THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT READING AND WRITING IN A DISCIPLINE
Reading with an eye for disciplinary discourse
When you take your first course in any new discipline, ask a librarian to recommend an important journal in that discipline, and then choose two abstracts of articles in the journal. What can you infer about the discourse of the discipline—about its characteristic vocabulary, style, use of evidence, and so on—from the information in the abstracts?
Question
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When you take your first course in any new discipline, ask a librarian to recommend an important journal in that discipline, and then choose two abstracts of articles in the journal. What can you infer about the discourse of the discipline—about its characteristic vocabulary, style, use of evidence, and so on—from the information in the abstracts?
Thinking about your own writing in a discipline
Choose a piece of writing you have produced for a class in a particular discipline—a blog or discussion post, a laboratory report, a review of the literature, or any other written assignment. Examine your writing closely for its use of that discipline’s vocabulary, style, methods of proof, and conventional formats. How comfortable are you writing a piece of this kind? In what ways are you using the conventions of the discipline easily and well? What conventions give you difficulty, and why? You might talk with an instructor in this field about the conventions and requirements for writing in the discipline. Make notes about what you learn about being a better writer in the field.
Question
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Choose a piece of writing you have produced for a class in a particular discipline—a blog or discussion post, a laboratory report, a review of the literature, or any other written assignment. Examine your writing closely for its use of that discipline’s vocabulary, style, methods of proof, and conventional formats. How comfortable are you writing a piece of this kind? In what ways are you using the conventions of the discipline easily and well? What conventions give you difficulty, and why? You might talk with an instructor in this field about the conventions and requirements for writing in the discipline. Make notes about what you learn about being a better writer in the field.