Taking Action in Discourse Communities

Research in genre studies has previously focused on needing to know how genres work for a person to be successful in their discourse community. Much of this research focuses on genre as social action (Miller). She states, As meaningful action, genre is interpretable by a means of rules (163); you need to know the rules of a genre to understand the necessary action that needs to be taken. Others, such as Birkenkotter and Hucken, Dirk, and Devitt, Bawarshi, and Reiff discuss needing to understand the genre youre in, as well as making it accessible to other people not in your discourse community. Many of these authors have discussed the ways that genre is connected to social structures and action, but this varied by field or discipline or discourse community. The field that is the subject of the following analysis is significant because of the way that genres are always connected to social action. This extends the work of these authors because I am focusing primarily on what is beyond understand the genre, to understanding what actions should be taken once the genre is understood. I examine 3 essays from the field in order to show what has been previously established in understanding genre and a discourse community. My analysis reveals that understanding a writing in a genre is only the first step in being fully immersed in a discourse community; a person needs to know the action following the understanding of writing to be able to fully be apart of their discourse community. Im going to be focusing on the discourse community of event planning to give examples of the necessary action needed to be integrated in to a discourse

community. This field has many checklists, forms, and steps that involve understanding a writing/document to know what needs to be done in order to complete a task in planning an event. In the following discussion, I will be providing many examples of how in just one discourse community, knowing what action to take in following writing in a genre is of the utmost importance. If someone does not know the appropriate actions, an entire event can be ruined wasting time, resources, money, and diminishing the reputation of those involved. The first sample of the genre I have found is an event-planning checklist . This is used by the event planner, to coordinate what needs to be done to prepare for an event, for set up, for during the event and afterward. This can also be used by multiple event planners for a larger venue, if they each have their own set of tasks to accomplish or delegate. This is one of the pieces in discourse community that will be used by all event planners. Depending on the subject of the event and what needs to happen they may look different, but the same general idea and components will be on each one. The event planners themselves are usually the only ones looking at this. Since they are heading the event it is not something that needs to be passed out, especially if it has any type of information that may need to be kept secret, like a surprise for the people who are attending, monetary values, whether it is of something that is being auctioned off, contributions, or budget etc. The reason people write in this genre is to make sure everything is included and accounted for before, during and after the event. If a master list was not made then something big, or even necessary minor

details could be overlooked and cause the event to fail, or not to be at the standard necessary for the organization. This relates to the Birkenkotter and Hucken article we read about it being crucial for someone to understand the written communication in their field for them to be successful. Because genres are intimately linked to a discipline methodology, they package information in ways that conform to a disciplines norms, values, and ideology (Birkenkotter, Hucken 476). If someone entered the discourse community of being an event planner, and was unable to read the checklist on what needs to be done and what has already been done, there would be chaos. This would make them fail at their job and prohibit them from becoming successful or gaining any more responsibility at their job, if they are even allowed to keep it. In continuing with the need to understand a checklist to ensure the success of an event, there are many other writing genres in this discourse community that are necessary for an event planner to understand. One of these genres is a budgetplanning sheet. This is used by the event planner to be able to see how they need to divide the budget to make the event work and have all the essential items for the event. Multiple people can use these in different ways, for example, the main person in charge can have an overall budget sheet containing each part of the money and where it goes. Then if it is a very large event, there can be people working on planning each part of the event and may have a smaller budget sheet for their area to make sure they are only using the allotted amount of money on their part of the event. The event planners themselves are mainly the only ones who look at these documents, as they are not shared with the public, though there can be a few other

people within a company who may see the document. For example, If an event planner is part of a larger company, they may have to turn in what they have according to budget, and they may also need approval from higher ups. This is one of the most important pieces of the genre in event planning; it completely controls what the event planner is able to do and how they keep track of all the money. Without one of these, they could end up spending more than they are able on one part of the event and not being able to do another, ruining the event. Being able to write, read and keep track of money on a budget sheet both relates to Birkenkotter and Hucken, as well as Dirk. Genre knowledge involves both form and content. In using genres customarily employed by other members of their discourse community, members of a discipline help to constitute the community and simultaneously reproduce it (Birkenkotter, Hucken 501). Meaning, a member of a discourse community has to be able to understand and reproduce the forms of genre used before. In regards to a budget-planning sheet multiple people have to be able to read and understand it in order to make an event a success. If someone incorrectly calculates the budget, there would be dire consequences; some of the things that needed to still be bought might not be able to, or if someone is running their own event planning business and cant keep track of the money they are putting in to it compared to what they are getting paid, they could bankrupt their company. This not only applies to a one person company, but depending on the freedom this event planner has when dispersing funds, they could really hurt or bankrupt a company they are a part of as well. This relates to Dirk because she addresses the importance of knowing how a genre works as well, she also addresses

the need to look at previous works in the same genre. In this case, a person who was new to working a budget sheet could look at one from a previous event to be able to understand how they are supposed to work, and how they need to fill it out for the event they are planning. Another genre in this discourse community that I will be discussing is the invitation; this is especially important because it is sent to individuals who are not a part of the discourse community. This is the most unique part of the event planning process and can be very different depending on what event you are inviting people to. For example, right now I am planning the Moms Weekend Luncheon for my sorority, and the invitations that were sent out to the moms are very formal and addressed to Delta Zeta mothers. This type of event is invite only, for the girls and their moms, aunts, or grandmas and is not something anyone would be able to show up to or know about. This is also unique because if you are only inviting a certain number of people, it makes the RSVP aspect even more important. The number of people who reply that are attending drastically changes the amount that can be spent on things like seating, food, prizes if necessary, or any other factors to the event. The reason this changes so much is because you are not filling an arena, hoping to get every seat filled, you are planning around the amount of people that are attending instead. The next type of invitation could be in the form of a flyer hanging around campus. We see these quite often for example for the different UPC events that are planned for campus. Some of these include apple day or pinterest day. These events are open to everyone, free, and publically advertised around campus to get as

many students to come as possible. They usually list a date and time and possible a short description of what will be going on at the event that day. The third type of invitation is one where the person will have to buy tickets to attend, but anyone can come. This could come in the form of a flyer, email, pop up ads, or even posts on Facebook. For these, people are usually invited and encouraged to purchase a ticket in advance, such as a concert, or fair. The goals of these invitations are to make people want to attend the event, so it has to be written in a way that a person not in this discourse community will understand. Devitt, Bawarshi, and Reiff give examples of this when they talk about things like tax forms, and how they were supposed to be made for the general public to understand, but overall most people need to hire professionals to get their taxes done. This is a big part of the event-planning field, no one is going to come to an event when they cant understand what an invitation is inviting to them to do, or they cant figure out when or where it is. Overall understanding genre in the event planning field is crucial to being successful at the job, like all of the authors we have discussed have said. If you do not understand one of the important documents that I listed above, the potential for the event to run very smoothly or being effective is little to none. This is most likely true for any discourse community and the genres of writing it entails, though in my field I do believe it works a little differently than most. I say this because if a person does something wrong on the genre sheets I have described above, a boss isnt just going to get mad, or someone isnt just going to have to rewrite a thesis or dissertation, a whole event with multiple sometimes even hundreds of people can

be ruined and affected. I also think genre in my field is a lot different than most because there is not as many papers or lengthy writing involved. The most length to a document is probably going to be a formal invitation, which has to be able to be read by every day people. A lot more of it has to do with different kinds of lists and short paragraphs explaining what needs to be done, and when it needs to be done by. Part of the discourse community in my field is not only the writing aspect of the pieces of genre, but also what you do with it. This is what I would present to the authors that we have read if I was able to question their theories; some of the different discourse communities have writing, but it doesnt stop there; action is involved with every piece of writing in my genre. I think it should be addressed that not only do people in a discourse community need to be able to write and understand a genre, but know how to take the necessary actions to follow through with what it is saying as well.

References

Berkenkotter, C., & Huckin, T. N. (1993) Rethinking Genre from a Sociocognitive Perspective. Ontario: Sage Publications, Inc. Devitt, A., Bawarshi, A., & Reiff, M. J. (2003). Materiality and Genre in the Study of Discourse Communities (5 ed.). unk: National Council of Teachers of English. Dirk, K. (2010). Writing Spaces: Readings on writing. West Lafayette, Ind: Parlor Press. Ontario: Sage Publications, Inc. Miller, C. R. (1984). GENRE AS SOCIAL ACTION. Quarterly Journal Of Speech, 70(2), 151-167 PDF Link http://sua.umn.edu/documents/groups/forms/event_planning.pdf