Running Head: Greys Anatomy Discourse Community

Greys Anatomy Discourse Community

Victoria A. Cordova

The University of Texas at El Paso

RWS 1301

Professor Saul Hernandez

Introduction
 Greys Anatomy Discourse Community

Today a great amount of people are part of groups and some dont realize that they could

be part of a Discourse Community. In the article The Concept of Discourse Community, a

Discourse Community is defined by John Swales as a social group that must include six

characteristics which are, A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public

goals. A discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members. A

discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and

feedback. A discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the

communicative furtherance of its aims. In addition to owning genres, a discourse community has

acquired some specific lexis. A discourse community has a threshold level of members with a

suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise (Swales, 1990, 220-222). These six

characterizations explain what a group must have in order to be a discourse community. For my

paper, I chose to write about Greys Anatomy because it is great example of how a discourse

community is and how it works. I will also give examples from this show to compare with the

six characteristics to give a better explanation of Swales interpretation.

Greys Anatomy is a show based on Meredith Grey and how she interacts with other

doctors. For the most part, the show revolves around her. The hospital is full of Discourse

Communities because everyone in the hospital work for a common goal, which would primarily

involve saving their patients. In this show, the groups of doctors also have their own common

goal like passing their internship exam and becoming a resident. Residents want to gain a

specialty, like becoming a heart surgeon, general surgeon, pediatric surgeon or plastic surgeon.

Their common goal was always at the top of the list and for the most part, they would all work

together, which would develop relationships, arguments and people leaving.

Discussion

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 Greys Anatomy Discourse Community

One of the main characteristics, as mentioned before is that a Discourse Community,

according to Swales must have a common goal. In Greys Anatomy, in the first season Meredith

is part of the interns. It is one of the many steps to becoming a surgeon. All the interns where

divided in groups and she quickly interacted with hers. They would work together to reach their

goal which was to gain as much knowledge as they could from their superiors and pass their

intern exam. They would spend hours learning in the emergency room with their resident, Doctor

Bailey. This goal divided their community from the others because they were at the lowest level

in the hospital, so they had to work even harder to stand out and show they could keep up. They

were always studying and working at the same time.

Communication is very important in a Discourse Community because without

communication the Discourse Community would not be successful. It is also important where

they can communicate or through what they can communicate through. Swales mechanism of

intercommunication is seen in the Greys on every episode. Every Discourse Community has their

own place of communication. For example, when Meredith was an intern, she would usually

communicate with her group in the brake room. Each group of doctors had their own type of

brake room and they were all very different because it would depend on your ranking in the

hospital. Meredith and the rest of the interns would also have a secret spot, where they would

hide from their residents and talk about the surgeries they would like to see and what to do to

have a chance to scrub in in a surgery.

The members and how they provide feedback to the group is important. Swales third

characteristic talks about how the members in a specific Discourse Community must have

information for the group and feedback in order to be part of it. The interns would usually have

very good communication and they would always help each other by sometimes covering for one

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another. They always had information on what the doctors were doing and the surgeries that were

about to happen. This allowed for the members to have an opportunity to gain knowledge and

gain experience which was really important for their goal.

In swales fourth characterization there are genres and Swales used the definition that

states, discoursal expectations are created by genres that articulate the operations of the

discourse community (Swales, 1990,22). Meredith and all the interns had something to bring to

the table. For example, Meredith was the daughter of a famous surgeon who was very well

known and sometimes she would provide her community with videos of her mothers surgeries.

Christina, one of the members was brilliant and she was always on top of everything, which

helped all the members to always stay on their feet. They both provided their members with tools

that helped the community work. Other Discourse Communities would benefit from their

attributions, like Meredith and Christina both made a discovery that helped a doctor save a

patient. They used their genre in their Discourse Community.

Having a special way of communication is also a major key for a Discourse Community

and Swales, in his article, uses the word Lexis. Lexis could be defined as a specific way of

communication or highly technical terminology (Swales, 1990, 222). Like mentioned before

Greys Anatomy is a show that takes place in a hospital and the main character is a doctor.

Throughout the whole show, they have their own way of talking which would usually include

medical terminology. As doctors, they would understand perfectly their conversations but when

speaking to patients it was harder to simply use medical terminology. A good example I took

from the show was when they would give patients diagnosis, the patients would ask if they could

repeat everything and explain exactly what they had said in more understandable words because

they could not understand their terminology.

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For the final characterization, Swales practically explains that in a Discourse Community

the members come and go. Discourse Communities have changing memberships; individuals

enter as apprentices and leave by death or in other less involuntary ways (Swales, 1990, 222).

Greys Anatomy is a perfect example of this because the show is full of death, not only from

patients but from doctors too. In one episode one of Merediths best friends dies after not passing

his intern exam. He was in a tragic accident and died. This is a perfect example of a member

leaving involuntary. Throughout the show, it was rear a member would leave voluntarily. They

would either die or end up getting suspended.

Conclusion

Greys Anatomy follows all of the six characteristics Swales mentions and this is why it

can be seen as a Discourse Community. It is important to understand this type of characteristics

to understand and acknowledge all the Discourse Communities and help any who might be

interested in joining one. I believe these types of communities have a very important role in our

society because they all work for a goal and it is always good to have a set of goals in mind.

References

Swales, J. (1990). The concept of discourse community. In E. Wardle & D. Downs (Eds.),

Writing about: A college reader (p. 215-222). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins

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