Discourse Community
Marisa Homan
Professor Paul Lee
English 1301
28 September 2014
Clear Eyes. Full Hearts. Can’t Lose. An instance of me joining a discourse community was the time I joined my high school varsity tennis team. This discourse community was founded on athletic skills, mental toughness, and academic success. In order to contribute to this discourse community and to become a successful tennis player I needed each of these qualities. Through the three appeals of logos, pathos, and ethos I will acquire the basic rules of tennis, establish my ranking throughout the tennis community, and gain mental toughness to be apart of the discourse community of varsity tennis. Playing tennis on a team is a lot different than what people actually interpret from watching professional tennis on TV. Even though they may seem pretty complicated and intense, the rules of tennis are quite simple. Before being apart of this discourse community, I first thought tennis was just a silly game that two people played by hitting a ball back and forth with a racket, but I soon learned that this sport was much more and that it took a lot more skill. Learning how to play the game well requires a player to take in a lot of information of how tennis works and how to use your skills to your benefit. To be logical and appeal to logos, you have to know how tennis works. In a regular tennis match, 3 sets are played, the first person to win 2 sets wins the match. Within a set, you play 6 games and to win the game you must win 4 points. These 4 points aren’t on a normal scoring scale though; you start off with zero, (or “love”) and go up to 15 once the first point is won. From there you go up to 30, then 40, and once you win the next point, you win the game. There is more to tennis than just knowing the scoring system. For example, when I am serving I have to make sure that I get my serve into the correct service box and that my foot does not cross the base line, or I will get a foot fault. Each point is
Professor Paul Lee
English 1301
28 September 2014
Clear Eyes. Full Hearts. Can’t Lose. An instance of me joining a discourse community was the time I joined my high school varsity tennis team. This discourse community was founded on athletic skills, mental toughness, and academic success. In order to contribute to this discourse community and to become a successful tennis player I needed each of these qualities. Through the three appeals of logos, pathos, and ethos I will acquire the basic rules of tennis, establish my ranking throughout the tennis community, and gain mental toughness to be apart of the discourse community of varsity tennis. Playing tennis on a team is a lot different than what people actually interpret from watching professional tennis on TV. Even though they may seem pretty complicated and intense, the rules of tennis are quite simple. Before being apart of this discourse community, I first thought tennis was just a silly game that two people played by hitting a ball back and forth with a racket, but I soon learned that this sport was much more and that it took a lot more skill. Learning how to play the game well requires a player to take in a lot of information of how tennis works and how to use your skills to your benefit. To be logical and appeal to logos, you have to know how tennis works. In a regular tennis match, 3 sets are played, the first person to win 2 sets wins the match. Within a set, you play 6 games and to win the game you must win 4 points. These 4 points aren’t on a normal scoring scale though; you start off with zero, (or “love”) and go up to 15 once the first point is won. From there you go up to 30, then 40, and once you win the next point, you win the game. There is more to tennis than just knowing the scoring system. For example, when I am serving I have to make sure that I get my serve into the correct service box and that my foot does not cross the base line, or I will get a foot fault. Each point is