Exercise 12: Organising an activity analysis

Reading: 

Marro: “The Genres of Chi Omega: An Activity Analysis” (pages 426-437)

Guideline:

The activity analysis assignment is often quite tough. (That’s part of the reason it’s saved for the last!) This assignment is made to help you consider one way of completing it. 

For this lesson, you read Victoria Marro’s activity analysis, “The Genres of Chi Omega.” As it turns out, Marro’s essay is a fine example of an activity analysis. You aren’t required to follow her structure, but it’s not a bad structure to take inspiration or guidance from. 

For this assignment, you’ll need to write 2-3 sentences about each of the following parts of Marro’s work: 

• Paragraph 1 (the first paragraph of the introduction) 


• Paragraph 2 (the second paragraph of the introduction) 


• Introduction (overall) 


• Methods (overall) 


• Results and Discussion (overall) 


• Paragraph 16 (the first paragraph of the conclusion) 


• Paragraph 17 (the second paragraph of the conclusion) 


• Paragraph 18 (the final paragraph of the conclusion) 


• Some Final Thoughts (the conclusion overall) 

What you write about for each of these sections should address the following “function” questions: 

• What is the purpose of this section? 


• What does Marro accomplish here? (For example, what academic or analytical “moves” does she make? Or how does this section set up or prepare for later information?) 


• How does she accomplish it? 

Finally, write one more paragraph that reflects on or explores how you could use what you’ve learned from this assignment for your own activity analysis. 

Please label each section of your response. I suggest the following format for your submission: 

• Paragraph 1: [Your 2-3 sentences here.] 


• Paragraph 2: [Your 2-3 sentences here.] 


• Introduction: [Your 2-3 sentences here.] 


• Methods: [Your 2-3 sentences here.] 


• Results and Discussion: [Your 2-3 sentences here.] 


• Paragraph 16: [Your 2-3 sentences here.] 


• Paragraph 17: [Your 2-3 sentences here.] 


• Paragraph 18: [Your 2-3 sentences here.] 


• Some Final Thoughts: [Your 2-3 sentences here.] 


• What I Have Learned: (or “My Response” or whatever you would prefer to call it) [Your response here.] 

Rubric: 

A successful report will include the following traits: 

• It includes each of the nine sections of Marro’s essay listed above. (9 points) 


• It addresses at least two of the three “function” questions for each section. (18 points) 


• It includes the tenth section with your response, reflecting on what you’ve observed and what you could learn from Marro’s example. (3 points) 

Total possible score: 30 points