Wardle; Johnson, Clark and Burton; Windsor.

The first article by Wardle is about establishing and recognizing identity and authority in the workplace. "Wardle is interested in how people learn to write, not as children but as adults moving among different discourse communities." Her article is about a new employee in the workplace that is trying to establish communication and failing miserably. The importance of establishing identity when in a new workplace stems from the need to establish ones credentials and to begin to sublimate into the conforms of the workplaces conventions. As a person takes on the responsibilities and practices of the particular work community they will also take on a new identity showing that they belong. "Joining a new workplace community is not simply a matter of learning new skills but also fielding new calls for identity construction." Establishing strong relations in the work place is essential, and one of the ways we do that is with our writing and communication.
The establishment of authority is also crucial in the workplace, and is best understood as " the effect of a posited, perceived or institutionally prescribed asymmetry between speaker and audience that permits certain speakers to command not just the attention but the confidence respect and trust of their audience..." Authority is essential in all forms of communication and is especially important in the work environment. Authority allows us to communicate effectively our ideas and goals and see that they are understood and met. Sometimes however our identity that we have created outside of the workplace may conflict with the needs of authority, but in order to 'get along' we have to conform to the established identity of the workplace and submit to the demands of the authority.
These roles of identity and authority are very important to writing in our respective discourse communities. When establishing an identity with our writing it is important to mold that identity to conform with the needs of the workplace. We must often take on a new identity in the workplace, separate from our social identity. When writing we must know what authority we are able to command, and know what is appropriate.

The next article by Johnson, Clark and Burton is about writing in the field of engineering. The article is written by students and is study of the role of writing in engineering with the goal of bridging the gap between engineering and writing. As students their paper is very approachable and easy to read. It is clearly defined and informative with their authority made present from the beginning. "To analyze how consultants interact with engineering and English students we recorded and transcribed four half-hour consultations." Their points are clearly outlined and addressed and they constantly reaffirm their authority on the experience by saying 'we' referring directly to the fact that the article is written by the three individuals who performed the study.

The other article about writing in engineering is by Windsor, and is substantially more academic. The paper starts with a rather profound quote to quickly establish the authors identity as a knowledgeable authority in the field. The author uses the very general term 'we' and 'our' referring to other respective authorities in the field. The author than continues to establish authority on the subject by prescribing formulaic outlines for writing. The information that is presented throughout the article is presented as fact based on the authority of the author and other scholars like her.