Description

So far, much of the work in this course has revolved around assessing the discourse and
rhetoric that is tied to an environmental issue that interests you. With the proposal, we finally
began moving toward articulating our own contributions to the ongoing conversations within
our discourse community, and this assignment acts as a final transition between the crucial
attuning to the rhetorical factors at play and taking action as a member of that community. To
do so, we’ll be taking a laser-focus attention to language and the role it plays in your issue.
For this assignment, you will select a single key term associated with your discourse community
and the issues discussed therein to formulate a specific claim about its definition. You might
assess the consequences of a certain definition, challenge or critique a current definition, or
suggest a new definition that fills a gap in the discourse surrounding an issue. You will need to
move beyond the formal, “dictionary” definition here, though it may prove useful to consider
how the formal definition and/or a word’s etymological roots differ from the way your term
gets used among members of your discourse community.
Assignment Details
• Identify a single term or phrase (i.e. “sustainability,” “activist,” “slow violence”) that you
will analyze throughout the essay.
• Explain what is significant and/or controversial about the term: Why is it important to
take a closer look at this key term? What are the consequences of its current usage,
and/or what could be the effect of a proposed change in definition?
• Explore how the term is being used in your discourse community: Are there differing
views on what a term means or how it should be used? Where, how, and by whom do
you see the term being invoked?
• Provide a specific claim that makes an argument about how your term should be
defined, redefined, or included in the ongoing discourse(s) you are working with (EA
200-201 for examples) and then support that claim with evidence.
• Incorporate a minimum of three outside sources (not including dictionaries if you
choose to incorporate their definitions) that lend insight into how your term is being
used in relationship to your discourse community.
This essay should be 3-4 pages, double-spaced, in a 12-point standard font with one-inch
margins and MLA-style citations. For any formatting questions, please consult the Purdue OWL
MLA Guide for comprehensive genre conventions.

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