Adapting Structures Activity

When choosing a structure for your work, you have many choices! Conventional academic paper structures are great for ensuring effective and efficient communication, largely due to reader familiarity, but you can also look to other media and contexts for inspiration. If you are ready to try borrowing structures from other media and contexts for your work, answer the following questions to help guide the process:

• Where does the structure come from?
  • What is its original medium (eg, music, oratory, film, weaving)?
  • Is it rooted in a particular culture? If so, what is your connection to this culture? Would borrowing this structure create issues of protocol or appropriation? This is very important, so if you are unsure, please be sure to reach out to your professor for feedback.
  • Have you seen other examples of people borrowing this structure for their work? If so, reflect on the structure’s use and effectiveness in each situation.

• Why are you interested in this structure for your project?
  • Does it hold special significance for you personally?
  • Does it suit the themes or goals of your project?
  • Does it follow the parameters of the assignment or event (eg, term paper, conference presentation, poetry competition, or formal speech in your community)?

• What is the structure?
  • What are the structure’s components?
  • What is each component’s purpose or role in the overall structure?
  • How are the components organized in space and time?
  • Are some components more prominent than others? What effect does this have?

• What does applying this structure to your current project involve?
  • How does the structure’s original context differ from that of your project? How is it similar?
  • What are the main content themes for your project? How many are there? Are some more significant, more detailed, or otherwise more prominent than others?
  • How do these align with the structure’s different components?
  • How could you use the structure’s most prominent components and organization in time and space to highlight important content?
  • How could you use the structure’s most prominent components and organization in time and space to introduce and reinforce your argument or message?

Reminders:

• You must cite your sources regardless of the structure you choose. Think carefully about how you can do this without disrupting the flow of the work. If you are not sure how to do this, you can always ask your professor for feedback.
• Always have someone else review the work and provide feedback. This is especially important when borrowing a structure from another medium, as such a strong break from readers’ expectations can inhibit communication. Try asking someone familiar with the borrowed structure as well as someone unfamiliar with it to ensure that the desired communication is happening.