While the aim of this final paper is for you to investigate communities you want to join, it might be easier to grasp the concept of discourse communities or communities of practice if you think of communities you have been or are currently a part of.

Think about what communities you have been or are a still a part of. Writing and rhetoric specialists use the concept of discourse community to explain how writing conventions (or shared ways of doing things in writing) develop among groups.

Discourse communities help us answer the question: What is good writing? Hopefully at this point in the course, you know that's really a trick question. Good writing depends on context and on the consensus of writers and speakers within that context. With that, there's really no such thing as "good writing" forever and always. "Good writing" is not like Newton's Law of Gravity. It's not a natural law; it's a contextual and social fact that changes overtime as communities change, grow, incorporate new members and new technologies. To join a community of practice in the future and write in their genres, you need to get to know their social contract of what genres are "law" for now.

All and all: Discourse communities help explain why “good writing” differs, depending on social context. So here’s the radical point: there’s no such thing as “good writing” …unless members of a community deem it so.

To get even more familiar with the notion of discourse communities (communities that use writing to get things done) please watch the following video:

What communities do you belong to? What discourse/genres do they use?

Professional:

emergency room nurses
prison guards
political aides

Societal:

activist organizations (PETA, NRA, Sierra Club)
a specific ethnic group (Amish, Native Americans living on reservations, Cajun)
a campus club or organization
charity organizations

Civic:

the PTA or similar school groups
political action groups

Cultural:

fan groups (Trekkies, Potterites, the BeyHive)
Civil War re-enactors
game clubs (Dungeons & Dragons, Magic Cards, etc.)

Academic:

ENC 1101 (Writing Studies)
Biology researchers
Historians

Do you see yourself in any of these? What genres do these groups use that other's don't? Why?