Andrea Salomon

Dr. Cassie Hemstrom

UWP 1

28 February 2017

Discourse Community Project Part II

I knew the chemistry discourse community here at UC Davis was quite large, but I never

imagined it was broad as it is. A chemistry major, or a chemistry professor are the obvious ones.

They become a part of the community by showing interest in the topic, and dedicating their lifes

goal to achieving the overall goal of the chemistry discourse community. A chemistry major here

at UC Davis became a part of the community the moment they accepted admission having

decided chemistry is what they want to work with for the rest of their lives, and UC Davis was

the right place to accomplish that. They interact with the community by learning the concepts to

apply later in their careers. Professors also joined the community when they were students, but

are now interacting by passing the knowledge around to current students; they are the experts of

the community. Their main method of communication is lecture presentations and notes. By

going to class, students can visually see and then jot down any concepts the professor brings up

so they can study later. In a very similar manner to professors, TAs are a part of the chemistry

discourse community as well. A professor cant deal with 1,000 students alone, so the TAs are

there to back them up. They serve as a more accessible expert to beginners in the community;

they already have gone through extensive years of education, and therefore know a lot of the

concepts. TAs are also liaisons; they communicate between the professors and the students. For

example, if there is a specific assignment professors want their students to do, TAs can more

effectively communicate to their group of students what it is the professors want and the students

are able to ask them questions [about it].

There are so many other people who are part of this community that may not be as obvious, such

as other science majors who must take chemistry as one of their courses for their own major.

Their goal coming to UC Davis wasnt exactly the same as that of a chemistry major, but they

are also working towards it indirectly. For example, a person taking biology, but who also has to

take chemistry to eventually become a bio major, is part of the chemistry discourse community.

They accepted admission to UC Davis working towards the objective of a bio major, but in

taking chemistry courses, they also need to understand the concepts (which is the goal of a

chemistry discourse community), and then apply them to their own majors; theres a reason why

most other science majors need chemistry but chemistry doesnt require other sciences--

chemistry is a fundamental science. For example, glucose is a very famous term used in biology.

But a biologist cannot fully understand what glucose is and how its formed without

understanding its molecular composition and geometry. Another big one is photosynthesis; the

overall definition of photosynthesis is a chemical equation involving carbon dioxide, water,

glucose, and oxygen. While it may just seem that theyre applying biology concepts, chemistry is

there too. Mabel Yuan is an Environmental Science major who also must take chemistry to

complete her major requirements. When interviewing her, her response was Both general

chemistry and organic chemistry are two important requirements for biological science majors. It

wouldn't be possible to get a degree in my major without fulfilling these two series of

chemistry. Because they both are taking chemistry courses even though they are not directly

related to chemistry, that includes them in this community.

As one can see, the chemistry discourse community is a vast community at UC Davis.

There are so many people involved in it, directly or indirectly, but are still part of the community

regardless.