Similarities

• Focuses on the main six characteristics of a discourse community, outlining what it is like to be a part of a discourse community
• In each of the articles, the authors describe how to identify if you are part of a discourse community and what the signs to know that you are part of one
• Each of these articles also touch on how varying view from the members of a discourse community can make it harder for those members to be able to tell that they are part of the community

Differences

• Swales goes into detail on what they six characteristics of a discourse community and show examples of each
• Gee points his focus on literacy of members of a discourse community and how the variance of levels can affect a discourse community

Usefulness

• Swales give the six characteristics that one basis’ a discourse community on and outlines how each are used and can be related to other fields
• Gee goes into depth about the factors that go into these characteristics and the discourse community and the outliers and systems that affect a discourse community