Lish 1

Cailyn Lish
Rebecca Agosta
UWRT 1103-007
7 November 2014
Annotated Bibliography
What is most important right now as a pre-nursing student?
Prospect for Success. Observation. 27 Oct. 2014.
The main topic for students in pre-nursing is getting accepted into the nursing program.
This is one of their main focuses and what they are most worried about. This was a
group discussion in their class. They were asked to discuss what was most important to
them at this time in their life. Some responses were keep a good GPA, having a good
relationship with your advisor, learn good study habits now before harder classes start.
This shows that students are focusing on their grades and how they can keep their GPA
up as high as possible. Chemistry is the biggest struggle for most of the students in this
group. One student made a comment, I am switching my major because I just did not
get Chemistry. An A or a B in Chemistry is very important in order to get accepted into
the nursing program.
This is credible because it shows how students think in this group and what is important
to them. They have different levels of knowledge in each subject and about their futures.
Some are more worried about their future and some just go with the flow and let things
work out for themselves. Students in this group also aquire specific lexis. One that they
all share would be that the classes the take are all about the same. There are some classes
that are required and some just recommended. The members in this group also aquire

Lish 2
some of their own lexis such as their study habits. Everyone has their own ways of doing
things based on what works best for them.
What is different between Pre-nursing students and Nursing students?

What is the main focus? Why did this field chosen? What traits do students think are
important?
Rasmussen, L.J. Pre-Nursing vs. Nursing Majors. Personal interview. 6 Nov. 2014.
In this survey I asked the same questions to a pre-nursing major and a nursing major
student. I asked this student who is in the nursing program four questions. I asked,
what is most important to you as a nursing major?. His response was, the most
important thing right now as a nursing student is passing my classes with high grades
(Rasmussen). Grades are important for him to get into his graduate program to become a
Nurse Anesthetist. When I asked why did you choose this field?, he responded, I
chose nursing because to me it seems to be a field in medicine that is highly involved
with patients and also because it offers a lot of Master Degree programs specifically
Nurse Anesthesia (Rasmussen). This also shows that he believes it is important to like
working with people because that is what nurses do. There are also many things that
someone could be and go into after getting their nursing degree. He talks about his main
focus, right now my main focus is learning and retaining the basic assessment skills a
nurse needs to take care of their patient. Also, fundamental skills like injections and care
procedures (Rasmussen). He is really specific as to the fundamental skills he is focusing
on. Nursing major students are more specific then pre-nursing major students because
they have more experience and know more as to what they want to do. To the final

Lish 3
question what traits do you believe are important to have in this field?, he answered
Its important to be competent in your nursing skills. Its also important to be a caring
and patient person with others (Rasmussen).
This is important because I can compare how a student in the nursing program thinks to a
student in pre-nursing. This shows the different level of knowledge but that they also all
have a common goal. Both of these groups also have their mechanisms of
communication between other members of the group. Only members can relate to one
another also in their same group about what they need to achieve to get to the next level
in their life which is the same for everyone in the group.
What would pre-nursing students say differently?

Do pre-nursing majors have a different attitude based on their doubt of getting into to the
program? What traits do pre-nursing and nursing students all have in common?
Riley, Maddie. Pre-Nursing vs. Nursing Majors. Personal interview. 6 Nov. 2014.
Riley is a pre-nursing major student and answered the same survey as the nursing major
student. Getting good grades is also most important to her, Getting good grades and
getting the highest GPA possible so I can fulfill my dream of becoming a nurse (Riley).
This is common for both groups. When asked why she chose this field, she responded,
Ive always been interested in the medical field since I was little and high school just
made me realize that nursing was the way to go (Riley). She explains her main focus is
to get into the upper division and get a job at a local hospital and work in the emergency
room first then hopefully the delivery room (Riley). Her focus is not as specific as
Rasmussens which shows the different levels of knowledge. She is still unsure of what

Lish 4
she wants to do. She was asked, What traits do you believe are important in this field?
(Riley). Her response was, I believe you have to be kind and considerate along with be
real and honest. You have to think about what is best for the person you are taking care
of and give each person the care they deserve (Riley).
There are different genres in a discourse community. Although everyone is trying to
become a nurse, there are many different kinds of nurses that people want to be. This is
used well for research because it makes it possible to compare how the two different
levels of knowledge think.
How many people end up changing their mind in the end?

How are these two groups a discourse community?

Swales, John. ''The Concept of Discourse Community." Genre Analysis: English in Academic
and Research Settings. Boston: Cambridge UP, 1990.21-32. Print.
A discourse community comes from a group of individuals that fit under 6 defining
characteristics. These include a common goal, intercommunication between the
members, participation that leads to information and feedback from members, uses one or
more genres to complete goals, acquire their own lexis, and different levels of knowledge
among members. This is a community that may change overtime due to new members
and new ideas, that discourse is a means of maintaining and extending
the group's knowledge and of initiating new members into the group, and that
discourse is epistemic or constitutive of the group's knowledge (Swales 468).
This explains what a discourse community is and is related to my research. Pre-nursing
students and students in the nursing program are two different discourse communities that

Lish 5
I am comparing. Both of these two groups contain different levels of knowledge among
the participants. This can be proved by grades for example. Some may be better in
certain subjects than others. The students in pre-nursing all share a common goal. They
are all planning on being accepted into the nursing program. The students already in the
nursing program share a common goal of becoming a nurse. There are many different
kinds of nurses in which they have different levels of knowledge on. This piece is
important and helps a reader understand how pre-nursing students and students in the
nursing program are part of discourse communities.
What else makes these a discourse community?