No one wants to waste money. So before spending it, we often do research. We might look up a restaurant on Yelp, watch a trailer for a movie, ask friends to recommend books, or dig into the professional reviews for a big purchase like a car or a computer. All of which is to say:  Research is everywhere; it’s not just something that you do in college classes like this one. It shows up in daily activities, from deciding what kind of coffee additions you like to choosing a new car.

Engaging in research is not only something we do daily, we also research collaboratively as teams, called discourse communities. These groups share common goals and often encourage our research.

In this section you will review how research shows up daily, what discourse communities are and how academic discourse communities differ from other discourse communities.