Discourse Communities&

Academic Writing

Discourse Communities

A Discourse is a sort of 'identity kit' which comes complete with the appropriate costume and instructions on how to act, talk, and often write, so as to take on a particular social role that others will recognize. Imagine what an identity kit to play the role of Sherlock Holmes would involve: certain clothes, certain ways of using language (oral language and print), certain attitudes and beliefs, allegiance to a certain lifestyle, and certain ways of interacting with others. (Gee 142)

Gee, James Paul. Social Linguistics and Literacies: Ideology in Discourses, Critical Perspectives on Literacy and Education. New York: Routledge, 1990. Print.

Discourse Communities (and their general types of

writing) Academic (writing in and for school settings)

o Arts – e.g., criticismo Sciences – e.g., IMRaD reports, lab reportso Humanities – e.g., essays

Professional (writing in and for careers)o Business – e.g., memos, grantso Technical – e.g., instructions, specificationso Legal – e.g., legal briefs, IRAC analyses, amicus curiae

Public (writing in and for the public or government)o Journalistic – e.g., features, editorials, reporting for newspapers,

magazineso Civic / Political – e.g., policy briefs, resolutions, bills

Popularo Fiction – e.g., novels, storieso Creative non-fiction – e.g., memoirs, personal essays

General Types of Writing

In this simple Venn diagram, note that these general types of writing have very little in common with each other. Basic grammatical rules probably sit at the very middle, but beyond that, functional words, style, evidence, citation format, logos, pathos, ethos, media, and genre differ (in some cases greatly).

Academic

Popular

Public Professional

Consider…One of the course goals for WRIT 1122: Demonstrate the ability to incorporate and attribute or

document source material in rhetorically effective ways.o Academic writing – formal, in-text citation following a predetermined style

with accompanying Works Cited/References page• In the sciences: APA, CSE, NLM• In the humanities: MLA, Chicago/Turbian

o Public writing – in-text contextual signal phrases (e.g., “A study from Michael Jones published in 2005 in the journal Cell Biology”) with no Works Cited/References page

o Professional writing – business, genre or location specific style, some not published outside of the business, but sometimes based on academic styles such as IEEE or Chicago. Many companies have their own style that you will be expected to learn if you work there.

o Popular writing – popular writing, even creative non-fiction, cites very little, and if it does, it is closer to public writing (in-text context signal phrases).

How to read a discourse

communityActivity, Genre, Context, Rhetoric, and Argument

Activities and their systems

Activities are some action that you are taking. They can produce objects, symbols, motivations, data, rules, and social structures. E.g., o Biology experimento Diaryo Computer coding

Activity systems are the interconnected social and artifact layers most common to an activity.o Biology experiment is most often conducted in a lab and

reported on to other biologistso Diary is most often written by somebody as a means to

remember or reflect on some moment from the past. o Computer coding is most often used to determine procedures

for completing an action on that computer.

Genre Genre – commonly practiced and accepted form or model of

communicating; each form is distinct from other forms.o Genres are socially constructed; that is to say, they are dynamic (they

have and will change) AND they are determined by a community of practice.

o Genres are ways and means of action that structure other actions and objects/motives as they are used—they are parts of an activity system that shape perceptions and expectations.

We match our activity to a genre. Sometimes the activity determines the genre; for example, a biology experiment in a biology lab course results in a biology lab report. However, sometimes the rhetorical situation determines the genre; for example, if we conduct a biology experiment we might write about it as an IMRaD report (academic), or grant proposal (professional), or newspaper article (public), or a children’s book (popular).

Context Context – the “situation” or absolute constraints

of a communication situation.o Which genres are used in the most contexts?o Which genres are used in the least contexts?o Do certain genre features transfer (e.g. such as,

applying the concept of thesis or citation style) to various genres?

Activity Systems require that we constantly evaluate the genres we have available to us and the rhetorical features and argumentative strategies we use.

Activity System for a cell biology course in college(Russell, 1997).

Genre system of cell biology course in college(Russell, 1997).

Commodification – translated and transformed so that those outside the system can understand. `

Qualification – words that address warrants and assumptions.

“Facts” – Argument is presented; argument is hidden.

Genres, Contexts, Rhetoric and Argument

Context determine the limits (constraints) of an acceptable argument (premise, claim and evidence) about an activity.

Genres provide a framework of how to “read” and “write” the activity.

The intersection of activity, context, and genre determine the most common rhetorical features (including logos, ethos, pathos, kairos) available to us.

The means of delivering that communication are further determined by the media and modes expected of that intersection between context, activity, and genre.

Given these layers, think about the question I asked at the beginning of the term.

What is good writing?

…but wait, what about academic writing?

Academic Writing isHopefully, it is clear that academic writing cannot be expressed in a simple sentence. One of the motivations for our approach to WRIT 1122 and 1133 at DU is that understanding that evidence and argument change for different contexts, and that understanding the rhetorical situation and available means and media of persuasion are more important than just learning how to write a memo, grant, or SWOT (all of which will look different four years from now and also further depend on who or what you are writing them for).

Of course, others have still tried to define “general” principles of academic writing…

Andy Gillet UEfAP website

Features of academic writing Complexity Formality Precision Objectivity Explicitness Accuracy Hedging Responsibility

http://www.uefap.com/writing/feature/featfram.htm

University of IowaSix Features of Academic Writing: A Guide For Students Provide context Thesis Navigation Evidence Counter-argument Conclusion

http://myweb.uiowa.edu/egand/Six%20features.pdf

RMIT University of Vietnam

Characteristics of Academic Writing Clear Specific Supported Focused

https://www.rmit.edu.vn/sites/default/files/file_basic_page/characteristics_of_academic_writing_new.pdf

What is academic writing?

These three “features of academic writing” resources show difference and contradiction because they each have unstated assumptions about the rhetorical situation. There are many types of writing that defy these lists: Research-based writing should be question driven and

not thesis driven Sometimes your goal should be to simplify complex

topics rather than make them more complex (complexity for complexity’s sake is bad writing)

Clarity and precision depend entirely on the audience and their expectations. There is no “universal” academic audience.