Research Articles: Analysis of Four Abstracts

An abstract is the first section of a research article; however, it must be written last since it summarizes the content of the paper. As stated by Hubbuch (1996), abstracts are “brief summaries of the major points made by an author in a book or article” (p. 126). The aim of including an abstract is to transmit information in a clear, concise, neat, and objective way. Research Article (RA) abstracts consist of a single paragraph of approximately four to ten sentences (Swales & Feak, 1994). There is a wide range of material describing the specific features of abstracts; but there are no papers comparing and contrasting the abstracts of the following four articles, two in the field of medicine (Devereaux et al., 2014 and Klauer et al., 2014) and two in the field of education (Lys, 2013 and AbuSeileek, 2014). Therefore, the purpose of this work is to analyze this section in the above mentioned articles and identify any similarities and differences between them.

            In relation to abstract type, classification and approach to writing, both similarities and differences can be observed in the four abstracts under study. First, the four of them are informative since they belong to research reports and provide readers with the main findings of the studies conducted by describing what the researchers did, that is, by looking to the past (Swales and Feak, 1994; Swales, 1990). However, there are differences in terms of structure. The two abstracts of the articles in the medicine field are structured because they are subdivided into paragraphs, each preceded by a bolded heading identifying a section of the article. On the other hand, the abstracts of the articles in the field of education are unstructured since they consist of only one unbroken paragraph with no headings (Swales and Feak, 1994; Swales, 1990). Moreover, while Lys (2013) has adopted a results-driven approach to writing her abstract, by mainly focusing on the findings of her research and the conclusions (Swales and Feak, 1994), the other three abstracts follow a RP summary approach, since they either provide a few sentences for each of the main sections of their article (AbuSeileek, 2014) in one unbroken paragraph or they provide clearly identified paragraphs for each section of the article (Klauer et al., 2014; Devereaux et al., 2014).

       With respect to linguistic features, there are several specifications that deserve to be mentioned (Swales, 1990; Swales and Feak, 1994). In the abstracts of the four articles, there are full sentences, and the past tense prevails. Some examples of the prevailing use of the past tense in this section are “On average, students spent twenty-four minutes a week in video conversations on Face-Time alone”(Lys, 2013, p.94), “The primary outcome was a composite of death or nonfatal myocardial infarction at 30 days” (Devereaux et al., 2014.p. 1494) and “This study investigated the effect of using computer-mediated corrective feedback on EFL learners' performance in writing (AbuSeileek, 2014, p.76). The use of impersonal passive in the four articles is scarce, and there is an absence of negatives, abbreviations and jargon. Another linguistic feature that pertains to the abstracts in the field of education, not present in the abstracts in the field of medicine, is the use of the first person singular and the use of the expression the study. Lys (2013) uses the first person singular as in the expressions “I investigate” or “I am interested” (p. 94). On the other hand, AbuSeileek (2014) does not use the first person, but this author has included the expression the study as in “This study investigated” or “The study yielded” (p. 76).

            As far as format is concerned, the abstracts of the articles in the field of medicine (Klauer et al., 2014; Devereaux et al., 2014) show important differences when compared to the articles in the field of education (Lys, 2013; AbuSeileek, 2014). In the first place, the former include the word Abstract, centered on the page and written with all capital letters, as heading for the section whereas in the latter no headings have been included. In addition, the authors of the medical articles have done without keywords while those in the field of education have included them below the text of the abstract. It should be noted, however, that American Psychological Association (APA) (2010) conventions have not been followed in this respect since the word Keywords should be centered and italicized and it should not be followed by a colon (OWL, 2010). Nor has APA style been respected in relation to other formatting rules in the education abstracts. Not only did the authors omit the word Abstract, as mentioned above, but they also failed to include the abstract on a separate page and to double space the text. Finally, the articles in the field of medicine do not follow APA conventions either since the abstracts do not appear on a separate page and are not double-spaced, and because only the first letter of the word Abstract should have been capitalized (OWL, 2010). Nevertheless, it must be observed that articles in the field of medicine generally use a formatting style other than APA.

         All in all, since the four analysed abstracts types are informative, they describe what the researchers did during the course of the research and state their findings. As far as structure is concerned, the abstracts of the articles from the field of medicine are structured whereas the ones from the educational field are unstructured. The approach to writing in both kinds of abstracts is different as well: While Lys (2013) places the emphasis on the results derived from the research, the other authors provide a brief summary of the steps followed during the research. On the other hand, the analysed abstracts share a number of similar linguistic features as regards the use of full sentences, the use of the past tense, the minimum use of impersonal passive, as well as the absence of negatives, abbreviations and jargon. None of the abstracts under analysis apply APA (2010) conventions. Regardless of the stated differences in format, structure and kind of approach, the four abstracts succeed in drawing the potential readers’ attention to continue reading the articles, which constitutes one of the main purposes for abstract writing.

References

AbuSeileek, A. & Abu-al-Sha´r, A. (2014). Using peer computer-mediated corrective feedback to support EFL learners´ writing. Language Learning and Technology, 19(1), 76-95. Retrieved from http://llt.msu.edu/issues/february2014/abuseileekabualshar.pdf

American Psychological Association (2010). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 6^th edition. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Devereaux, P.J., Mrkobrada, M., Sessler, D.I., Leslie, K., Alonso-Coello, P., Kurz, A.,… Yusuf, S. (2014). Aspirin in patients undergoing noncardiac surgery. The New England Journal of  Medicine. Retrieved from http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1401105

Hubbuch, S. M. (1996). Writing research papers across the curriculum. (4th ed.). Harcourt Brace: Fort Worth, TX.

Klauer, S., Guo, F., Simmons-Morton, B., Ouimet, M., Lee, S., & Dingus, T. (2014). Distracted driving and risk of road crashes among novice and experienced drivers. The New England Journal of Medicine. DOI 10.1056/NEJMsa1204142.

Lys, F. (2013). The development of advanced learner oral proficiency using ipads. Language Learning and Technology Journal. Retrieved from http://llt.msu.edu/issues/october2013/lys.pdf

Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL). (2010). General Format. Retrieved February, 25th, 2010, from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

Swales, J.M. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. (Cambridge Applied Linguistics Series). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Swales, J.M., & Feak, C.B. (1994). Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks and skills. Ann Harbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.

Evaluating a Reference List

     One of the characteristics of knowledge is that the newly found one should be transmitted to others to enlighten other fields of science. Scholars find a gap in their area of expertise that they would like to further explore and, consequently, they write a research paper (RP) presenting the problem to be analyzed, the methods to be used, and the literature review they will support their research with, among other steps. A thorough researcher collects a number of sources to support his/her investigation. It is utterly important that, in order to avoid plagiarism, all sources should be properly acknowledged to its corresponding author. Moreover, providing a well-written  Reference list will assist other researchers with their own work. In this paper, the way those sources were presented in the Reference list provided by the English for Specific Purposes (ESP) tutor will be analyzed as well as stating whether the American Psychological Association (APA) (2010) rules to write it were respected.

     The first element included in a Reference section is an alphabetized list of the authors´ surnames and name initials followed by the year of publication of the cited text. The author-date of publication formula is an APA (2010) requirement which facilitates retrieval of sources. When the author ´s name is unknown but an organization name is provided, that word should begin the line. The title of the work cited should be italicized and its first word should be capitalized, but not the rest of the words. No quotation marks are acceptable APA (2010) practice in any section of the reference list. Hanging indentation provides a clearer view of the cited sources, particularly if the list is extensive.

     When citing electronic sources the digital object identifier (DOI) should be provided as well as the date of retrieval. If the DOI is not available, the URL of the document can be used instead (University of Minnesota). The above mentioned rules apply for newspaper article citation but the exact day, month and year of retrieval should be included.  The phrase retrieved from should signal the web site where the source was taken from. 

In the analyzed Reference list, mistakes as regards the electronic sources citations were found which would prevent other readers from accessing the cited source. Retrieving those sources would probably be easier if cited as follows: American Psychological Association (2010). APA formatting and style guide. Retrieved from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/. Furthermore, the Reference list should begin with the centrally-aligned word References, not Works Cited (Purdue OWL).

     All in all, the purpose of including a Reference list in a RP is to give the cited authors the proper acknowledgement for their work as well as providing readers with sources to be consulted. In the Reference list under analysis, some APA (2010) rules were respected but others, which would impede the transmission of information, were not, specially electronic sources, newspaper and books citations.      

  

References

American Psychological Association (2010). APA formatting and style guide. Retrieved                                       from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

Purdue OWL. (2007). Developing an outline. Retrieved October 2007, from

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/544/01/

University of Minnesota Center for Writing. (n.d.) Quicktips: APA documentation

style: Reference list. University of Minnesota: Student Writing Support.

Comparative Analysis of Two Research Articles

     Scholars belonging to a variety of fields all over the world identify an area of research interest and devote their time to conducting research in said field with the purpose of later sharing their findings with the scientific community. For these researchers, academic writing serves different purposes, on the one hand, to disseminate new knowledge discovered, and on the other hand, to provide grounds for subsequent research to be conducted in the future.  Researchers organize their Research Papers (RPs) by stating in the introduction section the rationale for the paper, moving from general discussion of the topic to the particular hypothesis being investigated (Swales and Feak, 1990). The methods section describes methodology, materials, and procedures used (ibid). There is a wide range of material describing the specific features of the introductions and methods sections; but there are no papers comparing and contrasting the aforementioned sections of the following articles, one from the field of medicine (Klauer et al., 2014) and the other from the field of education (AbuSeileek and Abualsha´r, 2014). Therefore, the purpose of this work is to analyze these sections in the above mentioned articles and identify any similarities and differences between them.

           The article from the field of medicine written by Klauer et al. (2014) provides a complete abstract divided into subheadings to indicate background, methods, results and conclusions. The introduction section, though lacking this proper heading, presents the issue to be discussed, the reasons why the researchers conducted this particular research, and the material they collected data with.

     In the methods section in the same article, the authors provide a comprehensive description of the characteristics of the participants as regards gender, age, participants´ experience in driving cars, the way these people were recruited and the compensation they received for taking part in the research. The authors point out that the two groups provided written consent to take part in the study and that the educational organizations they were affiliated to approved of it. A description of the study length, the specific periods the data was collected and the type of research conducted were given at this point. The equipment required to measure the findings, data coding and analysis of the findings, and statistics analysis were presented. Throughout the text, chronologically arranged endnotes were provided with superscript numbers, consequently American Psychological Association (APA) (2010) requirements were not met as far as in-text citation is considered. 

     The article from the field of education written by AbuSeileek and Abualsha´r (2014) offers a very thorough description of the interest of the research and the feedback aspects to be measured throughout it. An abstract precedes the introduction section. The literature review is embedded in this section and abundant bibliographical references were provided respecting APA (2010) guidelines.

     In the aforementioned article, the Methods heading has been substituted by This Study; however, all the components of the Methods sections have been included in it. Hence, the purpose, structure and questions to be answered are present at this point. A comprehensive description of the participants´ general characteristics concerning their relationship with the university, age, gender and linguistic level were provided as well as information about the instructors who would rate the essays and about the material used to develop the study. A series of three tables were included reporting the actual findings. Lastly, a statistical analysis was carried out. The authors disclosed certain information in order to account for delays. As regards the materials used, the authors expressed it was designed bearing in mind a mark scale of seven writing aspects designed ad hoc which had been piloted before actually administering it to the participants. The researchers set the different steps in the process that would pave the way towards controlled conditions that would prevent biases. Consequently, the group characteristics, place of test administration, topics and anonymity to avoid stress in participants were specified.

    The authors of both articles begin their introduction section with factual generalizations to provide further background as of the relevance of conducting these studies. The researchers have structured them in a general-specific fashion following the Create a Research Space Model (C.A.R.S.) (Swales and Feak, 1994, p.174). The three moves presented in the mentioned model can be clearly identified in both articles and serve the purpose of drawing readers´ attention towards the piece effectively. In the first move, they explore the current state of the arts of the researched topics and therefore, they establish a research territory. “As the use of computer-mediated corrective- feedback has become more common in writing classes, different studies have looked for more innovative ways to aid learners in developing their writing abilities […] and called for effectiveness of new technologies on teaching learners how to write […]” (AbuSeileek and Abualsha´r, 2014, p.76). Researchers´ motivation for the study establishes a niche for the research which indicates that a gap has been found in the area, leading to questions being formulated and expansion of knowledge. “Moreover […] there is a need to search for more helpful computer-mediated corrective-feedback methods and techniques that may support students when receiving peer-corrective feedback in the manner that may aid them more in the development of their writing performance” ( AbuSeileek and Abualsha´r, 2014, p.p. 76-77). In the last move, occupying the niche, researchers outline the purposes for the present study, announce principal findings and indicate the structure of the research paper. “Here we report the results of our analysis of both studies with respect to the prevalence of engagement in a secondary task and the associated risk of a crash or near-crash among novice and experienced drivers” (Klauer et al.,2014, p.55).

     On the other hand, different layouts and general paper organization were evident in post-comparison analysis. The article by AbuSeileek and Abualsha´ r (2014) presents much more detailing in both sections contrasted. The in-text citations and acknowledgement of sources are much clearer in this text as well as the literature review analysis, whereas in the article by Kaluer et al. (2014) these aspects are not fully developed. The methods sections in both papers are correctly presented since all the elements needed are appropriately treated.

     In conclusion, although both articles belong to different fields of science and the choice of layout and general organization is different, their authors succeeded in sharing with the professional communities their findings on the researches they conducted. The researchers accomplished this by providing in the introduction and in the methods sections the necessary elements to fully comprehend the studies.

References

Abuseileek, A.& Abu-al-Sha´r, A. (2014). Using peer computer-mediated  corrective                                feedback to support EFL learners´ writing. Language Learning and Technology, 19(1), 76-95. Retrieved from http://llt.msu.edu/issues/february2014/abuseileekabualshar.pdf

American Psychological Association (2010). APA formatting and style guide. Retrieved  from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

Klauer,S., Guo,F., Simmons-Morton, B., Ouimet, M., Lee, S., & Dingus, T. (2014). Distracted driving and risk of road crashes among novice and experienced drivers. The New England Journal of Medicine. DOI 10.1056/NEJMsa1204142.

Swales, J.M., & Feak, C.B. (1994). Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks and skills. Ann Harbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.

A Comparative Analysis on Research Articles, with Julieta Cabrera

A Comparative Analysis on Research Articles:

the Results, Discussions and Conclusions Sections

    Academic communities depend on  the valuable work of researchers who, not only  do they try to bridge the gaps found in their fields by conducting research, but also embark on communicating their findings to the professional organizations. In order to do so, academic writing communities follow certain parameters to comply with professional organizations´ conventions to put their messages across. Most researchers introduce the topic of their work and highlight its relevance  in the introduction section followed by a description of the methods used and participants involved in the methods section.  As regards the remaining parts of the Research Articles (RA), Swales and Feak (1994) state that whereas results deal with facts, discussions and conclusions include the researcher’s interpretations; in addition, the layout of such sections largely depends on the kind of research questions, which in turn depend on the knowledge area the researcher and the readers belong to. It is the purpose of this paper to analyze and compare two RAs from different fields, medicine and education, placing our focus on the results, discussion and conclusions sections, in order to state if they comply with the requirements set by such communities. El referente es fields? Si es así tiene que pluralizarse

    The article from the field of education written by Abuseileek and Abualsha´r (2014) presents the three sections required by the academic writing conventions: results, discussions and conclusions; however, the authors included  in this last part the limitations and implications found in their research as part of the heading. In the results section, which is isolated from the discussions one, the findings are stated with the help of tables that describe the results of quantitative data. Since the APA (2007) conventions for using tables were respected, the information introduced through the tables is clearly supported. “An informative table supplements- instead of duplicates the text” (APA, 2007, p.82). In the discussions section, the authors restate the key findings with reference to the initial questions   and remind the reader of the overall aim of the study. “The findings of this study affirm that learners who received corrective feedback delivered via computer about error types while writing essays performed significantly better than those who did not receive corrective feedback ” ( Abuseileek and Abualsha´r, 2014, p. 87).  Consequently, the results of the data collected and presented in the previous section are interpreted in the light of the literature reviewed. Finally, in the conclusions section, the authors develop the points mentioned in the introduction of the RA, evaluate whether the objectives of the study have been met and propose further investigation.

    The medical article written by Creutzfeldt (2013) presents the three sections under analysis as well. The results section is subdivided according to topics relevant to the research, summarizing the information in a logical manner, and introducing references to the graphs and figures included. The APA Manual (2010) guidelines established for the use of tables, such as enumeration, reference in the text and explanation on the content, are followed. Most importantly, the content displayed through the charts does not duplicate but extends what was presented in the segment. Even though results do not usually include the writer’s opinion, some personal perspective on the data can be identified, signaled through the use of expressions such as significative change to refer to the state of the experimental group before and after the tests were applied. The discussion and conclusion sections are introduced separately. Most of the summarizing, interpretation and evaluation of data are included in the former, leaving the recommendations of what needs to be done next and the importance of this for conclusions. “Even with a great demand for new training methods in high school and in the area of  CPR training, MMVW serious games must be carefully studied not only from the students’ perspective, but also from the teachers’ and organizations’ perspectives to clarify the challenges and needs required for implementation”. (Creutzfeldt, 2013, para. 48). Lastly, the information drawn from the results section is analysed in connection to the aims of the study and the literature reviewed:

    “Our ambition in this feasibility study was to selectively analyze how teams of young laypersons, personified as avatars , reacted toward and interacted within a virtual world for teaching how to respond appropriately to a medical emergency requiring CPR. [...] The results from these 2 groups are in accordance with what we have found when studying a group of medical students. This implies the feasibility of the concept that MMVW for training CPR teamwork can be carried out easily and with good acceptance from the trainees.” (Creutzfeldt, 2013;para. 32)

     All in all, the examination of the results, discussions and conclusions sections of RAs from different fields shows that the conventions set for the production of academic articles are generally respected and applied by the authors. These articles present differences as regards the arrangement of such sections which respond to the diversity of topics treated by each RA, as Swales & Feak (1994) assert. Conversely, the presentation of the three segments is done separately in both RAs, aiming at the accomplishment of a more comprehensive view on the information gathered. This clearly shows that there are also common features to be found between these RAs, regardless of the area of study they intend to contribute to.

  

References

Abuseileek, A.& Abu-al-Sha´r, A. (2014). Using peer computer-mediated corrective feedback to support EFL learners´ writing. Language Learning and Technology, 19(1), 76-95. Retrieved from http://llt.msu.edu/issues/february2014/abuseileekabualshar.pdf

American Psychological Association (2007). Concise rules of APA style. Washington, DC: British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.

American Psychological Association (2010). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. 6^th edition. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Creutzfeldt, J. (2013). Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Training in High School Using Avatars in Virtual Worlds: An International Feasibility Study. Journal of Medical Internet Research. Retrieved from http://www.jmir.org/2013/1/e9/

Swales, J.M., & Feak, C.B. (1994).  Academic writing for graduate students: Essential tasks and skills. Ann Harbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.

In text citation analysis of Iida ´s (2010) article

    In the article “Developing voices by composing haiku: A social-expressivist approach for teaching haiku writing in EFL contexts”  Iida (2010) attributes all the citations to the appropriate sources.

     The author uses a variety of in-text citations which are properly acknowledged in the reference list. He uses direct quotes such as: “the production of writer´ s voice reflecting cultural contexts” (para 6).

     He overuses the same paraphrasing quotes,  According to Ivanovic (1998, 97); According to Gradin (1995, 110). On the other hand, the use of parenthetical quotation  is evident in the following examples: (Fishman and McCarthy 1992; Newkirk 1997; Gradin 1995; Bishop 1999) where multiple authors are cited.(para 4).

     In conclusion, Iida (2010) uses a well-balanced set of in-text citation in accordance with APA rules throughout the text and avoids plagiarism by citing all the sources in the reference list. 

References

Iida, A. (2010). Developing voice by composing haiku: A social expressivist approach for teaching haiku writing in EFL contexts. English Teacher Forum. 1.

Teaching haiku to develop a voice in EFL contexts: A summary of Iida´s (2010) article

     In the article “Developing voice for composing haiku: A social-expressivist approach for teaching haiku writing in EFL contexts” Iida (2010) explores the advantages of teaching haiku, clarifies its structure, purpose and interpretation, and provides guidelines to teach haiku in EFL classrooms.  The author begins by stating the difficulties observed in university EFL students to apply previous knowledge of English into their classes and suggests a possible explanation.

     However, there are actions to be taken into the classrooms to reverse this tendency. Iida (2010) suggests teaching haiku as a means to enable students to develop a voice, to help improve their writing skills and to create an audience to present those poems to.   The author later provides background supporting the development of a voice and an audience in students.

     As for haiku itself, the author explains the structure all haikus should have as well as their purpose. He goes even further and provides a haiku he wrote himself and an interpretation of it.

     Furthermore, Iida (2010) offers guidelines to teach how to write haikus in EFL classrooms by dividing work into two moments: textual analysis and composing haikus. In the first part, students will focus on reading poems and answering guiding questions. In order to understand them better, he offers an interpretation of his own haiku and the reasons and context in which it was written.  In the second part, the author provides five steps to guide the composing of the haiku. He advices to review the concept of haiku, to collect material for it, to compose one, to read peers´ poems and to publish them.

     Iida (2010) concludes that “composing haiku in EFL university classrooms enables students to develop an identifiable voice with a high sense of writer-reader interaction” (p. 43).

References

Iida, A.(2010). Developing voice by composing haiku: A social-expressivist approach for teaching haiku writing in EFL contexts. English Teaching Forum.  1.

Evidence Supporting Swales (1990) ´ View on Discourse Communities

            In academic fields, the notion Discourse Communities has been object of numerous contributions from the most varied views.  Swales (1990) and Johns (1990)  stated: ¨A discourse community is composed of a minimum number of expert members and a  frequently larger number of apprentice members who operate on the basis of implicit and explicit public goals…their members develop and use systems of speech and writing that are sometimes quite specific to a particular community´s needs and goals. We often find participatory mechanisms used by community members to transmit information and feedback (e.g.meetings, publications, etc.)” (Swales (1990) and Johns (1990); in Teaching ESL Composition defines a discourse community)

            This paper will attempt to support Swales ´views through the analysis of articles which refer to Swales´ basic criteria for the existence of a discourse community.

            Swales (1990) states that a discourse community should achieve certain objectives and have specific interests. Kelly-Kleese (2001) points out “through community college scholarship, we can enhance the college´s reputation, to bring prestige to the campus and its faculty, and to reshape the image of the institution in the eyes of both the public and the educational community” (para. 1). These common goals will give the members a sense of belonging to a greater corpus where group work will result in better quality of education.

            Swales (1990) determined it was of vital importance to design participatory mechanisms to provide members with information and feedback. As Wenslaff and Weiseman (2004) state “The findings of this study suggest that a cohort-based graduate program that is personalized and responsive to teachers´ needs promotes meaningful learning and a sense of empowerment.” (para. 52) This exchange among teachers (members of the discourse community) will favour transmition of information. “For the learning to have long-standing impact, teachers need teachers to grow within a discourse community. A discourse community cannot exist in the absence of a collaborative culture and an environment that supports risk-taking and reflection.” Wenslaff and Weiseman (2004, para. 53).

            Through the participation in discourse communities, teachers develop a higher level of expertise, as Hoffman-Kipp, Artiles and Lopez-Torrres (2003) mention: ”Teacher reflection is an important contribution to the scholarship on teacher education and development.” (para. 26)  “ This kind of inquiry can lead to a more thoughtful , qualitative understanding of the community college. It may also provide faculty and administrators with a greater understanding of the need for scholarship that has been generated from within the community college discourse community”, states  Kelly-Kleese (2001, para 15).

            By means of exchanging knowledge, either by writing or speaking, and conducting research, members of the discourse communities employ highly specialized terminology through the use of abbreviations and acronyms. Wenslaff and Wieseman (2004) use NCATE to refer to university education standards and Hoffman-Kipp, Artiles and Lopez-Torres (2003) describe types of schools as K-12.

            The members of these communities use specific genres to communicate information through articles, published in journals, either online or paper format.

            In conclusion, the members of discourse communities benefit from the exchange with other members, increase their levels of expertise and share a clear common goal that will result in a sense of belonging to a group bound by professional and personal  connections.

References

Wenslaff, T., Weiseman, K. (Spring 2004).  Teachers need teachers to grow. Teacher education quarterly. Retrieved October 2007, from http//findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3960/is_200404/ai_n9349405

Hoffman-Kipp, P., Artiles, A., Lopez-Torres, L. (Summer 2003). Beyond reflection: teacher learning as praxis. Theory into Practice. Retrivied  October 2007,from http//findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0NQM/is_3_42/ai_108442653

Kelly-Kleese, C. (Summer 2001). Editor´s choice: an open memo to community college faculty and administrators. Community college review. Retrieved October 2007, from http//findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HCZ/is_1_29/ai_77481463

Kelly-Kleese, C. (Summer 2004). UCLA community college review: community

college scholarship and discourse. Community College review. Retrieved on October 2007, from http//findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_mHCZ/is_1_32/ai_n6361541