Gee and Swales have key similarities and differences when talking about discourse communities. The key difference is that Gee views include secondary and primary discourse communities while Swales talks about having one community in which many people can join. The communities that Gee talks about are much broader and more open to the community as a whole. Also Gee states that a person is either all the way in the discourse community or all the way out of it. On the other hand Swales believes that a person can be new to the discourse community in that it can include novices and experts. They also agree on the fact that the discourse communities occur through different media.
Swales is useful in the way that he lists all of the steps and ideas about discourse communities explicitly. Swales also writes to the reader in a way that makes it easier to understand. Gee is helpful because it gives examples and goes into detail about each step that is helpful when trying to understand what Gee is saying about discourse communities. Gee also makes good points in that in order to fully be involved with the discourse community a person has to adapt and immerse themselves into the culture.