Corey J Barker

C2600159

How to Enter Into a Discourse Community

In this paper I will attempt to lay out a step by step process of how to entering into a discourse
community, and analyze how well this book does in introducing the reader to people who study writing.
I believe there are four steps you can follow in order to become a part of a discourse: Data Collection,
Data analysis, Integration and Acceptance.
The first step would to collect data on the discourse: Data Collection. Blindly trying to enter into a
discourse would be unreasonable, even on the surface you must know the basis. The Basics will allow
you to build a strong foundation in order to build the rest of your understanding of the discourse. The
book Writing about Writing does a great job at assembling the works of people who study writing and
answers the question, what is a discourse community. Lets face it, without knowing what a discourse is,
how would you even know that writers who write about writing is its own unique discourse? This book
compiles works from Swales, Mirabelli and Gee all three of which are leading researchers and writers on
the topic of writing. The one thing these writers have in common is they have works in this book that
describe discourse communities. Linguist John Swales defines for us discourse as groups that have goals
or purposes, and use communication to achieve these goals. He also lays out the defining
characteristics of a discourse in these six bullets:

A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals.

A discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members.
A discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and
feedback.
A discourse community utilizes and hence possess on or more genres in the communicative
furtherance of its aims.
In addition to owning genres, a discourse community has acquired some specific lexis.
A discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant
content and discoursal expertise. (Swales, 1990)

Mirabelli in his work Learning to Serve brought to light the misunderstanding of the discourse
community of waiters and waitresses. By providing readers with a relatable example, he demonstrations
from the view of an outsider, that it is difficult to understand the talent and knowledge servers possess.
Mirabelli also incorporates the concept of Lexus by not only defines a concept that this community uses,
but also further clarifies the intercommunication that that is necessary for this discourse. In the back of
the book there is also glossary that allows reader to define concepts that are not common knowledge to
reader which is a vital tool in learning this discourse.
With the knowledge of what a discourse is, you can begin Data Analysis. It is not just enough to read this
book and retain its words, but it is important to understand why these words are written. What is the
point of this discourse? I believe here is where the book does a spectacular job. In our reading The
Composing Processes of Unskilled College Writers, Sondra Perl analyses her results of a study
performed on five unskilled college writers. Perl addressed three major questions:

How do unskilled writers write?

Can their writing processes be analyzed in a systematic, replicable manner?
What does an increased understanding of their processes suggest about the nature of
composing in general and the manner in which writing is taught in the schools? (Perl, 2011)

Mike Roses Rigid Rules, Inflexible Plans and the Stifling of Language has the same tone as the
Lamott reading. In this piece Rose explains that the rules of writing interfere with the writing process
itself. When writing a paper the thought is the most important aspect to get down first. (Rose, 532)
When focused too much on the grammar, rules and overall specifics it can create hesitation in a writers
paper. Approaching a paper with the mind set of following rules to a tee can create writers block.
However, mapping a paper first and allowing the rules of writing to incorporate itself into your work
allows a paper to flow without interruption. Showing the reader that understanding the way researcher

study writing and understanding common errors of writers, it enables the reader to become a better
writer.
Next is Integration into the discourse community. Gee, speaks in his work Literary Discourse
Linguistics, that being able to learn your way into a discourse is very challenging. (Gee, 1989) He also
speaks great volumes about mushfaking being an essential part of joining a discourse community. The
ENC 1101 course curriculum begins to really shine in the integration step. Most readers on their own
would not find discussion boards and post their ideas and respond to others. In this course we are
provided with web courses that allows us to engage in scholarly critic of works from experts in this
discourse. By participating in the discussion portion of this course we have made the first steps toward
integration. To further progress our understanding this course provided us with a major assignment that
allowed us to study our own writing and analyze our findings. This is a fundamental progression into this
discourse, although these were not scholarly works, attempting to understand the process of these
studies allows us the opportunity to write about writing. Gee would say that by faking our way through
this study it allows us to builds our understanding of this discourse. (Gee, 1989)
Last but not least Acceptance. In order to completely enter into a discourse you must be accepted
by its members. Once you have a grasp of how the discourse operates in its entirety and gain the
respect of its members you can eventually gain the acceptance of its members. This book does not
provide the reader with access into this discourse, but it does do a very good job at introducing the
reader into the discourse community of people who study writing. More importantly, the curriculum to
the course provided the basis of better understanding and integration. The book does a fantastic job at
assembling the works of people who study writing and giving you the tools to understand their works.
One critic about this book is the lack of organization in the book itself. However the curriculum provides
the book with this organization. I understand that the curriculum of this class was compiled around this

book, but the curriculum give the book better organization and flow so that readers can better
understand writing about writing.
Writing about Writing had taught me a great deal about discourse communities and has provided
me with a lot of tools that I was unmindful of. I am in the process of applying to medical school and the
knowledge about discourse has given me something to think about when it comes time to gaining
acceptance into the medical field. As an undergraduate I knew next to nothing about the medical field or
medical terminology. Now that I have graduated I realize that I have gained a great deal of knowledge
through school, work and volunteering. Having only a B.S. I understand that I have only scratched the
surface of information in the medical field, but this book has provided me with a way of gaining
acceptance into the field. Understanding that there is a way to learn and comprehend the Lexus of a
community is only the beginning. As I continue my education I will engage more in this community and
at some point ill mushfake my way through a day in a hospital. Further down the road I will gain
acceptance into the community but not before many years of hard work.

Works Cited:
Gee, James P. Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics: Introduction. Journal of Education 171.1 (1989): 5-.
.
17. Print.
Mirabelli, Tony. Learning to Serve: The Language and Literacy of Food Service Workers. What They
.
Dont Learn in School. Ed. Jabari Mahiri. New York: Peter Lang, 2004. 14362. Print.
Perl, Sondra. "The Composing Processes of Unskilled College Writers." Writing About Writing: A College
.
Reader. Eds. Wardle and Downs. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 317-336. Print.
Rose, Mike. "Rigid Rules, Inflexible Plans, and the Stifling of Language: A Cognitivist Analysis of Writers
.
Block." 1980. Writing About Writing. By Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. 2nd ed. Boston:
.
Leasa Burton, 2014. 527-31. Print.
Swales, John. "The Concept of Discourse Community." 1990. Writing About Writing. By Elizabeth Wardle
.
and Doug Downs. 2nd ed. Boston: Warldle and Downs, 2014. 215-29. Print.