Writing Reflective Essay

In James Paul Gee’s essay “What Is Literacy?’, he uses the key term ‘discourses’. Gee explains discourses as a placement in society or the belonging to a group in society. Gee states that it come from an individual’s saying, doings, or just their identity. As Gee elaborates on discourses he breaks them down into different areas in which relate to one another. In primary discourses, Gee explains that it is the acceptance through your family and culture. Primary discourses is not a discourse you had to be taught, you just belonged in it. As for Secondary discourse, Gee has broken it down to two section. Nondominate discourse is the sense of belonging in that social group. Dominate discourses lean more toward your social status, and wealth. Gee

Rhetoric is the study and interpretation of any literary piece of work that has persuasive intentions to utilize language more effectively.

We communicate in many ways, either by email, telephone, text, face to face, social media or letters and the language we use allows us to get things done, nonetheless the language and communication method in which we chose to use can vary depending on the discourse community. Much like John Swales suggests a discourse community involves a group of people who share the same common public goals, such as shared interests, rules, structure, and vocabulary. When thinking about the several discourse communities I am evolved in, which include family, coaching football, college student, and a few friends. These discourse communities have influenced me, given me insight of where I come from and tell who I am as a person. I also believe much like Swales,

In the article "The Concept of a Discourse Community" by John Swales (1990). He aimed to define the meaning of a discourse community; then he carefully deconstructs discourse community into six fundamental attributes that are important for recognizing a discourse community.

English 102 through the Alabama Early College Program has taught me the importance of writing skills. When I first began online classes for English, I quickly started learning techniques that I needed to keep up throughout the semester. Each assignment and essay is due at midnight, therefore starting or finishing an assignment early allows the writer enough time to turn in the assignment. Throughout the five modules, I have learned how to write an argument and rhetorical analysis, conduct research and write an exploratory essay. In each module, I learned writing techniques and skills that I never knew before. English 102 has prepared me for future college classes and future job opportunities. During English 102, I struggled with rhetorical

Swales, John. “The Concept of Discourse Community.” Writing About Writing, A College Reader. Ed. Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. 466-479.

Everyone has a Discourse, whether they are aware of it or not. One might ask, “What is a Discourse”? James Paul Gee’s Literacy, Discourse and Linguistics: Introduction states, “Discourses are ways of being in the world; they are a form of life which integrate words, acts, values, beliefs, attitudes, and social identities as well as gestures, glances, body positions, and clothes” (6-7). Entering the writing Discourse may be difficult, as there are many styles and versions. It is common to come upon many styles of writing such as college level writing, scientific writing and technical/business communication. They all differ yet share a common purpose; to provide information to their audience whether it be to entertain or educate.

Writing is a vital part of everyday life for most people, especially for college students. With writing comes a process. My writing process is my personal experience of what works for you when writing. Writing is unique to each person; everyone doesn’t use the same writing process or have the same writing skills. There aren’t any specific order or steps for a writing papers, but rather what works best for you to get the job done. My writing process consists of pre-writing/ideas, first draft, second draft/revising, editing/proofreading, and finally my final draft.

Based on Stuart Hall’s (2006) discussion of Foucault’s theory of discourse, a discourse is generally consisting of a group of statements that together offer a way of talking about a par-ticular knowledge on a certain topic. Many individuals can produce it together, in different institutional settings. The discourse thereby enables the construction of a topic in a specific way which at the same time limits other constructions of the same topic. A discourse is made up not only from one but a multiplicity of statements that all share the same style to talk about the same topic. However, it is not a closed off system, it draws statements from and into other discourses. A discourse in this understanding is not based on the classical distinction between thought and action, it “(…) is about the production of knowledge through language. But it is itself produced by a practice: “discursive practice” – the practice of producing meaning” (Hall, 2006:165). It follows that because all social practices involve meaning, all practices necessarily have a discursive side. A discourse is comparable to what sociologists would call an ‘ideology’. It is composed of statements and/or beliefs that shape knowledge in the interest of one particular group. But, according to Foucault (in: Hall, 2006) a discourse is more appro-priate because an ‘ideology’ claims ‘truth’, which in turn can be falsified. But the social, po-litical and moral world seldom allows the formulation of ‘entirely’ true or

Rhetorical analysis is an investigation into how someone uses his/her critical reading skills to analyze text. The objective of the rhetorical analysis is the study of how the author writes, instead of what the author wrote. At that point, we need to examine the method that the author uses to attain his goal. According to Jonah G. Willihnganz “A rhetorical analysis is an examination of how a text persuades us of its point of view. It focuses on identifying and investigating the way a text communicates, what strategies it employs to connect to an audience, frame an issue, establish its stakes, make a particular claim, support it, and persuade the audience to accept the claim”. From that definition, we are going to analyze Carroll’s essay about

Joining a discourse community is something that we’ve all experienced, whether it's family, sports clubs or even going to church. In class we have been talking about the types of discourse communities we are apart of and sharing it with our fellow classmates. A discourse community is a group of people who share a set of discourses, understood as basic values and assumptions, and ways of communicating about those goals. I feel that it is very important to be apart of a discourse community because you share ideas and thoughts upon each other to build a relationship. Everybody is apart of a discourse community throughout the world. A very important discourse community that I belong to is my family. Being apart of a discourse community is much more than having a relationship, it’s building a bond and a family together.

A discourse community has yet to have a solid definition; though some have come close. One of the people who have attempted to define discourse community is John Swales. Swales, rather than use a standard definition, chose to create a set list of criteria. With the help of the criteria and my interview of Dane (a member of my chosen discourse community) I will discuss how my chosen group, Communications 101, is a discourse community.

In my past years of writing I have seen myself develop into a well disciplined and patient writer. However, I have seen myself significantly improve and mature as a writer over the past few months more than I have in the past four years. I view writing as an open doorway full of ideas, feelings, and thoughts weaved together simply for creating a masterpiece. Before entering college English 1010, high school students are conditioned to write required papers and assignments without having the ability to “put you’re your own opinions and feelings in a paper.” Fortuantly,I have been given the opportunity at The University of Memphis to express myself in writing

Communicating is something we all do as human beings. However, it is something that varies from different group to group. Even people belonging to the same language can have different discourses from each other. It all depends on the demographic they are from and what social group they are in. This can affect all aspects of their communication such as the spoken word, their writing, and their gestures. For example my group of friends would not have the same exact way of expressing things as a group of friends somewhere else in the United States. Discourse is something so complex and versatile that it can give the same spoken word different meanings.

Academic success to me is achieving good grades and understanding the material to get good grades. Academic success also means to have an good attendance. I already get mostly A’s and B’s, but I am not good at staying on top of things. To improve my academic success I will attend class more often, be more organized, pay attention in class, and not procrastinate.