Chlo Maddox

Weaver
Weaver
17 October 2014
Cover Letter
The goal of this paper is to give a clear explanation on how my local dentist office is a discourse
community, and how I made this realization. I will write about methods used to obtain proper
information proving the fact that it is a discourse community. I will discuss interviews with a hygienist
and also a dentist. My personal goal with this paper was to use Swales six characteristics of a discourse
community as a sort of guideline. I wanted to match each characteristic as well as I could. What I could
improve on most is the cover letter. I never understood the concept in to writing a proper cover letter. I
also could improve by making a follow up call to my local dentist (trust me they wont mind a bit) and
getting more information from them to have a more beefy paper.

Chlo Maddox
Weaver
Rhetoric I
24 October 2014
Dental Discourse
When one thinks of a discourse community, Im sure American linguist John Swales six
characteristics would pop into their head. That is, if they knew the proper definition. You see, I
am a visual/ kinesthetic learner; meaning I like to have a visual or hands-on experience in order
to learn a new concept/definition/rule etc. I could tell you all day what a discourse community is.
I could tell you that within each community, its understood to have common and public goals, a
special communication, feedback between members, genres, lexis, and members varying from
beginners to experts. See, when I first hear that it flew right over my head. If you are anything
like me, youll need an example for a better understanding. I have one for you. A dentist office.
Over fall break I went to my local dentist office, Dr. Barrett and Wilbanks, and took
notes in order to prove it was a discourse community. The first piece of evidence I discovered
was the dentist office has their own genres such as their bell ringing system. When Dr. Barrett
rings the bell once, this means he is in need of his dental assistant Debbie. When Dr. Wilbanks
rings the bell three times, this means he needs in assistant Maria. The hygienist each have their
own bells as well. For example, when Monica rings her bell two times, she is asking for either
Dr. Barrett or Wilbanks to come check on their patient after the cleaning. It is funny going into
the office when you dont know what all the bells means and they are ringing all kinds of crazy.

The second characteristic that the dentist office shows is having their own special
communication. When a hygienist is talking to the dentist about a specific tooth she will say a
number or a letter depending on if its an adult or a child. Adults teeth are numbered 1-32, and
childrens teeth are letters A-T. I was interviewing a hygienist, Emily, asking her about the
communication at the office. She then laughed and went on the tangent about when, someone
thinks they understand dental terminology and they use it wrong, its hilarious. Then, she gave
me an example of one time a patient came in talking about a shard showing up on their x-ray.
Emily said no one knew what she meant when she said shard. Ironically, the patient recently
retired from seeing a different dentist who called the unaligned tooth a shard. It just goes to show
the difference in communication from each dentist office. Dr. Barrett and Dr. Wilbanks never
use the word shard when talking about teeth.
Emily continued to tell me the proper ways in asking patients questions. She told me

Comment [M1]: Good example of each

office being unique. What happens when
communication is interrupted or
misunderstood as in this example?

when asking about dental problems going on, she literally has to say dental problems. Learning
this from experience, Emily has asked about any problem today (when seeing a patient), and has
gotten the patients life story in return, learning about their dog being sick, kids fighting, job too
hard, and nothing about their teeth at all. It was very interesting hearing about the
communication between patients and hygienist vs the communication between hygienist and
dentists.
Communication ties into feedback as well. I noticed at the office that everyone likes to
narrate what they are doing. Thus, giving the dentist office a friendly comfortable feel for
patients with it being so laid back. Feedback is a constant stream throughout the office. The
dentist is always telling the hygienist what to do and the hygienist is always giving the patient or
the dentist feedback. The dental assistant is always giving feedback about whats happening in

Comment [M2]: Tie this back into the idea

of narration. What is narration and why might
it give off this vibe?

the mouth, especially during procedures. Feedback is like Main Street in a big city. Its
everywhere. If the workers and patients didnt communicate and give proper feedback as much
as they do, then it would be more arduous to figure out whats wrong with specific teeth, and to
learn how to react in specific situations. Also, certain tasks may not be completed correctly or at
all if proper feedback wasnt fed back.
The last characteristic Swales mentioned that I noticed in the dentist office was the
discourse community having a broad set of goals from individual to goals as a whole office. I
asked around, and each hygienist had similar goals such as making sure the patients teeth are
cleaner than they were coming in to the appointment, and giving good news never letting the
patient be too nervous to get their teeth cleaned a bit. They like to keep things gentle, but also get
the job done, and removing plaque buildup in the gums may not be the most comfortable thing,
but they hygienist dont want it to be unbearable. Goals for the office staff as a whole are
obvious. Customer (or patient), satisfaction is definitely on the top of the list alongside keeping a
comfortable friendly atmosphere in the office. They do a great job about this one I will agree,
and seeing the way each local patient interacts with the staff backs up that opinion. Even if the
staff has their goals, an interesting spin on events would be the staff giving out goals to the
patient. They like to challenge the patients with great goals such as no cavities next appointment,
or flossing more often than last time. Again, this interaction with patients keeps the atmosphere
friendly.
I was satisfied on my adventure to figure out if a dentist office was a good example of a
discourse community or not. Going on this expedition gave me a better understanding of what a
discourse community was too. Now, since I have a proper visual I hope one can use this as a

Comment [M3]: Which term is used? Or are

they interchangeable? It can tell you a lot
about the perceived business based on which
term is used.

visual for them as well in trying to understand discourse communities. I think the dentist office
fits plenty of the characteristic Swales mentions, and I think the office fits them well.
To figure out what to put in your conclusion reread this section of the assignment sheet, Once
you have established the credibility of the group as a DC, focus on something that is especially
interesting, confusing, or illuminating regarding the DC. You could also bring it back to
yourself and how you are connected to the DC. What does it mean for your membership with
your new knowledge?

Comment [M4]: Generic conclusion. I

challenge YOU for something different!