A discourse community is basically a group of people that share mutual interests and beliefs. “It establishes limits and regularities...who may speak, what may be spoken, and how it is to be said; in addition prescribe what is true and false, what is reasonable and what foolish, and what is meant and what not.” (Porter, 39). For most writers, success will come only if their writing falls into the approved guidelines of their discourse community.
People are generally involved in a variety of discourse communities within their private, social, and professional lives. Some discourse communities are very formal with well established boundaries, while others may have a looser construction with greater freedom. Examples of discourse communities may include:
- Medicine
- Law
- Psychology
- Films (Movies)
- General Forums
- Technology
- Sociology
- Philosophy
- Chemistry
- Physics
- Mathematics
- Writing
- Rhetoric and Composition
Read more about this topic: Academic Writing
Famous quotes containing the words discourse and/or community:
“The true mirror of our discourse is the course of our lives.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“What I wanted was to create thoughtful citizens—people who believed they could live interesting lives and be productive and socially useful. So I tried to create a community of children and adults where the adults shared and respected the children’s lives.”
—Deborah Meier (b. 1931)