Student Examples

RWS 1301

Visual Argument

Within my RWS 1301 courses students create a visual argument. Students are provided the option of creating a 30 second to a 1 minute Public Service Announcement (PSA) video, or a Poster Series that advocates for their position on their semester topics. Below is an example of a PSA as well as a Poster Series. Students are provided course materials that teach them to transfer rhetorical concepts used in text-based genres within the constraints and freedoms of visual genres.

PSA-School Nutrition and Academic Success from Karley Pugh on Vimeo.

Discourse Community Ethnography

Within my RWS 1301 courses students are asked to explore the concept of discourse community through primary and secondary research. Greatly influenced by the Discourse Community assignment within Doug Downs and Elizabeth Wardle's textbook Writing About Writing, my students explore discourse communities that they are already a member of or that they would like to become a member of. Students are required to conduct interviews with members and observations of the group's communication practices. Students are guided through the data collection process and are provided with techniques on how to create effective interview and observation questions, but are also allowed to see where their research takes them. Below you will find and example of one student's Discourse Community Ethnography.

RWS 3355

Professional Ethnography

Within my RWS 3355 courses students are also asked to explore the concept of discourse community through primary and secondary research. However, for this course students are asked to conduct research on the professional community they would like to be members of once they graduate. Most of my students come from the fields of business, social work or psychology, and this assignment allows them an opportunity to research first-hand how their chosen disciplines and future work spaces communicate. Students are required to conduct interviews with members and observations of the group's communication practices. Students are guided through the data collection process and are provided with techniques on how to create effective interview and observation questions, but are also allowed to see where their research takes them. Students are then asked to translate the information they gathered from their research into a "guide" that they will then present to individuals who are also interested in becoming members of their communities. Below you will find and example of one student's Professional Ethnography.