Discourse Community

Discourse Community
Polett Rothenbucher
The University of Texas at El Paso
RWS 1301
March 25, 2015
Paul LaPrade

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Introduction
My discourse community includes having the experience to be able to explore my major
in nursing and having the chance to see how this course is constructed, and how they interact by
knowing the different genres and specific terminology they use in order to make this community
work. For this discourse community, I get to explain my experience and compare and contrast
the resources used in the articles of Swales by using his six criteria to see if I passed the Swales
test and Porters article about intertextuality and how this discourse community is used within
the group of students. These articles explain briefly of how this community works and what it
includes when having a lot people reach the same goals. Overall, I got the chance to sit in the
class of Foundations of Nursing Practice and observe an interesting community full of students
who share the same goals.
Literary Review
In my discourse community the experiences that occur when exploring the nursing group
relates to the articles The Concept of a Discourse Community by John Swales and Intertextuality
and the Discourse Community by James E. Porter. These two authors explain in their articles of
how a discourse community works and how and what to learn and expect from it. For example,
in Swales Article he explains how a discourse community works and to see if a specific discourse
community meet its standards. For this assignment I used these six criteria by exploring the
community of the nursing department and alongside using information from the interviews that
has been made from a nursing student and professor. In Porters article, I managed to relate to my
discourse community assignment because in his article he includes how the word intertextuality,
which is getting an idea from other texts, explains how getting ideas from an article can also be

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found in another book or article etc. This assignment will lead to giving information about a
discourse community within the major of nursing.
Discussion
In the article about the six criteria of Swales he mentions about a discourse community
and what it includes within the special goal. His six criteria are explained as a type of test that is
used in order to compare and contrast the discourse community. For example in my observation
of the group of Foundations of Nursing Practice Ive noticed that this discourse community
meets the standards of the six criteria by Swales. In this group I have noticed that every single
pre-nursing student was reaching the same goal in becoming a full-time nurse. When I attended
the class, everyone had a group project about how to prevent accidents and health risks for
children.
Using Swales six criteria for number one he mentions A discourse community has a
broadly agreed set of common public goals (Swales, pg. 220), explaining that if somebody is
part of a discourse community it is for a reason and for the sharing of goals, such as how it is in
the community of nursing in which I observed. My observations for this group were very
constructed, noticing that all the pre-nurses where enlighten to show everyone their information
on preventing sickness, and accidents towards children. When interviewing one of the prenursing students I got to know a little more about this department and the experiences that this
student had by being part of this group. In my interview with one of the pre- nursing student,
Brandon Aguirre, I questioned him, to tell me about the nursing department, and what is its
purpose and as a pre-nursing student what does he achieve from belonging into this specific
group. This department is actually very good and I grateful to be part of it. I would say it is one

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of the best departments in the region. I believe I belong to this group because with the professors
they set the tone for us as students and encourage us to give our best said Brandon Aguirre.
Brandon Aguirre shares the same goal as all nursing students because he answers in a
very glad and commutable way. For example in his project with his group he showed a lot of
effort and was very happy when presenting. His project was to show how children act and when
their minds are not mature yet and when they love to interact with others. His presentation was
very interesting because it showed how children feel and act when they are still little. Brandon
also mentions that his passion is to help others, especially children, and when he asked me what
field I would like to work on, I mentioned to him that I also enjoy helping others especially
children as well.
I realized that his goals and my goals are common and how we want to achieve our goals
on becoming nurses, likewise how all of his group and the class want to achieve. As I was
observing I saw how each group were excited to interact with other groups, showing information
of healthcare towards children. The interactions that these students presentations showed,
corresponds to number one of Swales criteria, explaining how you can tell when the discourse
community shares the common goals and how everyone enjoys being part of this community.
For criteria number two, Swales ask how does a discourse community participates and interacts
within the members, A discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its
members (Swales, pg. 221). Due to my exploration through the course of Foundations of
Nursing, there were a lot of interactions between each other, student to student or teacher to
student. I also saw how important the professor wants these students to know about healthcare
and how. In my interview with Professor Sarah Yvonne Spellings-Jimenez she mentions the

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interactions she has with her students and how important it is for them to understand the topic of
healthcare.
I asked her what type of terminology does this community have and how often is it used,
she thoroughly explains So definitely in the practice of our profession we use medical
terminology, we utilize the terminology involved in the differences of chemistry, psychology,
biology, anatomy, we corporatize this science discipline, and whatever science terms they use we
use as well in the department of nursing. She explains how the terminology has to do with
science and how this subject is used a lot when being part in the community of the nursing
department. Thus in according to Swales analogy of his criteria number two, it can be included
as a way on how a discourse community have different interactions such as as how professor
Jimenez explained in the interview. For number three in part of the Swales test, A discourse
community uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback
(Swales, pg. 221), Swales asks if the discourse community being explored includes a lot of
feedbacks within the group.
As I was observing and viewing all the presentations, there were a lot of feedback going
between the groups and the professor. Throughout these presentations many of the nursing
students told stories about preventing accidents from children, by giving information about their
own experiences as parents. Many of the nursing students in this course had children of their
own so they give information out to their classmates for them to understand the situation.
Another example is that professor Jimenez gives out information and feedback to her students by
giving out more information through power point presentations about the psychology of a child
and how it feels to be in a childs learning and the way they think when growing up. As reading
through the professors presentation and listening to each of the groups presentations, they

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apparently where giving out feedback about how to work with children to prevent them from any
health accidents. Swales criteria number three can compare to the presentations both the students
and professor demonstrated.
In Swales criteria he also mentions how within the discourse communities they have
genres for the goal they are sharing. Which leads to number four A discourse community
utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims
(Swales, pg. 221), and number five In addition to owning genres, a discourse community has
acquired a specific lexis (Swales, pg. 222). During my observations, I asked Professor Jimenez
on which type of genres is used within this type of discourse community. Technology is huge,
so we use computers, we definitely use power points, writing assignments, utilizing blackboard
and for audio and visual we use YouTube videos, and we have to utilize the students
communications, like using the communication psychology, or a psychiatrist utilize trying to use
that format in our students said Professor Jimenez . As she was explaining, I never knew the
knowledge in how these genres work to help with the communication within these nursing
students and how this helps them reach the same goal.
Lastly on number six of Swales criteria, he mentions A discourse community has a
threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise
(Swales, pg. 222). Swales explain the meaning for the last criteria, mentioning who the
discourse community depends on. However, survival of the community depends on a ratio
between novices and experts (Swales, pg. 222). Throughout my observation report I asked both
Professor Jimenez and pre- nursing student Brandon Aguirre if there has been any occasion in
where students or colleagues did not support any type of goals, decisions, or ideas, and if as a
team how were they able to overcome them. Brandon Aguirre said Yes, I had an idea one time

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of having a group project for a class presentation, but many people in the group did not agree
with me so I just had to come to a consensus about it. Brandon mentions on how within the
groups there can be occasions in where people would not agree to ones idea or suggestion.
However when I asked the same question to Professor Jimenez she mentions that she never faced
a time when one or many students would not share the same goals and intent to just quit in the
goal of becoming a nurse. As far as I know in my own experience Ive never encounter that
type of situation, I was a part time faculty for about three and half years while I work at a
hospital this last semester was my first semester as a full time instructor for nursing and so far
what Ive encounter everyone has been very supportive of new ideas and helping each other out,
and Its actually been in our department where it has been a very positive experience and I
havent encounter any issues yet said Professor Jimenez. Overall there can be a negative
involuntary that can occur within groups or in general within the community, but according to
these interviews there havent been any experiences of a student or many students leaving the
community and not wanting to reach the same goals as everyone. There are many people who
may or may not have the same answer but within that aspect they have the same goal to reach.
Throughout my observation report for this discourse community, my results have resulted to
pass the Swales test for my discourse community of nursing, meeting the standards of the
Swales six criteria. Not only it included the six criteria, but Ive noticed that that it also met the
standards of Porters exploration with having to do with intertextuality within a discourse
community. According to James E. Porter author of article Intextuality and the Discourse
Community, he explains that intetextuality can occur when reading and writing texts. For
example he explains the term by giving its definition. Intertextuality- that is, the idea of all texts
contain traces of other texts and that there can be no text that does not draw on some ideas
from some other texts (Swales, pg. 395). Porter explains through his article that one must

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understand him or herself as a writer. Contrasting to the discourse community Ive observed,
everyone that was sitting in the class must know and understand themselves as future nurses and
know the challenges they must face even when they have to write medical reports. When it
comes to intextuality they take texts from their text books making it then into a presentation
where each of the students shows the healthcare of a child. Intertextuality can be viewed as
plagiarizing, but in Porters argument he mentions how many texts can be used in a writers
paper or story. For example in the students presentation they used ideas coming from a text book
and as also text, but it cannot be counted as plagiarizing if some of the many texts have already
been found in other texts.
Porter gives an example on where he uses the Pepsi commercial in where a little boy gets a
Pepsi and then an alien space ship appears over his head. According to the commercial this scene
was similar to Steven Spielbergs movie Great encounters of the third Kind, in where an alien
space ship also appears over the head of the actor. In this specific scene traces from a movie was
found in the Pepsi commercial. However, contrasting the Pepsi commercial to the presentations
of the nursing community, intertextuality was in their information of the healthcare of children.
Many of these ideas were taken from their text books and they gathered these texts to create a
well professional presentation.
Conclusion
Joining the discourse community of nursing I have learned so many things and realized
how this level is very different to an original course. Having to interview professor Jimenez and
pre-nursing student Brandon Aguirre they managed to make me understand how well this
community is constructed and how everyone that was sitting in the class shared the same
common goals. This discourse community taught me the different genres and the types of

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communications they use in order to interact with each other. The notes Ive learned and took
will be helpful for me as a future reference as I prepare in becoming a nurse. Likewise the
information of Swales and Porter, I am able to understand more the community of my major and
learning how this community is constructed and how the communication works.

Sources
1. Porter, E. J (1986). Intertextuality and the Discourse Community. Bedford St. Martin
(2nd Edition) Writing about Writing: A College Reader (pp.395-409). Boston.

2. Swales, J. (1990). The Concept of Discourse Community. Bedford St. Martin (2nd Edition)

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Writing about Writing: A College Reader (pp.215-229). Boston.

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