Projects
Welcome to the projects section of Pierce's Eportfolio, where I showcase my English assignments that demonstrate the effective application of the learning outcomes. My aim is to provide readers with a clear understanding of these outcomes through practical examples.
Reading Worksheet 3
Why?
Discourse communities are one of the most important and influential components of writing. Leaders of discourse communities must take advantage of different ways of writing due to the effectiveness they have in getting information across. This is apparent through flyers being put up for less urgent information and group chats being used for more urgent information as discussed in my major assignment 3. Multiple ways of writing is also expressed in my primary and secondary annotations when analyzing the differences between written and verbal information along with their effectiveness. I found multiple ways of writing important and valuable towards my research as it illustrates the idea that people learn and retain information differently. Everyone's brains work differently and a large step in improving everyone's education starts with adapting to people's learning strengths. For some, audible education is the most effective while others may need a quiet room to read over the text in hopes they understand the information better. I think this is really going to link back to my research on how discourse communities are a part of a resident assistants job because RAs use all forms of communication to relay information.
Mock Draft Reflection
This was my first research proposal that I have ever written, and it came with its challenges, but overall, I feel confident with the work I am putting out. When we went with John Swales to discourse community articles in class it helped guide me to find the idea that I wanted to research and further understand. I feel I have heavily discussed this topic and am planning to continue building off the ideas that I have already put down. The ideas of generating inquiry and the use of multiple ways of writing is what influenced my writing the most. I want to take advantage of in person conversation as well as written messages and how a resident assistant takes advantage of all forms of communication. This assignment has also taught me more about multimodality and to look for the goal behind an author’s writing rather than just reading it at face value.
The largest challenge of this assignment was really understanding what I was talking about and thinking about ideas to help me find some primary research evidence. I also feel that when I was writing the research proposal, I had too many ifs and uncertainties, my peer reviewer also mentioned this. However, I feel my research proposal had strong textual support and it was structured in a way that it was easy to read and understand. My peer reviewer was very helpful, and he explained that I needed to elaborate on the role of a resident assistant and consider removing unnecessary information about discourse communities. I took his criticism into consideration and made the changes that I agreed with. He also gave me the idea to add more variety to my research points, such as talking to multiple RAs rather than just the one on my floor to compare their work styles. I also removed any words that showed uncertainty in my research proposal such as “hopeful” or “I think”, I wanted to make myself sound more certain in the information I was providing. I am happy this assignment was given because now I will be able to have a foundation for future research proposals and assignments.
Why?
Revising your work is one of the best ways to identify possible improvements and reflect on what you have completed. Peer reviews, personal reflections and asking for professional help are all beneficial to a writer's literature. An example would be my major assignment 1, I had created a research proposal about how resident assistants utilize discourse communities to spread information across their residents. After bringing it to class and having a fellow peer review it, it opened my eyes to where I needed to elaborate and be more specific and where I may have been contributing too much information. Another example of revision was when I went over this e-portfolio with my professor to ensure I am on track and including the necessary information to align with the rubric and to ensure my website is easy to navigate and understand. Professors are more critical about what changes need to be made and may have more valuable and credible feedback that you can apply to your piece of literature.
Process Work 8
Discussion Supporting Point 1: Writing establishes community
Primary Evidence: My personal interview with the resident assistant in my building was focused around the actions and considerations he has when trying to create a discourse community among the floor. He discussed how flyers are put up to bring everyone together for events, group chats are made so everyone can easily communicate and he is always accessible when he is in his room
Support from Secondary Source: John Swales breaks down what it means to be in a discourse community and provides a solid foundation for the research that will follow the discussion of his article. It can be connected to my primary source as it gives a checklist that can be compared side by side to the actions that a resident assistant is taking
Discussion Supporting Point 2: RAs utilize writing to be leaders
Primary Evidence: Through my research on the UCF housing website, I have been able to determine that the main role of a resident assistant is to be a leader among their residents. The website along with other sources discuss how setting up events, putting up flyers and holding group activities bring everyone closer together. The RAs also are here for disciplinary reasons as well as a stable support person.
Support from Secondary Source: Soria also goes into detail about the leadership aspect of being a college resident assistant. The author discusses the steps that an RA takes to create a discourse community and how they create communities that promote goals and aspirations.
Discussion Supporting Point 3: Different forms of writing is an effective way of dispersing information
Primary Evidence: During my interview with my roommate that shares the same resident assistant as me, I asked him questions about how effective he feels the RA is at giving out information. I wanted to know if he felt up to date with all the events happening and news being sent out as well as if a certain form of writing helped him remember the information over longer periods of time.
Support from Secondary Source: The article from David Schlosberg goes into discourse communities around the world and how different forms of discourse/writing are used depending on where they are and what type of information is being shared.
Why?
Being able to contribute knowledge makes your opinions and ideas more important and valuable in a room full of people that know what they are a talking about. Being able to contribute knowledge consists of the ability to add new ideas and add information to existing ideas and questions. This may consist of generating research questions or making a claim that you would like to look into. An example of this is demonstrated when creating my research paper. I decided to create another research question to discuss with my peers once I completed my research on discourse communities in residential buildings. I had a potential question of "how effective are discourse communities at spreading information in across different platforms?". Another example of contributing knowledge can be seen in process work 8 when I discussed the different supporting points my research has to support my argument and add knowledge to the conversation.
Process work 1
CARS Model
I am planning on using John Swales' idea of discourse communities to look at how Resident assistants talks to floor members and distributes information for my research site. Swales idea of a discourse community is focused on how it is a community of people who use speech to reach similar goals and purposes. I believe this suits my research topic the most because the goal of a Resident Assistant is to make sure that everyone on the floor is acting as one community and working together to make sure everyone has the best and most comfortable living conditions.
Swales discuses a required 6 rules for discourse communities as follows " A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals. A discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication A discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms primarily. A discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims.to provide information and feedback. among its members. In addition to owning genres, a discourse community has acquired some specific lexis. A discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise." (Swales 27). These rules are an accurate representation of what a Resident Assistant is required to do. The job of the RA is to set goals such as keeping the building clean and make it a goal to stay out of trouble. The communicative part of discourse communities is what I will be focusing on. Resident assistants constantly have to be on alert a ready to tend to any emergency or problem one of their residents may be having. This is done through flyers/writing informing who to call in emergencies or where to go, as well as, providing their phone number for residents to directly contact the RA and so that the RA can provide updates and information in real time.
I have been researching the techniques and responsibilities of a resident assistant with the goal of seeing how discourse communities are utilized to create a comfortable community among people with like-minded ideas and aspirations. Through this research I have discovered that resident assistants have a lot more responsibilities than meet the eye. Resident assistants are required to have the skills to be able to create an environment where everyone involved feels included and a sense of belonging. Soria discusses the leadership aspect of being an RA, they discuss how resident assistants are supposed to be known as some of the positive and supporting people on campus. RAs can be seen as an outlet tofor other possible sources of help or information that a student may be looking for, or someone feels they need. Furthermore, I now have a better understanding of what a discourse community is and how we are surrounded and included in these communities, whether we are aware of it or not. Discourse communities are created through communication whether it be verbal or written, and college residencies operate as a community that uses communication to establish safety and academic success. Having a better understanding of the subject, after reading Melzer and Swales explanations and principles, has allowed me to better identify discourse within my research and translate it into a way that is easy to see and understand for any audience. The main conversation I am having currently is about the importance of understanding discourse communities and how discourse shapes communities among college students. Discourse communities are not only important in college settings but as well as beyond graduation. Schlosberg discusses how different forms of discourse have different effectiveness depending on where we are in the world and what type of information is being shared. As he discussed when going into detail, discourse communities are created among people with similar goals, so your future or current career opportunities will give you a chance to create a discourse community with people who share aspirations. I plan to join the conversation of discourse communities, specifically among resident assistants, through research obtained by firsthand accounts and credible articles that hold information I feel is valuable to the audience. John Swales' ideas and writing have piqued my interest, and he is known as the father of discourse communities. He believed that discourse communities are one of the most important but underdiscussed topics in literature. He gives a differentiator between speech communities and discourse communities which has been helpful in identifying discourse throughout my research. He believed that there is a checklist of qualifications that needs to be passed to be considered a discourse community. I am looking to see if resident assistants do enough in their community to meet the qualifications of a discourse community. I think this will hold value in a conversation among those who understand discourse communities because RAs watch over students who have a common overall goal of graduating. Discourse is seen in many forms, and I believe that a resident assistant is a great example of a leader creating a community for people to feel safe and comfortable.
WHY?
This piece of literature contributes to the idea of generating inquiry as it forced me to identify rhetoric and create ideas about how I am going to contribute the learning outcome to my piece of writing. Generating inquiry is important for asking and researching future questions as it gives the researcher a better understanding of what it is they are trying to learn more about
WHY?
Through completing major assignment 2, I was required to find 8 pieces of evidence to support my research question. This caused to me to learn about how to determine if a source is coming from a credible place and if it will hold value in the conversation that I am trying to contribute knowledge to. Generating information literacy is important in ensuring you are not spreading and retaining false information on a topic.
Annotated Bibliography
Secondary source:
The author of this article Dan Melzer had the intention and priority of helping the reader understand what a discourse community is and why it is important for college writing and beyond that. The article goes into detail about how there are genres working within discourse communities and why different communities hold different expectations and goals for their writers. Melzer also goes into depth about the specific qualifications or requirements needed to be considered a discourse community. This article stood out to me because the author uses a personal account of a discourse community he is a part of and builds off of his own experience to help the audience better understand. This article seems credible because it is giving the benefits and constraints of a discourse community rather than just funneling biased information.
I truly think this will positively contribute to my research assignment due to the first hand example provided by the author. The article easily relates back to my other sources discussing discourse communities and it will help me to fill in the gaps of knowledge that may be missing surrounding the topic of discourse communities and college living. This article is also based off of a similar foundation as John Swales’ article who is known as the founder of discourse communities
Melzer, Dan. “Understanding Discourse Communities.” Understanding Discourse
Communities, wac.colostate.edu/docs/books/writingspaces3/melzer.pdf. Accessed 11
Sept. 2025.
Secondary Source
Schlosberg, D., Collins, L. B., & Niemeyer, S. (2017). Adaptation policy and community discourse: risk, vulnerability, and just transformation. Environmental Politics, 26(3), 413–437. https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2017.1287628
In this article, David Schlosberg goes into detail about a social experiment done to see how different forms of discourse have different effectiveness around the world. He talks about how different countries' governments have different priorities and it shows within their population's concerns. He took information from several countries around the world with different economic situations to compare the worries of the citizens. He talks about how the discourse brings people together to express their concerns but also makes a point to discuss how the "the language of community groups illustrates a diversity of concerns"(Scholsberg), illustrating that discourse communities help to identify how people are truly feeling about a topic. The author discusses how leaders and community members need to adapt to changes in concerns and how it can bring communities together to improve upon each other.
This article will assist my research project as the author explains why different discourses have different impacts on their communities. He helps to simplify how their are different perspectives on topics of real world problems and that the variables provided through the people's citizens and the government go hand in hand to create discourse communities. This will relate back to my primary sources and the topic of a resident assistant using discourse to bring their residents together to form a community and feel comfortable expressing concerns that they have or someone else they know may have.
Secondary source
This source takes a closer look into the leadership aspect of a resident assistant on college campuses. The article discusses how resident assistants are supposed to be known as some of the most positive and supporting people on campus. The author then takes time in this article to dive into the techniques used to develop healthy, comfortable communities for the students living in these buildings. This article is going to be worth adding to my research because it discusses different ways that RAs are being leaders in their discourse communities and give examples of discourse being used to promote their goals and messages. The article also discusses how a resident assistant can be an outlet to other sources of help or information that a student may be looking for or someone feels they need.
I think this source will link well with my primary sources because it is giving more context as to what steps and RA takes to create a discourse community. I am looking forward to comparing the techniques discussed in this article to the techniques given to me through my personal interview with the RA on my floor. This article gives me the more social point of view of a resident assistant rather than just the qualifications and responsibilities of one.
Soria, K. M., Brazelton, G. B., & Roberts, B. J. (2021). Resident Assistants’ Leadership Efficacy. The Journal of College and University Student Housing, 48(1). https://doi.org/10.71348/001c.137515
Secondary Source:
In this article John Swales, who is also known as one of the founders of discourse communities, breaks down what a discourse community is and provides a basic foundation for the topic. He differentiates sociolinguistic grouping and sociorhetorical grouping, this is being done with the intent to try and separate discourse communities and speech communities. There are different social needs and ideas between the two groups due to the people involved. Swales feels there is a valuable difference between the communities, beginning with the distance they create within the community. Discourse communities are meant for a more localized group while speech communities can branch among far distances. Location generally has a play into what speech group you are born into or adopt. The main difference between the two groups as stated by Swales ". A speech community typically inherits its membership by birth, accident or adoption; a discourse community recruits its members by persuasion, training or relevant qualification", you must earn the right to be in a discourse community whereas for speech communities you get to choose.
Furthermore, Swales gives six defining characteristics to look for when identifying individuals of a discourse community. This will be the most useful contribution to my project because it gives a check list for readers and myself to go down to determine if the qualifications are met for a group of individuals to be considered a discourse community. When interviewing a RA I will go down this checklist and ask questions as to how they meet each qualification.
Swales, John. The Concept of Discourse Community, 2011, www.mjreiff.com/uploads/3/4/2/1/34215272/swales.pdf Links to an external site.
Primary Source:
For this source I went directly to UCF’s website in order to learn more about resident assistants’ roles, qualifications and responsibilities. Through reading about resident assistants on the website I found that the main role of an RA is to be a leader in a community focused on student success and a feeling of belonging among their peers. The website lists several activities and responsibilities that come with being a resident assistant at UCF along with a description of what each task is. My findings have helped me to better understand that there is a lot more to a resident assistants’ job than just creating flyers and opening locked doors. There is a lot of meaningful rhetoric that takes place among the discourse community created by RAs.
This source is beneficial to my research because it contains valuable and credible information about what it really means to be a resident assistant. Some people in the audience may not understand what a resident assistant is and this website will help me to better explain to my audience so that they can have a better understanding of how discourse communities are incorporated. I think that the source can be related to my other sources because it holds information about the rhetoric that a resident assistant needs to take advantage of and gives a direct view into a resident assistant created discourse community.
“Resident Assistant.” Resident Assistant • Housing and Residence Life • UCF, UCF Residence and Housing, www.housing.ucf.edu/employment/resident-assistant/. Accessed 14 Oct. 2025.
Primary Source
My final primary source is from the UCF housing youtube channel. The channel is filled with informational videos about the roles and responsibilities that come with being a resident assistant. The channel provides videos giving process information as well as introductions. UCF allowed for people to ask questions to the RAs and also posted that on their channel. This website is another example of how resident assistants use discourse among their communities to spread information. This follows up on the idea of multiple ways of writing because it is giving an audio and visual display of information rather than a written or face to face message. The channel is more instructional than informational and I think that it is a good idea creating videos as it gives a visual guide to the audience of people who have never been to UCF before.
I am looking to relate this source back to my other sources that were discussing housing at UCF and put together a bigger picture of all the different uses of discourse used by RAs in their residential buildings to create a comforting community.
“Ucfhousing.” YouTube, YouTube, www.youtube.com/@UCFhousing/videos. Accessed 15 Oct. 2025.
Primary Source
This method took me right to the source of my research topic. I personally asked the resident assistant on my floor questions about how he is making our building a discourse community. I interviewed him one on one to ask all the questions I had for him. The time that I spent with him was valuable because he broke down the different types of discourse he was using as well as the additional activities he does to help create a community of people with similar goals and likes. My RA discussed how he puts flyers on the resident’s rooms when the information he has is important but not urgent whereas if he has urgent and important information, he will write it in the online group chat for the entire floor. He also discussed how he sets up events in hopes of creating community and bringing everyone together to socialize and share any ideas they have towards each other or the building.
This source is very useful towards my research because it ties all my sources' different ideas together with a real life firsthand example. This source helped to answer my questions. For example, I was able to see how he puts a flyer together, what information he makes sure to include and where he puts it for the right audience. I think this will be one of if not my most valuable source because I can return for more information if needed and I am constantly being exposed to ways he is utilizing discourse to spread information and create community.
Primary Source
For this source I stuck with the in person interview as I wanted a more personal, first hand experience. I interviewed one of my roommates that share the same RA as me and asked him questions about the effectiveness of the different forms of writing used in our building. I wanted to know if he feels up to date on all the information being sent out by our RA and if he felt there was anything that the resident assistant could be doing better to make sure he doesn’t miss any important information. My findings have further led me to realize that the idea of discourse communities are not very popular and there is a difference between the forms of writing that are being used to disperse information.
This source was very helpful towards my research as it gives the audience as well as myself a real experience from someone inside of a discourse community. My roommate was unaware of the concept of discourse communities so I was able to take advantage of this situation and explain to him how they are implemented and used in our everyday life whether we are aware of it or not. I think this source really can relate to any of my others as it shows all the information the other sources are providing but in a real life scenario.
WHY?
Research Genre Production matters because it teaches students how to adapt their writing to different audiences, purposes, and real world situations. Different communities such as academic, professional, and public have different expectations in forms of communication. Understanding these genres helps writers make strategic choices about tone, evidence, format, and clarity. This skill makes research more accessible, impactful, and relevant, allowing students to communicate effectively across contexts. Ultimately, it has helped me to build adaptability, strengthen my rhetorical awareness, and prepare myself to share information in ways that create meaningful understanding and action to my audience.
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