SylQuala Bright

Profressor Kyle
ENC-1102
21 March 2015
Revised Thesis
At first I had this idea that I wanted to make sense of successfully delivered discourse
that still led to disagreement but Ive thought more in depth about the topic and have
chosen to revise. My improved thesis will be to differentiate between D discourse and
d discourse and elaborate on with or without the proper nurturing of the two how it
can cause failed or successful discourse. Using the discourse community of biologist and
students who study biology I will exemplify the D discourse and d discourse, then
describe how when talking to a member versus an outsider can change the two types of
discourse. Every discourse community at some point allows outsiders to come in and
attempt to make an understanding between them, but it can be tricky if you dont have a
good grasp on how to separate on how to talk and act dealing with the discourse
community. Many components of discourse can cause misunderstanding between
discourse communities the major one is lexis but also the manners and conduct make
up some also. Take for example that you are a biologist and at work you are completing
survey with a reporter on deep sea creatures, if you just jump in saying things like
Genus Architeuthis or Melanocetus Johnsoni, the conversation will go from smiles
to complete confusion. If you go to a function for other biologists and dress like every
day wear it will cause a lot friction between you and others. The concept of discourse is
to understand that even with the right words and correct grammar it will not always lead
to a successful discourse you also have to take into consideration the way you act the

manner in which you dress because you would go to a job interview in a bathing suit. In
reality its just the concept of common sense and whether or not your common sense it
good or bad is based off your primary discourse experience.

Revised Matrix

Sour
ce
#1:

Claim A:

Claim B:

Claim C:

If your primary
discourse
experiences prove
to be unsuccessful
or flawed it may
cause difficulty in
performing a
successful
discourse for your
secondary
discourse. For
example if you are
a biologist and you
come into contact
with a new concept
that was never
explained to you
within your many
years as a biology
student. You would
be unable to
produce a
successful
discourse dealing
with the topic.

When dealing with

a discourse
community that
youre not familiar
with most people
pretend like they
understand or
fake it till you
make it. By
understand the
Discourse and
discourse Ill
help you
understand why
its a 50/50 chance
of success or
failure.

Lexis can be the

thing that helps or
hurts a
conversation.
Outsiders versus
members by
taking notice on
who youre you
can allow yourself
to successfully get
your discourse
through. Taking
notice that the
words you use can
be taken in
different ways
depending on the
background and
familiarity the
person has with
your discourse
communities.

http://marinebio.org
/

Gee, James P.
Literacy,
Discourse, and
Linguistics:
Introduction.
Journal of
Education 171.1
(1989): 5-17. 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. 21529. Print.
Sour
ce
#2:

Gee, James P.
Literacy,
Discourse, and
Linguistics:
Introduction.
Journal of
Education 171.1
(1989): 5-17. Print.

http://www.protocol
-online.org/forums/

Literature Review
John Paul Gee a linguistic expert, wrote, At any moment we are using language
we must say or write the right thing in the right way while playing the right social
role and (appearing) to hold the right values, beliefs, and attitudes. Thus what is
important is not language and surely not grammar, but saying (writing)-doingbeing-valuing-believing combinations. (Gee 1989) In the context of lexis this
particular quote is saying with language alone, it is difficult to fit into a particular
discourse community without having the knowledge, confidence, social skills, and
values to back it up. Within the discourse community of biology you can say and
do all the things that a biologist would do but without believing and actually
showing that in your skill it can make or break you in this field. John Swales a
brilliant professor created a guideline for discourse communities and one of the
most important pieces is lexis. A discourse community will have a lexis (a
vocabulary specific to this community in particular), every word shared amongst

members of the same discourse community have different implications for words and
those on the outside have their own lexis as well. The point is that for someone not a part
of the discourse to create a path for discourse you must use the proper lexis to share a
successful discourse.