Nicholas Fultz

Discourse Communities
In society, discourse communities develop over time. They converse,
interact, develop, and grow. Throughout our day, the more we intermingle with
others and begin to take part, with or without realizing it, in daily activities we
create what is known as discourse communities, as stated in Writing About
Writing by Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. It is an interesting book that draws
its influence from the idea that discourse must happen. The book has progressively
drawn me more and more into the world of rhetoric. People are always framing
things, influencing others, and working towards a specialized goal. It shed light on
the writing and verbal discourse communities out there by changing my outlook on
writing.
Originally, while beginning my readings, I thought the book used a lot of
words to describe a really simple topic. They werent concise and they even rambled
it seemed. But after delving through the book, you can talk for hours on the topic of
rhetoric. When I first realized I was taking a writing class I honestly dreaded it,
however Wardle and Downs have opened my eyes to the true definition of a
community the literature on which it stands. Although a community is defined as
the common goals on which they stand, their means of intercommunication, how
well they accept feedback, the diversification of their aims, the lexis they create, and
the threshold level of members who can sustain and maintain the community - the
main commonality through all effective communities is great literature, rhetoric,
and communication. All of these are what truly brings together the communities and
is the building block of all writing and verbal communication.

Nicholas Fultz
After having read good portions of Writing About Writing, I couldnt help
but notice the framing going on at my work, Ruby Tuesdays. When it comes to
advertising, the employee phone application, and the menu itself they just dont
stop drawing you into their own discourse community. On the commercials, they
use bold adjectives and adverbs that stimulate your senses, making you want to
come right into Ruby Tuesdays and get a meal. I work and eat there everyday and I
still cant help myself from wanting to come in and eat a delicious steak. The appeal
comes in many forms besides words. Theres a visual aspect when you see that
perfect looking steak. They appeal to your sense of smell when you see the customer
take a huge whiff of that sweet savory steak. They even talk about the texture of the
steak at times They never stop communicating their message to the customer
through great rhetoric, visual appeals and appealing to all five of your senses.
We have an app at work called, HotSchedules , that lets employees switch
shifts at will, call in sick, and even message other employees. They app is by far one
of the most effective means of communication I have used. Almost as if it were a
social network of its own. To me, I think that it is one of the best ways Ruby
Tuesdays illustrates how important they feel communication is and it keeps the turn
over rate low in comparison to other companies. It makes the community more
effective and clearly illustrates a development of lexis between employees Swales
fifth major point in The Concept of Discourse Community.
Lastly, the menu is another major concept that draws customers into the
Ruby Tuesdays discourse community just like Writing About Writing draws in its
readers. The menu is filled with attention grabbing pictures that pop out at you.

Nicholas Fultz
Each picture has its own description that attends to every taste bud and leaves your
mouth watering. The menu does an excellent job of bringing about questions for the
customer to ask the server, which creates verbal communication. This then relays to
the server to do their job and correctly communicate and connect with the guest.
For example, like Gee says in Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics, its not what you
say, but how you say it. Communication is key with guests; and will require the
server to correctly respond to the guest in the proper manner to ensure for the
guest to feel comfortable.
Writing About Writing has drawn me further and further into the modern
day culture of discourse communities. After reading and understanding a good
chunk of the book, I believe that it has succeeded in introducing me to the discourse
community of people who study writing. The book also allowed me to understand
discourse communities that Im already apart of like Ruby Tuesdays and correlate
them to the writing community.

Nicholas Fultz

Work Cited
Swales, John. "The Concept of Discourse Community." 1990. Writing About Writing. By
Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. 2nd ed. Boston: Warldle and Downs, 2014. 215-29. Print.

Wardle, Elizabeth A., and Doug Downs. Writing about Writing: A College Reader. Boston:
Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. Print.
Gee, James. Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics: Introduction. Writing About Writing: A

College Reader. Ed. John E. Sullivan III. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014. 481-495. Print.