You will write an essay that identifies and describes the sorts of literacies important to the discipline or profession you have selected.  Essentially, you will write an essay that makes claims about the sorts of things people in this discipline or profession read and write and the work they accomplish by way of reading and writing.  Your essay will support its claims with the evidence you have collected by way of your inquiry, and it will be organized into five main sections:

1. Introduction: Announcing the discipline or profession you have chosen and why it matters to you.
2. Reading and Writing within the Discipline or Profession (Scholarly Publication; writing for people who are in the discipline or profession; that is, a disciplinary or professional journal writing for professionals themselves)
3. Reading and Writing from the Discipline or Profession (Trade Publication: writing for people who are not in the discipline or profession; that is, a work in a magazine or website that represents a discipline or profession)
4. Reading and Writing about the Discipline or Profession (Popular Publication: writing by people who are not in the discipline or profession; that is, a work in a popular magazine or website that discusses or reports on the discipline or professional community writing by outsiders)
5. Conclusions: Summarizing your findings and identifying learning goals for your development as someone who, eventually, may need to do this sort of reading and writing.

In each of the three medial sections of the paper, your purpose is to analyze how people in the discipline/profession address their reading and writing tasks.  Consequently, you will want to attend to questions such as the following about the features of the writing itself:

• What sorts of claims do you find in this form of communication?
• What sorts of evidence do you find (or not find) in this form of communication?
• How is evidence identified, attributed, or cited in this form of communication?
• By what means can we identify the intended or primary audience for this communication?
• What features of this form of communication are most/least familiar to you? (what language? what content knowledge? what forms of evidence? what cultural conventions?)
• What will you need to learn in order to participate in this form of writing?
• How might you learn to write and read this form of communication with confidence?

Criteria for success:

• Your essay should be 1,200-1,500 words in length (4 to 5pages, double spaced).
• Your essay should respond to the questions that guided your inquiry.
• Your essay should have a beginning that allows your readers to know what discipline or profession you have chosen and why it is important to you.
• Your essay should be supported by the following resources:

A work in a disciplinary or professional journal

A work in a magazine or website that represents a discipline or profession

A work in a popular magazine or website that discusses or reports on the discipline or professional community

• Your resources should be documented according to the conventions used by the discipline or profession you have chosen (e.g., MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.)
• Your essay should be divided into the following five subsections:

1. Introduction: Announcing the discipline or profession you have chosen and why it matters to you.
2. Reading and Writing within the Discipline or Profession (A disciplinary or professional journal writing for professionals themselves)
3. Reading and Writing from the Discipline or Profession (A work in a magazine or website that represents a discipline or profession)
4. Reading and Writing about the Discipline or Profession (A work in a popular magazine or website that discusses or reports on the discipline or professional community writing by outsiders)
5. Conclusions:

• Summarize your findings
• Identify and articulate learning goals for your development as someone who will need to prepare to do this sort of reading and writing.