ERH-101-02
Peter Chew
Mrs. Smith
July 21, 2022
Word count: 359
Critical reflection: The Discourse Community of the Border War
When writing this essay, the main thing that caused complications for me was figuring out what specific discourse community (Swales 466) I was going to write about. I eventually choose my involvement in an internet group that focuses on the history of the South African Defense Force. A challenging topic since it required many references and citations, a process in which I am not very skilled. After reading on the subject along with my accumulative knowledge, I started writing the paper. my writing was to capture the historical context for my topic, and how South African society was during that time, such as racial issues, and political instability. However, the main topic was the Discourse Community (Swales 466) of the South African Defense Force during the Border War, and how this specific community had its own unique words and rich exchange of language and differing cultures.
I was introduced to this community when I joined an online communication forum called “Discord”. This specific forum comprised its own community (Swales 466) of people who were also interested in the South African Defense Force subject. In my essay, I tried to explain how different ethnicities that served in the SADF during a wartime environment were able to see past cultural, ethical, and racial differences. They were able to unite against a common cause, this made a peaceful co-existence between ethnicities and a unique clash of language, as both sides exchanged words and lexis for belongingness in that community. This language eventually transformed the culture of this organization (military).
While writing one of my challenges was finding sources that could provide evidence to back up the claims that I made in the paper, and how to cite them properly. At some point, I even made footnotes for the essay. However, I was told that footnotes are not needed in MLA format but are predominantly used in Chicago format. After consultation, I learned how to properly cite in MLA format after consultation. I enjoyed writing about this subject, I believe this influenced my improvement in writing this paper. Further backed by my interest in and prior knowledge in this subject surrounding the South African Defense Force.
References:
‘Down:. Wo.f’dle, the Concept of I Discourse Community. https://mjreiff.com/uploads/3/4/2/1/34215272/swales.pdf.