Running head: DISCOURSE COMMUNITY 1

Discourse Community Ethnography

Clara Arguelles

The University of Texas at El Paso

RWS 1301

Dr. Vierra

10/22/19
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Abstract

The discourse community is defined by the common goals a group of people have it can be any

type of goal in common it can be a class, subject, team etc.

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Discourse Community Ethnography

Is this class a discourse community? According to Swales (1990), in order to be a

discourse community, the group must have these six characteristics common goals,

intercommunication, participatory mechanism, genres, specialized language, and hierarchy

(p.471). This RWS 1301 class possesses all six characteristics. Therefore, this Rhetoric and

Composition I class is a discourse community.

Literature Review

To communicate with others, you need to know ways of doing it being far away or even

just near each other. Discourse communities can help intercommunicate among member or

others. According to Swales (2011) Mechanisms are will carry depending on the community:

meetings, telecommunications, correspondence, newsletters, conversations etc.” (pg. 470). The

ways to communicate are by getting a response it can be my email, sign language and verbal. For

example, when a teacher is giving classes, he is teaching a communicating with his students.

This suggests there is many ways to communicate now a days because getting a response we

communicated what we wanted to express.

An argument always should be prevailed in the introduction. According to Purves (1990)

experienced academics, particularly when writing certain kinds of texts, should "select a single

aspect of a subject and announce their theses and purposes as soon as possible" (p. 327).

Understanding the argument in a reading and finding how it connects to the reading and how

they support thesis argument are essential academic abilities that professors love in papers for

example Dr. Vierra. Understanding and introducing a good argument that is correct to a genre

are writing skills that appear high on teachers for students, like for those who come from diverse

rhetorical traditions. According to the author the use of the argument is very important since that
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defines your whole paper using the write skills are supplementary for the supporting details for

the argument.

The text in our ancient and old book were not cited back then there are no sources. For

example, the Declaration of Independence was supposedly written by Thomas Jefferson. Locke’s

(1986) theory was that those letters were grabbed from different sources from other people such

as pamphlets and newspaper articles of the times and served as the foundation for the opening

section of the Declaration (pg. 37). If Thomas Jefferson had turned the Declaration of

Independence as a college paper it would of have been classified as plagiarism. Based on this

evidence we can know understand that not all we read in books or texts is a primary source or

really has been proven to be true.

Method

Research scholarly articles and activities that require for artifacts. Interviews, surveys,

and performed observation. The methods used in the RWS class are very efficient, for example

we use survey when we ask question to know of certain information and gather that information

to conduct a research or guide or a paper. When we perform observations, the require

intercommunication with the RWS class to have a discussion and a topic to argue about. When

Dr. Viera is explaining how he wants our work done we have to really observed at the power

point and take notes because it appears to be very specific details we sometimes don’t see.

Discussion

In the RWS class we meet all Swales six criteria by doing our Er’s and revising our

assignments and when we have discussion in class, we all at the end agree on something. The

class has a common goal which is achieve and get the credit for the class with a good grade so

we all at the end can get our graduation diploma. According to Porters (1986) A discourse
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community shares assumptions about what appropriate objects are for examination and

discussion, what operating functions are performed on those objects that constitutes “evidence”

and “validity” and what formal conventions are followed (pg. 39). The use of ethos gives

credibility and gives the paper a stronger agreement.

The use of discussions in class are very important according to Vierra (2019) the use of

group discussions can help us connect with other in a way were the class agrees with your

commenting or not and why they agree or why they don’t agree our RWS class is filled with so

many different personalities that we can either connect in a positive way. For example when we

had that discussion about the Lamott and Harris there where some points put out that I didn’t

really see it in that way which actually helped me understand the reading more.

Common Goal

This class has common public goals. Swales defined common goals as a group of people

with things in common people who get into an agreement also it can be that that group of people

have an objective. (p. 471). The cause of common goals is we are different maybe in many ways

but there is always something people agree. Our common goal in RWS class is we all want to

learn how to right more professionally and to get the credits for this class by having a good grade

so later get our diploma. The RWS 1301 class have shared goals when we all ask questions for a

specific thing for example when we ask Dr. Vierra how to cite our sources and how to do our

papers correctly. The RWS class has public goals all are there to pass the class and learn and put

effort and get early to class to get GOF cards because the goal is looking for success. The benefir

to have goals between each other makes you want to research and talk more about it leads to a

constructive conversation.
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Intercommunication

The use of intercommunication is around us in many ways, and people aren’t aware.

According to Swales (2011) The participatory mechanisms will vary according to the

communitity meetings, telecommunications, correspondence, newsletters, conversations and so

forth. (pg. 471). For example, when we get correspondence there is intercommunication with the

use of the letter send to you are communicating in a different way, but you say what you need to

say you get you point to that person. When the letter is answered and send back it will be read

and have an answer there is intercommunication in that way. When we read the newspaper, we

are getting information by reading what other people posted and we are getting information we

can give to others that may not have the same knowledge of that specific theme. The use of

intercommunication is important sometimes people are not really close to each other or can’t

give out there thought to all the world and that’s why people just post thing like on Facebook

they want people to know what they think what they know it’s a source of communication that is

more effective since people now a days just are in their social media and sometimes its easier

and faster communication. This class has intercommunication when Dr. Vierra teaches us his

methods of writing because we use the methods of writing in our daily writing which leads us to

express our self through writing in a scholarly way and get people to actually want to read what

we have posted or written.

Participatory mechanism

It is a one and one situation you ask for something and expect a useful reply. For example

when we ask for feedback the expectation is getting a better way of doing your writing.

According to Swales (2011) A discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms primarily

to provide information and feedback (pg. 471). When someone provides information they usually
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talk to someone professional to give their opinion or corrections we are looking for success like I

mention in common goals we have a goal for success and when the feedback is given it improves

our understanding and maybe the details you didn’t notice where not really useful in you writing.

For example, when we go to Dr. Vierra for office hours we are seeking to improve hour Er’s and

our papers and we usually look for a professional like Dr. Vierra we already know that he knows

what he is talking about. When we use black board to do our trivia’s we are doing participatory

mechanism because we are participating in an assignments that is really not a grade but the class

knows it will increase our probability of having a GOF card and later will help to recover a late

assignment.

Genres

This RWS 1301 class uses different types of genre. We use rhetoric and Apa style to right

all our papers and assignments. According to John (2017) Understanding the argument in a

reading and finding how it connects to the reading and how they support thesis argument are

essential academic abilities that professors love in papers (pg. 328).There are different genres for

different types of group for example in our class we use specific ways of doing our work but

only the RWS class does this an athletic team will have a genre based on what sport they play.

Specialized language

This RWS 1301 class communicates with a specific lexis. Expository reflection uses

specialized language in this class when we use methods of writing more like a process that not

any other class uses but in a unique way, we need to use the writing process for other classes.

According to Swales (2011), a discourse community requires specific lexis (p.473). We used our

arguments to formulate our ER’s. The class uses sources with RefWorks. It’s a unique way of

doing our papers but very helpful.

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Hierarchy

The hierarchy in the RWS class is Dr.Vierra he is the source of authority the learn of

appropriate language how to say what you want to say in a professional manner be specific on a

genre you are talking about focus on the subject and argue give points and also use ethos to gain

credibility.According to Swales (2011) discourse community has a threshold level of members

(pg. 473). The use of knowledge is very important we can gain knowledge by reading and

studying which provides us to give more information to those who don’t.

Analysis

My researched aligned with my readings, it had a connection between the three articles

Swales, Porter, and Johns all lined up and were essential to my information. It was understood in

different ways what discourse communities are and how they function and what ways we used

them.

Conclusion

The research destroys me because it was all about re-reading all the articles and gaining

different points of view from each author. They all had a common goal they were expressing

their definitions for discourse community using examples and other authors words. It all

concluded to a point where they had a common goal. They gave out the intercommunication by

using their writing and the RWS 1301 class gain the knowledge necessary to write this long

paper about what discourse community is and where we use it. I know the class in general would

have a good discussion about what they understood on discourse communities we all think

different but have a statement that will lead us to the same answer. The knowledge we gain can

now transfer to someone who does not really know what discourse communities are.
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Reference

Johns, A. M. (2017). Discourse communities and communities of practice  In Wardle,

Elizabeth and Dough Downs (Ed.), In writing about writing (pp. 319-42) Boston:

Bedford/St. Martins.

Porters, J. E. (1986). Intertextuality and the discourse community. Rhetoric review (pp. 34-47)

Taylor & Francis, Ltd. Retrieved from https://0-www-jstor-org.lib.utep.edu/stable/466015

Swales John. (2011). The concept of discourse community. In Wardle Elizabeth (Ed.), Writing

about writing (pp. 471-472). Downs and Wardle: Boston: Bedford St. Martins
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Tables
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Figures

Figure 1. “[Include all figures in their own section, following references (and footnotes and

tables, if applicable). Include a numbered caption for each figure. Use the Table/Figure style for

easy spacing between figure and caption.]”

Figure 2. “Information about all elements of APA formatting, please consult the APA Style

Manual, 6th Edition.” Or our Norton field guide

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Notes :

A discourse community shares assumptions about what objects are appropri-

ate for examination and discussion, what operating functions are performed on

those objects, what constitutes "evidence" and "validity," and what formal con-

ventions are followed. A discourse community may have a well-established

ethos; or it may have competing factions and indefinite boundaries. It may be in

a "pre-paradigm" state (Kuhn), that is, having an ill-defined regulating system

and no clear leadership. Some discourse communities are firmly established,

such as the scientific community, the medical profession, and the justice sys-

tem, to cite a few from Foucault's list. In these discourse communities, as

Leitch says, "a speaker must be 'qualified' to talk; he has to belong to a commu-

nity of scholarship; and he is required to possess a prescribed body of knowl-

edge (doctrine). . . . [This system] operates to constrain discourse; it

establishes limits and regularities. . . . who may speak, what may be spoken,

and how it is to be said; in addition [rules] prescribe what is true and false, what

is reasonable and what foolish, and what is meant and what not. Finally, they
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work to deny the material existence of discourse itself' (145).

A text is "acceptable" within a forum only insofar as it reflects the communi-

ty episteme (to use Foucault's term). On a simple level, this means that for a

manuscript to be accepted for publication in the Journal of Applied Psychology,

it must follow certain formatting conventions: It must have the expected social

science sections (i.e., review of literature, methods, results, discussion), and it

must use the journal's version of APA documentation. However, these are only

superficial features of the forum. On a more essential level, the manuscript

must reveal certain characteristics, have an ethos (in the broadest possible

sense) conforming to the standards of the discourse community: It must demon-

strate (or at least claim) that it contributes knowledge to the field, it must dem