Information About Discovering Discourse Conventions
First, let it be perfectly clear that this webpage will not provide a "cookbook" recipe that one can use for discovering discourse conventions in a professional or academic discourse community. Why not?
It is because we tend to learn/discover information differently. Need more information to be convinced? Take a few minutes, and do the following activity:
- Explore your preferred learning style
- Go to the webpage at the following link, Learning Styles .
- Take the questionaire to identify your learning style preferences.
- When you complete the questionaire, click on "OK"
- Be sure to write down your numerical rating for each preference (e.g., "Visual 3")
- Below your numerical ratings, use the links to the helpsheets.
- Submit your personal data if you wish to.
- Follow the links to read about the tendencies of people with the same learning preferences as you.
A (not the only) Way to Categorize Discourse Conventions
This is just one way (among several) to categorize discourse conventions. There is nothing magic or sacred about this schema of categorization, so do what works for you.
- Conventions of Form (Appearance and Purpose)
- Conventions of Expression (Clarity & Style)
- Conventions of Development (Components, Organization & Purpose)
- Conventions of Meaning (Lexical, Idiom, Morphology)
- Conventions of Social Protocol (Good Manners & Purpose)
- Conventions of Writing Mechanics
Spider, spider---Spin Me a Web
This is especially important. The categories above are not divided from one another by solid walls of steel-reinforced concrete that are six feet thick. They are inter-connected by relationships between the contents of one category and the contents of another category, and these relationships will constitute a web of understanding. Don't forget these inter-connecting relationships when exploring and making your own lists of discourse conventions.
For an example of this interconnectedness, try parsing of a simple act of communication you are probably familiar with:
Imagine that someone gave you a nice gift, and you wish to express your gratitude in writing. Think about explaining this "communicative transaction" in terms of the categories above.
- In terms of form:
- Will you put your message on plain paper, nice stationery, or a "thank you" card?
- Will you handwrite your "thank you" or type it?
- To what extent wiill your answers to the above questions of form depend on matters of social protocol?
- Will your relationship to the gift giver (e.g., grandparent, boss, co-worker, lover, co-worker & love, et cetera) influence your answers?
- Will the "niceness" of the gift influence your answers?
- To what extent will matters of social protocol influence your choice of expression?
- Will your relationship to the gift giver influence your decision to use a more formal style of writing or a less formal style of writing to communicate your gratitude?