment. 
Learning Objectives
Use focused reflection to develop metacognition of your writing process and product
Minimum Requirements
Length: 1-2 double-spaced pages




EXAMPLE::
Genre in my discourse community is very important. Writing expertise in art history has great value. Art historians write about how they interpret an art piece, review articles on other art historians or syllabi for a class they are teaching. In regards to syllabi, those are often changed to reflect the classes, but usually there is a master that the school requires professors to use. Upon reading more and interviewing two professors in my discourse community, I have a better understanding of genres in writing. The sample texts that I collected were a syllabus, a article review of a book and an article about writing in my discourse community.  Analyzing these genres,  I was able to establish the rhetorical features, the function of the genres and how they are presented.
Understanding what is required to analyze my data is first making sure I understand what a genre is. Now that I fully understand what a genre is, I can analyze my transcripts and code them into the necessary categories. My understanding of the data coding is to sort the data in to categories that answers my research questions. I have to really dive into my interviews questions and answers and figure out what is important for my research without being to wordy. The categories that I am thinking of using are experience, writing with sub-categories and teaching. I will have to review my transcripts more closely to really get the information I need to omelet the research project.
Interestingly, the commonality between both my interviewees is that they both have almost identical experience in both writing in the form of masters in english.  They both also have published books and articles in art history. I have acquired syllabi from both professors that I have interviewed. In turn, I might focus on that particular genre. I need to also work on the scene which is important according to Wayne Writer. I still have a lot of work to do but I am confident that I will be able to complete the research assignment at the end if the semester.
The two professors that I interviewed are experts not only in the discourse community of art history but also in writing. They have both developed a significant amount of metacognition during their 40 year careers, so I respect them highly. I have learned, being a novice in this discourse community, that learning to write is very important. It was a good decision on my part to finish taking my english courses before I continued to take my art history classes because I need to develop a little more knowledge in writing to be successful in the classes in the future.