Swales, Discourse Communities Reading Response/ Discussion While reading Swales, Discourse Communities I had a difficult time relating

what he was writing to what a Discourse Community is. The Criterion Swales used to define a Discourse Community made the definition of a Discourse Community more clear. Common goals is one criterion that demonstrates the community of a Discourse Community. Common goals are important to keep a group of people together, as without common goals everyone would go separate ways. The different levels of membership between the members provide survival of the community through the new members. The Lexis of the Discourse Community give the idea of closeness between the community members, as only the members will understand complex terminology. In all groups including Discourse Communities communication is a key of success to keeping a community involved and informed. Information is given to the members as proof of membership. It is also written that any one may belong to several Discourse Communities and it makes sense as there are many communities with common goals and while working together to accomplish such goal they recruit new members and while the old members ascend to new positions they develop their own vocabulary and send information to other members to keep the community working together and make working together regulatory. The anecdote that Swales uses (Hong Kong Study Circle) helped me understand what he was conveying about Discourse Communities while tying his own experiences into his writing. Differences that are between Speech Communities and Discourse Communities that Swales comments are the differences of ethnicity, society, and the geographical distances between members that can occur in Discourse Communities but not within Speech Communities. Swales, John M. "2.2 Speech Communities and Discourse Communities." Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Cambridge [England: Cambridge UP, 1990. 23-24. Print.

Greene, Framing Reading response/ discussion We are never really the first to broach the topic about which we are writing about. (Greene 146) is an important thing to realize about arguments as they are arguments due to the fact that no one idea is perfectly acceptable so people keep on stating their ideas. The new arguments are built up on the historical context until they become the foundations to the future ideas. What historical contexts one echoes and the ones they refute as well as what they can share from their own opinions and supporting ideas they bring to the conversation tells others what position they reside in (Greene 147). One cannot join the conversation as a participant until they have done research through observation. The research done must include what topics have been discussed and the problem at hand. The evidence needed to persuade the audience and the objections that will be made by such audience, also what is at stake in the argument. These are important things to research before joining the conversation as these will help you frame your argument. Greene states that framing is a metaphor for describing a lens. This lens limits the readers range of vision much like a director will use in filming a movie. The director of the argument will focus on what they want the audience to focus their attentions on making sure to what will be covered and what will not be covered in the argument.

Devitt, "Generalizing About Genre" Reading Response/ Discussion Within her writing Devitt uses many diverse and confusing situations in order to explain what genre once was where it changed and what we should define genre as now. The old genre characterized by form and text types to the new genre of pattering and of human experience there has been a great shift in the definition of genre. Genre has to deal with not only conforming to generic events and customs but also how to respond appropriately to the situation at hand. No matter how diverse one situation is from another, situations consist of the event, people, and the role of language. The genre and situation work hand in hand as when genre is constructed the situation is ultimately constructed as well. This may give some the idea that genre is an important idea that has always stood by the situation unchanged, but this is not the case as genre is important stated by Devitt, but she also stated that genre is dynamic and can be changed and has been changing. The very reason why we may have such a hard time to understand genre could be this very fact that it has a fluid form and not a solid form. Genre is important due to the fact that it lays the schematics to writing and connects the reader to the writer. Devitt explains the confusion without genre when explaining that a writer with no experience may not be able to respond to a situation. This is because the genre which is the situation also creates the response the person in question will make. Genre itself makes meaning.

Devitt, A.J.,(1993). Generalizing about Genre: New Conceptions of an Old Concept. College Composition and Communication, Vol. 44 (4) pp.575-584

Peer postings Greene, Framing Reading response/ discussion In the article, Greene writes about academic arguments happening throughout our daily lives. He speaks about how you should do research on both sides of the topic to have a good argument. I also enjoyed reading the part where Greene spoke about the person listening to an argument between other people. After listening in for a while and gathering facts from what they said, you eventually formulate an opinion and argue with the facts you know. Him speaking about arguments in this way helped me to think of arguments in a different perspective. It is more conversation than an argument most times. I like to refer to it more as debating than actually arguing. These arguments occur between my friends and I all the time whether it be about sports or politics. These arguments help to broaden your horizons and maybe even get a whole new idea on a situation because of the extra facts that have been stated. Greene helped me realize that these "arguments" are a great way of learning new things and seeing how other people think compared to you. Works Cited:

Greene, Robert. "Argument as Conversation." The Subject Is Research: Processes and Practices. Portsmouth: Boyton/Cook, n.d. 145-55. Print.

Devitt, "Generalizing About Genre" Reading Response/ Discussion Amy Devitts piece on genre was not an easy read whatsoever for me but I tried to take away as much as I could from it. A theme that stood out to me during this reading was the connection from reoccurring situations to genre. I wish there were more examples to help make genre less confusing for me, although there was an example that I could relate to. She explained that when one receives a letter and recognizes that it is sales letter, they will know that a company will try to persuade them to buy something. They recognize the genre, and will either throw away the letter or read it if they are interested. This doesn't just happen once; it is a situation that occurs countless times in everyday life, allowing them to recognize the purpose of the letter before they even start reading it. She then goes on to explain how Genre and situation are so linked as to be inseparable, but it is genre that determines situation as well as situation that determines genre (Devitt 578). She gives the example of how genre can be used badly when a reader or writer matches genre and situation in a different manner. I experienced this one time I when I wrote a formal letter in a way that the reader could not understand my purpose, thus not being able to understand the situation. I take away from all of this that, even though I have not grasped this concept fully, genre is important for me to understand if I want to be successful in my future career.

Devitt, A.J. Generalizing about Genre: New Conceptions of an Old Concept. College Composition and Communication, Vol. 44 1993, pgs.575-584. Print.