My Discourse Community Essay

A discourse community comprises of a group of people sharing a common and distinct mode of communication or discourse, especially within a particular domain of intellectual or social activity (Oxforddictionaries, 2017). Some of the discourse communities I consider to be a part of, include an Indian joint family, my peer group, high school education in India, the Apple community and education at Pace university.

The First Noble Truth observes that human existence is characterized by suffering. The Second Noble Truth states that suffering has origin. The Third Truth asserts that suffering, because it has an origin or cause, that it can be eliminated. Finally, the Fourth Truth tells that there is a path to

To be a part of a discourse community, one must be credible, possess factual knowledge and draw on the values of its members to be accepted into the community. At the same time, a person must learn typical ways people in that community communicate and argue. They share a certain genre—type of writing. Members of discourse communities provide information and feedback that are imperative in order for that discourse community to grow. In the following paper, I will discuss three discourse communities and a genre that they typically use: people who read Nutritional Facts religiously, college students, and industrial organizational psychologists.

Life is like a massive highway that have infinite routes anyone can choose take to reach some type of designated goal. Those various routes lead to distinct exits, where one can discover a group or groups that share similarities dealing with viewpoints, beliefs, or understanding towards a particular goal. These groups can be identified as discourse communities. According to, “The Concept of Discourse Community,” in the textbook, Writing About Writing, John Swales stressed that in order to be classified as a discourse community the group has to have all six defining characteristics. Swales emphasized, “A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals, mechanisms of intercommunication among its members, uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback, utilities and hence processes one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims, acquires specific lexis, and has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discourse expertise” (Swales, 221-222). Keeping this key detail in mind, there is numerous type of discourse out there.

A discourse community is a group of people that act the same way, this can occur in a school, in a hobby, a job, or other activities you do with repetition. From a young age, I have learned to be prepared for everything thrown in my way, from talking to people that think differently, to the workload in college. The only thing I can think of that would contribute to this strength is my Scouting career that began when I was six years old. This is my main discourse community, because it has taken me ten years to get to the esteemed final rank of Eagle Scout, so I have a lot of connections established in the community. During the 10 years in which I have had in the community, I had to go to through the ranks of Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts with each rank for Cub Scouts taking a year and Boy Scouts about half of a year.

Recently in class we’ve broached the topic of discourse communities, in order to better understand how concepts of rhetoric appear and are used in our daily lives. As such, I’ll be writing about a community of my own as a form of analysis if you will, to better understand these concepts of communication. While my intent is to try and showcase examples of ethos pathos and logos, who knows what you may take away from it. Perhaps you find a new way of interacting with your own friends, or perhaps you’ll just find a way of looking at your own interactions from reading about my own.

When I first started researching discourse communities I thought to myself. Why were there so many definitions of a discourse community and which one is right? To answer that question, discourse communities are “groups that have goals or purposes, and use communication to achieve these goals”(Borg 1). To put this into even simpler terms, every group that you have or ever will be apart of is a discourse community. The discourse communities that you are a part of shape the way you think, write and evaluate others. Every group that you are a part of influences you whether it be your friends, your family, or even your English class. For me, all of the discourse communities that I am apart of influence the way I think and write.

According to Buddha 's teachings, the purpose of life is to end suffering and develop compassion for all living things without discrimination. He taught that meditation must be used to move beyond selfish concerns and desires. Only by quieting the mind can people connect with the power of the larger universe and reach a state of enlightenment and peace. Buddha 's teaching, or dharma, begins with the Four Noble Truths. He disclosed

Buddhists believe that there is no god. They worship and follow the teachings of the Buddha because they believe that he was the first person to be spiritually enlightened. Buddhists aspire to reach Nirvana, a place of perfect peace and happiness. Buddhists believe that to be enlightened you must know the four noble truths and to reach Nirvana you must follow the eightfold path and end suffering in your life.

Buddha spent the rest of his life teaching and preaching. Many people followed him. Some became monks and nuns. Others used his ideas to guide their everyday lives. A new religion called Buddhism grew and spread to many parts of the world.

Buddhism is the only the only to find inner peace within oneself. The religion itself is supposed to help people find the happiness along with the contentment people. The people that practice this religion develop an inner peace, along with kindness, and wisdom. They live in peace with everyone and everything around them. The founder of this religion is Buddha Shakyamuni. He was born and raised Lumbini, India which is now Nepal. He was twenty nine years old found enlightenment under a Bondi Tree.

Budhha is within all of us, no matter one’s nationality, sexual preference, or background. Without fully practicing, even just a clear understanding of the teachings can do wonders in our everyday life. Buddhism originated in remote northeastern India, where it has kept a message of peaceful spiritual awakening. Buddhism now has more than 300 million followers and its teachings have inspired many more. Following the exile of the Dali Lama, there became a boom of interest in the Western world. Many say the source of Buddhism is from the life and teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, the man commonly known as Buddha. Siddhartha taught his followers to look within for spiritual growth and self liberation, he offered a simple, though rigorous, path to enlightenment. Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed nonage. To

The philosophy of Buddhism has proven to be very attractive to modern Westerners for multiple reasons. The faith has been found to assist people to follow a simple and peaceful lifestyle due to the fact that they are not forced specifically worship a particular deity. Furthermore, Buddhism’s attractiveness also comes from its promotion of peace and the fact that it encourages ideals such as Samsara, through which one can continually be reborn until they reach nirvana

Throughout the history of mankind, most civilizations have had some kind of belief system or religion in Asia they practice Buddhism. Buddhism is a philosophy of life; it was started by Siddhartha Gotma, who is more commonly known as Buddha. Buddha isn’t god to them however he is well respected for passing down knowledge of how to find true happiness. The Buddhists major aim in life is to find enlightenment (true happiness).

The Eightfold Path is divided into three basic sections: that of wisdom, ethical conduct, and mental discipline. Right view and right intention means understanding what the Buddha taught and striving to follow the path for the right reasons. Right speech, action, and livelihood mean acting in a beneficial manner towards others. Right effort, mindfulness and concentration require the practitioner to discipline him or herself with meditation (O'Brien, 2012, Eightfold Path).