Jasmin Raja

Professor Wolcott
ENC 1101-0M10
9 November 2014
The textbook we have used in ENC 1101 has attempted to introduce us to the discourse
community of people who study writing. I believe that alongside other resources the textbook, Writing
about Writing: A College Reader written by Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs has successfully
inculturated me into the discourse community of writers, rhetoricians, compositionists, and scholars
who study writing to some degree. The concepts I have learned about writing and composition will in
conclusion better allow and prepare me to enter my career after I graduate.
John Swales The Concept of a Discourse Community found in our Writing about Writing
textbook provides a set of six characteristics that define a group of individuals as a discourse
community. Using the principals that make up those characteristics, readings from this unit,
Webcourses, other students, and the professor of this class, I can explain how this course taught me
about the discourse community of people who study writing.
A discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative
furtherance of its aims (Swales 221). In this concept Swales is trying to explain that every discourse
community has a text that helps them communicate their aims. At the beginning of the Writing about
Writing textbook we are introduced to the CARS (Create a Research Space) model of Research
Introductions. Written by John swales as well, this method is taught to us in a series of three steps. The
CARS method teaches us how to write a professional research paper. Move one in CARS is to establish a
territory, the first step of this move is to claim Centrality, the second step is making topic

generalizations, and the third step is reviewing previous items of research (Swales 12-13). After move
one we continue to move two where a niche must be established, here we also find counter-claiming,
indication of a gap, question-raising and continuation of a tradition (Swales 13-14). The last move
consists of occupying the niche by outlining the purpose or announcing present research, the
announcing principal findings and finally indicating the structure of the research article (Swales 14). The
scholars that make up the discourse community of people who study writing use this method to write
research papers. So, we can say that Writing about Writing has aided us in understanding the discourse
community of people who study writing by teaching us how to write a paper the way they do. Although I
am going to be a part of the medical community one day I know that the CARS method has taught me
practical information. Quite often research is required of doctors and because of this course I will have a
better comprehension on how to write a research introduction.
In addition to owning genres, a discourse community has acquired some specifics lexis (Swales
222). John Swales defined another characteristic of discourse communities as having specialized words
and terms to speak more technically in the discourse community. There is no way an outsider would
know this special jargon so this is a major way that the outside world is kept out of specific discourse
communities (Swales 222) Like Swales, Tony Mirabelli discusses the importance of specific jargon in his
work Learning to Serve: The Language and Literacy of Food Service Workers. The meanings of the
language used in menus are socially and culturally embedded in the context of the specific situation or
restaurant (Mirabelli 96). Mirabelli is basically concluding that the specialized language a menu and
server exhibit can in end persuade a customer to buy anything that theyd like them to buy. In paragraph
25 of Learning to Serve: The Language and Literacy of Food Service Workers we see an excerpt of an
interview from New Yorker magazine with Chris Fehlinger, webmaster of bitterwaitress.com. Chris
Fehlinger states that when he is asked about a specific item on the menu he often provides such a
detailed and elaborate explanation that the customer almost always lets him choose what they want to

order. With just the use of a discourse communitys specific vocabulary people can be manipulated or
be kept out of the loop. The textbook Writing about Writing does an excellent job at educating us
about the lexis that the discourse community of people who study writing use. Throughout all of the
pre-readings and readings there are many defined vocabulary words we come across. For instance,
genres, which are recognizable, self-reinforcing forms of communication (Bazerman 372). Another
example of lexis found in the book would be from James E. Porter, a professor of English at Miami
University who says that there are two types of intertextuality (all writing stems from other works).
Iterability, which is the repeatability of certain textual fragments, and presupposition which refers to
the assumptions a text makes about its referent, readers and context (Porter 397). Besides for the
defined words throughout the textbook there is a glossary found on pages 791-804 which provides a
one stop location for all of the lexis that are within the discourse community of people who study
writing. In terms of extending past this class, the use of lexis will greatly relate to my career. As a
healthcare professional I will need to have knowledge of many specialized words in my career that
relate to many aspects of my everyday job. There is even a course I must take, HSC 3537 Medical
Terminology which teaches the various specialized medical terms I will need to know. Even as a doctor
there will be certain ways I will have to interact with other colleges that will occur from the use of
specific jargon that only medical professionals know. Doing this helps to keep the discourse community
of doctors and healthcare workers separate from others.
A discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members (Swales
221). Within a discourse community the members often must communicate to each other through
various ways like face-to-face, meetings, email, texting, phone calls, and more. According to what
Professor Wolcott has taught in class, within the discourse community of people who study writing a
common way the members intercommunicate would be by writing online blogs and keeping up with a
personal portfolio website. For our final project in class we are asked to compose an online portfolio

that outlines the work weve done throughout the semester and what we have learned from it. Doing
this gives us hands on experience and teaches us how the discourse community of people who study
writing intercommunicate. While the online portfolio is a great example of intercommunication in a
discourse community, we have also been intercommunicating for the duration of this class in another
big way. Every week we are asked as students to read an article about what we are learning, provide a
discussion post on Webcourses, and then we must also post a reply on a classmates post. By using the
online posting forum on Webcourses we are intercommunicating constantly with each other. The
intercommunication we have learned about from the professor and that weve practiced on our own
has set an example of what can be expected of me in my future profession. As an aspiring doctor I know
that I will have to intercommunicate with my peers in multiple ways like, notes/letters, meetings, talking
face-to-face. As a result of this class I now know what it takes to do that. Intercommunication plays a
crucial role within the discourse community.
Seeing as I am providing how ENC 1101 with the aid of Writing about Writing has taught me
about the discourse community of people who study writing and how it has benefitted me, it would be
of great importance to ask another peer how ENC 1101 affected them. After asking the student a series
of questions I have found that she has a positive mind set about this class and what it has done for her.
She expressed her comprehension of what a discourse community is and how the discourse community
people who study writing works. Even after not being in the class for 3 years she was able to discuss
John Swales six characteristics of a discourse community with great ease. She explained that she felt like
taking ENC 1101 could be the first step in one day being involved in the discourse community of people
who study writing. I went on to ask how learning about discourse communities in ENC 1101 will help her
later on in life. She was able to provide me with an impeccable explanation. She is pursuing a career in
journalism and believes that by learning about discourse communities she was able to figure out if
journalism was something she wanted to do with her life. The discourse community of journalism does

in fact deal with a lot of writing so by studying how people write in ENC 1101 she realized writing was
something that interested her immensely. Currently in her internship she is slowly but surely becoming a
part of the journalism discourse community. Likewise, in this paper I have come to the same conclusion
about how studying discourse communities has benefited me.
As a whole Writing about Writing and ENC 1101 has taught me about the discourse community
of people who study writing in many ways. With the aid of my professor, others students, readings
about the unit and Webcourses I have successfully been introduced to the discourse community of
people who study writing. Genres, lexis, and intercommunication are all key ideas that represent a
discourse community, whether it is the discourse community of people who study writing or the
discourse community of healthcare. By understanding truly what discourse communities are and how
the people who study writing make up one I am better prepared for my career of being a medical
professional after college.

Works Cited
Bazerman, Charles. Speech Acts, Genres, and Activity Systems: How Texts Organize Activity and
People. Writing about Writing: A College Reader. Ed. Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs.
Boston: Bedford/ St. Martins, 2014. 365-394. Text.
Jones, Emily. Personal Interview. 6 November 2014.
Mirabelli, Tony. Learning to Serve: The Language and Literacy of Food Service Workers. Writing about
Writing. Ed. Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martins, 2014. Web.
Porter, James. Intertextuality and the Discourse Community. Writing about Writing: A College Reader.
Ed. Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2014. 395-409. Text.
Swales, John. Create a Research Space (CARS Model of Research Introductions. Writing about
Writing: A College Reader. Ed. Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford/ St.Martins,
2014. 12-15. Print.
Swales, John. "The Concept of Discourse Community." Writing about Writing: A College Reader. Ed.
Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2014. 215-229. Print.