Final Drafts of Assignment 1 and 2

assignment two rought draftMadeline Stewart

assingment 1 english

Madeline Stewart

Assignment Two Rough Draft

Discourse communities represents a group of people who share fundamental values and ideas, that use communication to accomplish goals that support these values and ideas (Swales, 471-472). ScribeAmerica prepares individuals to assist doctors so that they have the ability to focus more on the patient, instead of having to focus on the clerical and information technology functions in a clinical setting. I was introduced to ScribeAmerica by a friend, who had been employed by them for over a year. The job immediately sparked my interest, as an individual who is searching for a job in the medical field in a hospital setting. This job offers hours of exposure and knowledge, that would be nothing but beneficial to someone with my interests. I joined this discourse community this past summer, and I will be discussing how this community has positively impacted my life and others in the community.

With my prior knowledge of the six defining characteristics stated by Swales, I identified ScribeAmerica as a discourse community that met all of these stated requirements. ScribeAmerica agrees on a set of common goals, to decrease the amount of time a doctor has to spend taking notes and administrative duties, and increase the face to face interaction with the patients. ScribeAmerica has their own set of language and communication, we follow the same training that allows us to know the definition of necessary medical terms and abbreviations, to make the doctors job a little easier. We are all required to follow the same charting process, that allows the physicians to reflect on after the medical examinations with each patient. This allows for the physicians to review what would best suit each patient for treatment moving forward. All scribes are required to participate in a number of meetings and and perform so many hours of work per month to remain a scribe. Finally, all scribes possess multiple genres within their work and purpose.

Being a scribe is more than a person who charts physician-patient encounters during medical examinations and is more than a person who is trained in health information management and the use of health information technology. I have always had a passion to helping people. Growing up, I volunteered in several non-profit organizations and shadowed numerous physicians, not only for exposure but because I thoroughly enjoyed the work. I am specifically a scribe at Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati, which further possesses my interest. I have always had a passion for helping kids, considering that I grew up with four younger siblings. Although I am not given a personal opportunity to connect with the children, I am grateful for the opportunities that I have been exposed to be able to learn how to connect with them when I am finally a physician, to make these kids feel comfortable, understood, and give them hope. As a scribe, being able to give the physicians the ability to physically connect with the patients, rather than having to worry about taking note of the entire medical examination, I take pride in the fact that I am giving the physicians the capability to talk with these children and make them feel comfortable in a hospital setting. To my best knowledge, I know that each scribe that is a member of ScribeAmerica has a personal passion for helping and healing, and wanting to work in a medical setting.

Being a scribe has been so beneficial to me and my fellow scribes, and not only because of the knowledge and exposure that we are gaining on a daily basis, but because of what we are giving back to the community. Having the ability to better the time with physician-patient treatment, I take gratification in my duties as being a member of ScribeAmerica. I am a member of several discourse communities, ScribeAmerica is just one of them has satisfied me and my life in numerous ways. Being a member of a discourse community, and this particular community, is beneficial in the sense that I feel as if I belong to this community and that every member of this community share common goals and share a similar form of communication in accomplishing these goals. Every member of a discourse community contributes in one way or the other, and the more people working to accomplish a similar goal, the more likely that goal is to be achieved. ScribeAmerica has provided me numerous amounts of opportunities I never thought I would have the chance to have before my career, and I am forever grateful for all of the discourse communities I have been a part of and that I am currently a part of, to help shape the person I am today and who I will become.

People form discourse communities to have groups where people can fit in or belong to that share similar ideas, beliefs, opinion, or goals to achieve. It motivates individuals to join these communities so they can contribute their thoughts, ideas, beliefs or opinions on the subject that these communities possess. Also, if these communities are all wanting to work toward a common goal, individuals are motivated to these communities to contribute to also achieving these goals. People gain a sense of community, togetherness and communication with joining a discourse community. Writing can be used to police a community’s membership because it can state the requirements and expectations of these communities, so members know what is anticipated in these communities before joining them. Writing can also create involvement within a community and for people to contribute to the discourse community. Writing is key in delineating a discourse community from a speech community because writings can offer an identical message to large groups of people. Speech can only offer what is being said to only those that are listening. Writings offer people the ability to reflect and edit what has been written in the past.

Assignment Two Outline

• Introduction
  • What is a discourse community
  • What discourse community I am apart of
    • The purpose of this discourse community
  • Brief statement on how being a member of this discourse community and other discourse communities has affected me
• Body
  • Swale’s requirements of a discourse communities
    • How my discourse community reaches these requirements
  • What it means to be apart of this particular discourse community
  • The artifacts of my discourse community and my involvement in this community
  • How my involvement in this community affects me, the rest of the community and the environment
• Conclusion
  • The importance of this discourse community and what it means to me
  • How impactful being a member of a discourse community can be to an individual
  • Closing up on how this discourse community has affected me

Ripper Paper

The narrative of this paper expressed to me that the author felt strongly on the ripper-case murders. The author’s passion towards these murders allowed him to become involved in the Casebook community. The author’s curiosity lead him to be able to contribute and write to the Casebook. The writer’s interest also allowed the growth of excitement to creating a life out of this, with a “criminal knowledge” position.

Ana Paper

The narrative of this paper allowed me to realize that an individual’s involvement in a discourse community may not always be positive to themselves or the community as a whole. The community had their own form of communication and language upon them. If the individuals did not meet their goals that were suppose to achieve, they would be removed from the community. Some discourse communities can force rules upon you that could be possibly be harmful to your life, it is important to know when a community or group can be a negative aspect in your life.

1. For the ripper paper, the writer’s motivation for joining the specific discourse community was because he was introduced to this community at a very young age and it gained his interest immediately. After growing up over the years, he was able to gain a passion towards the ripper-cases and a sense of involvement in the community to where he was able to contribute to the community. For the ana paper, the author’s motivation was to bring awareness that discourse communities can be very powerful and present in one’s life, and they can be a great thing for people to share similarities and have other’s to compare to, but they can also be harmful to individual’s and a negative aspect in their life. Although it can feel good to fit in or belong to a group, it may not always be in your best interest for you life.
2. For the ripper paper, the author’s effects of his involvement would include his permission to write and contribute to the Casebook. For the ana paper, the writer’s effects of her involvement would include the strict rules and laws that the members were expected to follow. Also, that the author was forced to report back to the other community members her involvement to meet the group’s expectations.
3. The ripper paper and ana paper are both very exceptional in different ways. The ripper paper discussed a unique community that met all of the Swales requirements and was written with good quality. The ana paper is just as good though because it allows the readers to gain a personal connection with the reader and how the involvement in the community affected her life. It also allowed the readers to think of discourse communities they may be apart of that may not be positive in their life.
4. The document I present for assignment two will be different than assignment one because it will be from personal experience and not analyzing someone else’s writing. I will be able to talk about how the discourse community that I am apart of has affected my life and what it means to me and other members to be apart of this discourse community.

Different forms of primary research I could use for assignment two could include taking a higher position in the ScribeAmerica company. Just recently becoming a member of the scribe community, I have learned that it is very achievable and easy to get higher positions within the company. Currently I am learning about the company at a local level, gaining a higher position with ScribeAmerica would allow me to learn a lot more about the company not only locally, but also nationally. When I got hired for the job, I got to personally meet two different Chief Scribes, the project manager, and hiring associate, whereas all of these individuals were under the age of twenty-five.

The job of the Chief Scribe is to make every one of the scribe’s schedules for the upcoming month. They all specialize with particular departments within the hospital, specifically Children’s. They get to work under numerous amount of physicians, gaining exposure and knowledge, not to mention it looks phenomenal on a resume. The project manager focuses on training scribes, and he also has the ability to be able to travel to different locations to train other scribes as well. Finally, the hiring associate just teaches interviewees about what the scribe job is truly about, and hires the ones they would feel best fits for the job. Again, all of these positions are incredibly achievable and would be great for exposure and knowledge, and I would be able to gain a sense of knowledge on a personal level of the discourse community that I am a member of.

If I were conducting an interview and wanted to know more about being a scribe, I would try and get in touch, by phone, to the Chief Scribe of the hospital. I believe having a phone conversation would allow us both to be more engaged and allow them to answer my questions more thoroughly than a few emails back and forth to each other. Some things I would ask them are what an average day is like being a scribe at that specific hospital, the challenges they face on a day to day basis, and the most positive aspects in their day at the work place are. After a brief phone interview, I would do a follow up with them to see if they would have time to meet for a real interview to dive deeper into the questions and concerns I have for being a scribe.

Chuy’s Job Server Application

Medical Scribe Application

Children’s Hospital Patient Care Assistant Application

Discourse communities I belong to:

• Scribes at the hospital
  • Reasons for becoming a Scribe at Children’s:
    • Wanting to be a P.A. in the future
    • Looks good on resume
    • Gain exposure
      • Want to specialize in pediatrics
    • Gain shadowing hours
  • Types of writing:
    • Have to use a particular chart to aid in keeping track of visits between physicians and patients
    • Has changed the way I write and the terms I use because I have learned so much within medical terminology
  • Ideology:
    • Embrace the beliefs and motives that this job provides
      • Feel very passionate about kids
      • The job aims to provide better and more convenient healthcare
      • Provides more time for the physicians to have face-to-face interactions with the patients
• Serving at Chuy’s
  • Reasons for becoming a server here:
    • Needed a job
    • Several of my friends worked here
    • Very laid-back
    • Not far from my house
  • Types of writing:
    • Take notes while taking customer’s orders
    • Have to ring in food particular way to help the people in the kitchen understand better
    • Have to speak some Spanish because it is a Mexican restaurant and many of the employees speak Spanish
      • Has changed somewhat the way I write learning more of a different language
  • Ideology:
    • I enjoy that it is very laid-back but most of the employees do not care about the work place or other employees
      • Makes for a dysfunctional work place
• Volunteering at Children’s
  • Reasons for volunteering at Children’s:
    • Looks good on resume
    • Requirement to get so many volunteering hours to get into P.A. school
    • Gain exposure
      • Pediatrics
    • Gain personal connection with the work and the patients
  • Types of writing:
    • Volunteer hour log
  • Ideology:
    • I embrace the rewards of being a volunteer because it is out of the goodness of your heart to help someone else and hopefully make someone else’s day/life better
• Volunteering at non-profit organizations
  • Reasons for volunteering at non-profits
    • Rewarding
    • Previous service minister
      • Required to volunteer
    • Giving back to the community
  • Types of writing:
    • Volunteer hour log
  • Ideology:
    • I embrace the rewards of being a volunteer because it is out of the goodness of your heart to help someone else and hopefully make someone else’s day/life better

Madeline Stewart

Assignment One

W.E.B. DuBois, author of “Strivings of the Negro People”, was an educated black scholar and author that had attended Harvard University. At Harvard, he was the first African American individual to earn a doctorate degree, guiding him to be a professor of history, sociology and economics. In many of DuBois’ movements and essays, including “Strivings of the Negro People”, he targets racism, focusing on the Jim Crow laws and discrimination within education and employment systems. W.E.B. DuBois aims to cause his audience to understand what it is like to live as a black man, even if well-educated, in the United States from his perspective during his time. The purpose of his essay was to show that blacks can be seen as equals to whites and contribute positively to society if granted rights. It was apparent that the transition from racism and segregation to equality between blacks and whites was very difficult.

DuBois elaborates how he feels as if he is seen as a “problem” because of his race, (DuBois, 142). Even if you were well-educated, you were still considered inferior if you were black. DuBois style of writing seems as if it would be beneficial to readers of the African American race as well and those that have opposing views. The readers that hold different views than DuBois, could see from a black person’s point of view what it was like to live during this time. “The history of the American Negro is the history of strife,- this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self” (DuBois, 143). The author uses a lot of emotion to get his point across, and he uses this emotion to convey his message in a way that would not offend or bother the opposing readers, members of the white race that favored segregation and discrimination. Also, since DuBois uses a lot of emotion and does not use factual evidence to get his point across, it allows his readers to gain their own opinions, beliefs and ideas based off of his point of view.

DuBois goes into detail on what it was like to live during the time of the Reconstruction movement, which was a time when all blacks were denied equality. He believes that if blacks were ever seen as equals to whites, that their voting rights shall be protected by the law. This relates to the aspect of DuBois being a member of a discourse community. There were those that strongly yearned for equality, these individuals that had “a broadly agreed set of common public goals”, (Swales, 471). This community had a sense of communication amongst each other to hopefully one day accomplish their goal of equality. DuBois writes hopefully and positively, that blacks can beneficially fit into society. “If whites would open economic opportunities to blacks, blacks might cooperate politically with southern white Democrats” (DuBois, 140). He also hopes that the black race can be seen as equal to the white race one day, and it is possible for blacks to be very intellectual and be used as an advantage to society if so.

DuBois writes with a strong sense of emotion, he uses a lot of past and personal experiences to project to his audience how these experiences affected him. With his “soft” style of writing and emotion, I believe DuBois hopes to persuade his readers to share similar ideas, beliefs and opinions as him and also hopefully cause them to not only seek for equality within the United States, but to not even considering viewing different races in a negative light. Although, the transition from racism to equality may have been difficult, DuBois writes with hope and believes that there is indeed a way for it to happen, and provides numerous examples of how blacks can be advantageous to the public.

Thomas, Brook. Plessy v. Ferguson: a Brief History with Documents. Bedford Books, 1997.

Swales, John. ”The Concept of Discourse Community.” Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Boston: Cambridge UP, 1990.