An Authors Credibility In The Academic Discourse Community Essay

An Author's Credibility In The Academic Discourse Community The academic discourse community has certain expectations about an argument which make the work convincing and credible to members of the community. Before the work is even considered however, the community has expectations of the author. The author must fulfill these expectations in order to be considered credible or convincing. Some general criteria for an author in the academic discourse community include having a voice in the work, credentials and experience that make him or her qualified to write on the subject, a sense of professionalism about them shown in the tone and diction of the work, and a balanced view of all sides of the issue. In the case of author Damien Cave and his article "On Sale at Old Navy Cool Clothes for Identical Zombies!" and John E. Calfee with his article "How Advertising Informs to Our Benefit" one can see the difference between an author who fulfills the academic discourse community's expectations and one who does not. While Damien Cave can be persuasiv e in some communities, neither he nor his writing is credible to the academic discourse community because he lacks the qualities that this community values in an author. One important trait that the academic discourse community looks for in literary work is a strong voice on the part of the author. In a community where independent thought and intelligence is highly valued, no one wants to hear someone summarize another's thoughts. Here, it is the author who should be somewhat of an expert on the subject matter and so the author should have the predominating voice in the work, not his sources. Cave makes two errors in this regard. First, he does not state the side of the argument that he ... ...ds a less prompted feel to his work ("AEI's Organization"). Although Calfee's article is not one hundred percent neutral and free of bias, it is much more fair and balanced than Cave's article, making it much more credible to the academic discourse community. On the whole, Damien Cave and his work would be least persuasive to the academic discourse community because he lacks qualities that would make him credible to this community. Works Cited Calfee, John E. "How Advertising Informs to Our Benefit." Consumers' Research Magazine. (April 1998). American Enterprise Institute. 1 Jan 2000 . Cave, Damien. "On Sale at Old Navy: Cool Clothes for Identical Zombies." What Matters in America: Reading and Writing About Contemporary Culture. Ed. Gary Gosharian. New York: Pearson Longman, 2007. 24-29.