Unit 1 Introduction
Collette Bliss
Welcome to Unit 1: Discover a Community, where we’ll explore our understanding of community and communication in order to set up for the rest of the semester. After this unit, you’ll know what we mean by “discourse,” and feel comfortable discussing “discourse communities.” Additionally, you’ll learn to identify your own discourse communities, and begin to narrow your focus into a research project that will span the whole semester.
The end of unit assignment is a proposal. You’ll select two communities that you are interested in, and write a proposal explaining what that community is like and why you might want to write about it. You’ll need two to three sources for each community.
This unit has three chapters (since you’ll be using week one to get your bearings) which will equip you to complete this assignment, as well as understanding the key concepts that we’ll be building on in future units.
