Academic, Professional, and Public Writing

Learning specialized vocabulary

As philosopher Kenneth Burke has noted, entering into an academic discipline is like going to a party where you do not know anyone. At first you feel like an outsider, and you may not understand much of what you hear or see. Before you enter the conversation, you have to listen and observe carefully. Eventually, however, you will be able to join in—and if you stay long enough, participating in the conversation becomes easy and natural.

To learn the routines, practices, and ways of knowing in a new field, you must also make an effort to enter into the conversation, and that means taking action. One good way to get started is to study the vocabulary of the field you are most interested in.

Highlight the key terms in your reading or notes to learn how much specialized or technical vocabulary you will be expected to know. If you find only a small amount of specialized vocabulary, try to master the new terms quickly by reading your textbook carefully, looking up key words or phrases, and asking questions. If you find a great deal of specialized vocabulary, however, you may want to familiarize yourself with it methodically:

Keep a log of unfamiliar or confusing words in context. Check definitions in your textbook’s glossary or index, or consult a specialized dictionary; ask your instructor or a librarian for help finding appropriate reference works.
Review your class notes each day. Underline important terms, review definitions, and identify anything that is unclear. Use your textbook or ask questions to clarify anything confusing before the class moves on to a new topic.
Try to use and work with key concepts. Even if they are not yet entirely clear to you, working with them will help you understand them. For example, in a statistics class, try to work out (in words) how to do an analysis of covariance, step by step, even if you are not sure of the precise definition of the term. Or try to plot the narrative progression in a story even if you are still not entirely sure of the definition of narrative progression.

Whatever your techniques for learning a specialized vocabulary, begin to use the new terms whenever you can—in class, in discussions with instructors and other students, and in your assignments. This ability to use what you learn in speaking and writing is crucial to your full understanding of and participation in the discipline.