A large part of scientific Discourse is the formatting of scientific papers. Gee states that “whenever we speak or write, we often … construct or build seven things … In turn, since we use language to build these seven things, a discourse analyst can ask seven different questions a out any piece of language-in-use” (Gee, 32). One of these seven things that Gee states is Practices, or Activities. These practices are “socially recognized and institutionally or culturally supported endeavor(s) that usually involves sequencing or combining actions in certain specified ways” (Gee, 32). In saying this, Gee is saying that every Discourse has specific actions that occur, which help distinguish whether or not someone is in a Discourse or not. In scientific Discourse, one such practice is IMRAD, or the formatting of all scientific papers. “It indicates a pattern or format rather than a complete list of headings or components of research papers” (Nair & Nair, 13). Although it isn’t a defined outline, IMRAD is the format for most, if not all, scientific papers, making it a practice of the Discourse, as Gee defined it.
Throughout her paper on her study of Eliza, Haas talks about Eliza’s identity within the scientific community throughout the years of college. One of the seven “things” that Gee states in his paper is identity within a Discourse. “We use language to get recognized as taking on a certain identity or role, that is, to build an identity here and now. … We often enact our identities by speaking or writing in such a way to attribute a certain identity to others, and identity that we explicitly or implicitly compare or contrast to our own” (Gee, 33). Gee is saying that an identity is a social role within a Discourse. One thing that Haas writes about is Eliza’s role in the scientific Discourse as a student, and as a reader. She also writes about how she grew within her identity. She says that, “beginning in her junior year, we begin to see important changes in Eliza’s views of discourse: She exhibited a growing cognizance of texts … as the result of human agency” (Haas, 69). In saying this, Haas shows that, although she hasn’t changed her identity, Eliza has grown within her identity, as she learned more about the Discourse, and changed it from being a rookie to the Discourse to being someone more educated.
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