Physics as a Discourse Community
Discourse communities, or groups of people who share the similar interests, exist everywhere, but they become more obvious in college because each major is its own academic discourse community. In “Discourse Communities,” Schmidt mentions that it is more common to see students who are part of the same academic discourse community spending most of their time together because they “focus [their] attention on the same issues and things” (1). This is due to the different requirements needed for each major. These differences become noticeable when comparing the type of courses and assignments each major must complete to gain “full membership,” or becoming fully involved in their major’s discourse community (Schmidt …show more content…
In this case, the physics discourse community, like most science discourse communities, consists of people who are interested in theories, solving problems, doing research, and explaining how the world works by using graphical and mathematical presentations. Even though most of these interests relate to one another, the physics discourse community gives its members the opportunity to study different areas of physics that allow them to pursue the things that interest them the most. For instance, students at Sacramento State pursuing a physics major can study “atomic physics, nuclear physics, condensed matter physics, electricity and magnetism, optics, thermodynamics, gravitation, relativity, and mechanics” (“Sac State Physics Overview”). Depending on the members’ interests and area of study, they will began to pursue different activities and their interest will began to diverge. However, their values will continue to resemble each …show more content…
“Once a discourse community agrees about what counts as valid evidence, it also has to reach agreements about how much of that evidence to use and about how to present that evidence” (Schmidt 2). In the physics community, valid evidence consists of data that can be tested multiple times, by different people, continuing to give the same results. As mentioned earlier, this data is either graphical or mathematical. In “Theoretical Calculations for Predicted States of Heavy Quarkonium Via Non-Relativistic Frame Work,” physicists Nahool, Yasser, and Hassan used both data representations to demonstrate how they obtained the data that supports their conclusion (115-120). They provided all the data collected, including the different possible outcomes caused by changing the ratios of their variables (Nahool, Yasser and Hassan 117). This means that the physics discourse community demands its members to “present all possible data” because if published, other physicists may use their findings as references for future research (Schmidt 2). The physics discourse community also values the use of proper terminology. In “Influence of Curvature on the Device Physics of Thin Film Transistors on Flexible Substrates,” Amalraj and Sambandan use terminology that physicists, and other scientists, use when speaking of their work, such as “thin film transistors,”
Discourse communities, or groups of people who share the similar interests, exist everywhere, but they become more obvious in college because each major is its own academic discourse community. In “Discourse Communities,” Schmidt mentions that it is more common to see students who are part of the same academic discourse community spending most of their time together because they “focus [their] attention on the same issues and things” (1). This is due to the different requirements needed for each major. These differences become noticeable when comparing the type of courses and assignments each major must complete to gain “full membership,” or becoming fully involved in their major’s discourse community (Schmidt …show more content…
In this case, the physics discourse community, like most science discourse communities, consists of people who are interested in theories, solving problems, doing research, and explaining how the world works by using graphical and mathematical presentations. Even though most of these interests relate to one another, the physics discourse community gives its members the opportunity to study different areas of physics that allow them to pursue the things that interest them the most. For instance, students at Sacramento State pursuing a physics major can study “atomic physics, nuclear physics, condensed matter physics, electricity and magnetism, optics, thermodynamics, gravitation, relativity, and mechanics” (“Sac State Physics Overview”). Depending on the members’ interests and area of study, they will began to pursue different activities and their interest will began to diverge. However, their values will continue to resemble each …show more content…
“Once a discourse community agrees about what counts as valid evidence, it also has to reach agreements about how much of that evidence to use and about how to present that evidence” (Schmidt 2). In the physics community, valid evidence consists of data that can be tested multiple times, by different people, continuing to give the same results. As mentioned earlier, this data is either graphical or mathematical. In “Theoretical Calculations for Predicted States of Heavy Quarkonium Via Non-Relativistic Frame Work,” physicists Nahool, Yasser, and Hassan used both data representations to demonstrate how they obtained the data that supports their conclusion (115-120). They provided all the data collected, including the different possible outcomes caused by changing the ratios of their variables (Nahool, Yasser and Hassan 117). This means that the physics discourse community demands its members to “present all possible data” because if published, other physicists may use their findings as references for future research (Schmidt 2). The physics discourse community also values the use of proper terminology. In “Influence of Curvature on the Device Physics of Thin Film Transistors on Flexible Substrates,” Amalraj and Sambandan use terminology that physicists, and other scientists, use when speaking of their work, such as “thin film transistors,”