Becoming Part of a Discourse Community



“Writing Research Reports (RP) in the Educational Field implies understanding the dos and don’ts of the academia.” When dealing with this type of research in any field, writers should be aware of the fact that there are various considerable academic aspects that should be taken into account. If reporters want their work to be accepted within this discourse community, they have to adhere very strictly to the community principles. Therefore, producing texts cannot take place unless the researcher can define her goals in terms of the community's interpretive conventions.

Oliver (1996) points out that a research report is a summary of the goals, research procedure and main findings. Although this paper is not as complete as a research paper, the research report must follow certain academic conventions. These rules are established within this specific academic community.

To begin with, the report should hold vocabulary that suits the Educational Field audience in an academic style and tone. In addition to this, the Research Report should follow a specific order that determines the organization of the writing. For example, the report must contain an introduction, a summary of the methodology, results, discussions and conclusions that lead into the final recommendation. This layout is of utmost importance as all the researchers follow the same format so as to ensure a better organization and understanding of their papers within the community. Besides, the content and the organization of a paper portray the logical thinking in scientific investigation (APA, 2008).

As far as the tenses are concerned, most reports make use of the past tense as the writings are produced after an observation has been accomplished. The consistency of the verb tense helps ensure smooth expression in the writing. The community shares the knowledge that the type of academic paper typically determines which verb tenses are meant to be used in various parts of an academic document.

Last but not least, the researchers share their reports within a discourse community that conform to the basis of the American Psychological Association Journal. There are assorted recommendations that should be followed in order to produce an academic paper. For instance, formatting the paper involves using specific fonts, running heads, margins and spacing.

All things considered, Swales (1990) defined discourse communities as groups that share the same mechanisms of intercommunication among its members. Consequently, the Report must fit the standards of the discourse community to which it is appealing. In this light, it could be claimed that a Research Reporter must necessarily adopt the concepts and expectations determined by this discourse community.



References



APA (2008). Publication Manual (5th ed.). British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data: Washington, DC.

Oliver, P. (1996). Writing essays and reports: A guide for students. Hodder & Stoughton: London, UK.



Swales, J. M. (1990) Genre Analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.