Essay On Discourse Community

Based on my limited experience of college, I have been able to understand and become a part of a particular Colgate discourse community. In understanding discourse community, I have learned that the term identifies a grouping of people who share common language norms, characteristics, patterns, or practices as a consequence of their ongoing communications and identification with each other. A particular Colgate discourse community that I can associate with is the Office of Undergraduate Studies (OUS), which I feel has been an advantage because I have had the ability to connect to other students even before the fall semester started. The OUS Summer Institute began on June 26th and ended on August 1st and during that time I received a small preview of what would college be like. Therefore, I was more prepared the first day of college because of my discourse community. The main point I take from my experience with this discourse community is that I was able to better transition, academically and socially, from a high school student to a college student. In addition, OUS is a discourse community because we share similarities, such as being underprivileged students who have overcome many plights in their life but still have managed to reach for success. For example, many of us still managed to be the top student in our classes during high school.

Therefore, this is where I have found and understood what a discourse community can be in Colgate. In addition, our approved channels of communication are emails, the phone application Group Me, and monthly group meetings. In a discourse community there is some form of communication for announcements or information. We managed to find good ones.
Furthermore, I have also understood in Colgate that people can be generally involved in a variety of discourse communities within their personal, social, and professional lives.

Some discourse communities are very formal with well-established boundaries, while others may have a looser construction with greater freedom. Some examples are athletics, clubs, Greek organizations, and classes. In the athletics department there are many Colgate students who belong to a sport discourse community. I am currently one of them. I belong to the women’s rowing team. Our approved channels of communication is also Group Me and

email.
I have also understood that Greek organizations can be a discourse community in Colgate. However, I have noticed that even though there are many Frats and Sororities found in campus, it can be difficult to belong to one. These are more well-established, in which it can be difficult to become a part of these certain discourse communities. It may seem to someone that they belong to a Greek organization, but they may not be bid or chosen to be in a frat or sorority.
There are a number of clubs that people can join. Another discourse community of mine is the Latin American Society Organization and the Spanish debate team. I understood that discourse communities can be small clubs that have people with the same passion or similar thoughts. People in a discourse community can think in a certain way. Lastly, the classes are also another example because I can count my First Year Seminar (FSEM) as a discourse community. My FSEM is Intro to Studio Arts and in this I have also found that we share the same passion of art and communicate through art and through social networks for announcements. Overall, there are a broad range of discourse communicates found in Colgate. It is not difficult to belong in one. Students can find the right group of people they can relate to and communicate with. It just take some time.