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Swales tells us that, "a discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals." APhiO aims to provide community service for the benefit of those in need and its members.  Participants should increase leadership and service skills.  The second quality of a community dictates that it contains, "mechanisms of intercommunication among its members."  APhiO uses emails through listserv and website sign-ins that correspond to personal sign-ins at service events.  Members are aware of these mechanisms and are expected to make use of them.  Furthermore, sign-ins at chapter meetings ensure members are in attendance.  Powerpoints are used to convey information to a large number of members during chapter. Swales' third requirement of a discourse community requires, "participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback." Members who participate in service are expected to uphold the values and behavior that are discussed in chapter and in out of chapter communication.  Voting occurs regularly on issues that impact members. Ombudsmen request information on various issues regarding membership issues.  Suggestions are requested during chapter. Furthermore, "a discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims." To this end, during chapter, each executive member is expected to have a slide on a powerpoint, highlighting their announcements.  These announcements go in a specific order and are expected to last a certain amount of time. Similarly, each committee within the fraternity has a set of language specific to their needs. Swales also requires that a, "discourse community has acquired some specific lexis." Language used to describe service events allows for shorter meetings.  Listerv allows for faster communication between members.  Website information is compressed into shorter terms that allow members to navigate it quickly and efficiently.  Like other fraternities and sororities, some Greek jargon applies.  Bids are used to inform hopefuls of acceptance into the pledge process.  Pledges fulfill requirements to become actives, or in APhiO brothers. Finally, "a discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise." Membership size is limited by space for meetings.  Interviews are held to pare down the number of applicants. In order to have a large number of members that is also efficient, the pledge process teaches members the language they will require as actives.