What are possible rhetorical situations in Nursing that would create a need for the patient care report and a need for it to be written the way it is?
Informative Research Report – Instructions English 20
An informative research report is a genre of research paper that provides readers with enough pertinent information about a topic that they will be able to make well “informed” decisions about the topic if needed. Writing a research report can also be useful to the writer in researching, organizing, and communicating information about a topic that the writer is personally invested in. For this paper, your assigned topic will be your own academic major. It is an opportunity to look deeply into your major as an academic discourse community with its own unique characteristics like those discussed in “Discourse Communities“ by Schmidt and Vande Kopple. There are also certain kinds of rhetorical situations that arise and exist within your academic major. Finally, there are genres and writing conventions in your major that have been developed in response to the exigencies and constraints of those rhetorical situations.
Assignment
Before beginning this paper, you should review “The Rhetorical Situation,” pp. 34-36 in the Student Writing Handbook, and “Discourse Communities.” Write a 1500-word research report on your major as a unique discourse community with its own DC characteristics and inherent rhetorical situations that lead to certain writing genres and conventions. Consider Nursing as an example. A patient care report is a genre of writing in Nursing with its own rules and conventions. What are possible rhetorical situations in Nursing that would create a need for the patient care report and a need for it to be written the way it is? What characteristics of Nursing as an academic discourse community might lead to the development of that particular form of writing?
Besides your instructor, you should consider your audience for this paper to be college students considering adopting your academic major. Write a report that will help a fellow college student better understand your major and its writing conventions.
You may begin your research at a university website for your major, but that should not be your predominant source of information. You must also research scholarly articles and/or books on your major, and particularly sources that discuss writing conventions within your major. The minimum requirement for peer reviewed scholarly sources for this paper is 3. I will consider a university website and a published book to count toward that minimum. Otherwise, peer reviewed scholarly sources are usually articles in academic journals like those found in the CSUS Library. In addition to the 3 required sources, you may also use non peer reviewed sources such as professional associations, websites, or other sources you feel would be useful and instructive.
Requirements
— The 1st draft must be a minimum of 1000 words. The 2nd draft and final portfolio draft must be a minimum of 1500 words.
— A minimum of 3 peer reviewed scholarly sources must be used. One university department website as well as published books may count toward this minimum. Additional non peer reviewed sources may also be used.
— All sources used must be cited using MLA citation style (or APA if you are used to it and do it consistently and correctly). Both in-text parenthetical citations as well as a Works Cited list at the end of the paper must be included. See the MLA instructional handouts in the MLA Resources module.
— Consult the “Essay Grading Rubric” for conventional writing expectations.
—- Your essay should have a heading on the first page with your name, class English 20-?, Research Report Draft #, and date completed.
—- Your essay should have an interesting title that foreshadows your topic.
Evaluation
1st and 2nd drafts are scored primarily on completion. If all assignment requirements are met, full points will be credited. Some deductions may occur for salient omissions or errors. The 3rd and final portfolio draft will be graded more stringently on quality of writing, taking into consideration a good faith effort to improve your draft using the intellectual standards and other course concepts as well as the standards in the essay grading rubric. Accurate use and citation of sources will also be considered.
Submission
Submit 1st and 2nd drafts in the Informative Research Report module on Canvas by the due dates listed in the Course Schedule and on the submission links. You will complete a peer response letter assignment for this paper. The specific instruction sheet for the research report peer response is also in the Informative Research Report module on Canvas.
