William Cederquist
Major Garriott
ERH-101-20
2 October 2016
Discourse Community Analysis of UVA’s Department of Economics
The syllabus is one of the most vital parts of doing well in a class. The syllabus
establishes a role albeit a minor one in the economics discourse community. It participates in
the community because it provides the foundation of education that economists need to go
through. The purpose of the syllabus is to relay information about the course to the students. It
also intertwines with other discourse communities because economics is relevant to many
other communities.
The syllabus that I have chosen to write my analysis on is written by Mr. Elzinga who is a
teacher at the University of Virginia and the title of the class is “Economics 201”. This class is a
basic economics class and focuses on macro and micro economics. Elzinga opens his syllabus
with a personal note that may help to connect the students to the professor in an interpersonal
way that most syllabi do not. He pokes fun at the length of the syllabus and encourages
students to set it to a song or rearrange it into a sonnet. Elzinga includes a star with the words
“Econ 201 is Dishwasher safe and Phosphate free. FDA approval is pending.” This information is
completely unnecessary to providing any relevant academic information, but it provides
relevant information about the professor. Another part of the syllabus talks about an electronic
clicker that is required for class; Elzinga adds at the end that the clicker “will not work in the
shower.” It shows that he is actually a person instead of just a faceless name that teaches Econ
201, by providing incite to his humor. (Elzinga)
Elzinga states that everyone can learn economics if he can do it and the only difference
between the students and him is that he has been in school longer. His career in economics has
spanned over 40 years and his expertise in antitrust led to a decision in the supreme court. This
and other things that he has done have established him as an influential member in the
economics community. (Elzinga) His Econ 201 class is very popular and takes in over 1,000
students each year. Another course that he teaches on antitrust policies has a waitlist of over 2
years which allows us to see how popular he is and how high in demand he is. (Jones) From this
we can start to see how he fulfills his role in the discourse community of economics.
It can also be seen how Elzinga attempts to motivate his students in his syllabus by
saying that If you receive and A in Econ 201 by January then you should be able to run the
economy of a small country. This is again another example of his humor and encouragement to
his students. While there are no official course prerequisites he states that students may
benefit from two semesters of Sesame Street, Survivor, or their equivalent. There are too many
jokes in this syllabus to comment on all of them. (Elzinga) Upon first read I had to actually make
sure that this was from a UVA professor because while it is still professional it is not something
that is typically expected from a college professor. It does continue to remind you that they are
all people too.
As we delve in to the syllabus we can see how Elzinga connects with the discourse
community of economics in the academic setting. By using Swales “Concept of a Discourse
Community” we can already see that Elzinga has accepted the broadly agreed set of common
public goals. Those goals are to educate his students and give them the skills needed to
continue forth with their education. This is one of the goals that is inherently agreed upon
when becoming an educator. He even states in his introduction that his students should be able
to understand an article in the newspaper about the economy better than the writer of the
actual article.
Intercommunication is another one of Swales requirements for a discourse community
and again being in an education role Elzinga fulfills that. (Swales 221) He posts his office hours
and contact information clearly on the syllabus along with the T.A. info. Contact info is required
information for a standard syllabus He must also communicate within the professional field of
economics itself and that is done by publishing papers, phone calls, and emails.
Participatory mechanisms are used to provide information and feedback about Elzinga
himself and how he involved in the economics community. He provides a link to a short
biography and also includes separate tabs about his personal life, publications, and the classes
he is currently teaching. Not all of these directly tie him to the economics discourse community
at large they again serve to provide a personal connection to the professor. (Swales 221)
The field of economics also has a specific lexis, which again allows us to recognize that it
is indeed a discourse community. There is a specific set of vocabulary that economists use to
communicate with each other regarding the way the economy works and how it is functioning
currently. (Swales 221) This allows economists to have a more engaging conversation and be
able to bring forth more information.
The community also has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant
content and discoursal expertise. The community of economics has a certain number of people
who will be involved in that community until their death. (Swales 221) Elzinga has been
teaching the same subject for over 40 years and it does not seem like he will wish to change
that anytime soon. There will always be experts to teach people and some of those students
will eventually become the experts in the field and be the ones teaching the next round of
students. There will always be a demand for people with knowledge of the economy, especially
in the times that we live in today that revolves around money and how certain actions can have
a chain reaction.
As we can see from the syllabus it establishes an important role within the discourse
community of economics at UVA and prepares students for a future in economics as a career. It
is also clear that economics is a field that is much more than just a syllabus and it connects with
the community at large. The introduction to economics as a class helps establish a lifelong
career that many of these students will have in economics.
Works Cited
Elzinga, Kenneth. Economics 2010 Syllabus. 2014. Economics Dept., University of Virginia,
Charlottesville, VA.
Jones, Lauren. "After Teaching 45,000 Students, Elzinga in a Class By Himself." UVA Today
[Charlottesvile] 21 Mar. 2016: n. pag. Print.
Swales, John. “The Concept of Discourse Community.” Genre Analysis: English in Academic and
Research Settings. Boston: Cambridge UP, 1990. 21
Help Received
Major Garriott- Helped with structure of paper, content that should be added
David Turbyfill- Wrote peer review
Devin Beyer- Wrote peer review
Jim Mckenna- Read thesis to make sure that it sounded clear
Word count- 1073