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last.updated 10.5.08

 

Reading Academic Writing

Purpose

While most people tend to interact with popular texts, such as Time, Foxnews.com., and the Christian Science Monitor, on a daily basis, very few people turn to academic texts as a resource. However, as college students academic scholarship opens you up to primary sources in your field of study. Some of you will expected to work with this scholarship in your fields. For others, it will be useful for developing an understanding of the subject matter. The problem with academic scholarship, however, is that it is written by experts in the field for experts in the field. Therefore as an undergraduate, you need to learn how to scholars in your field communicate through these texts.

Freewrite

Describe your process for finds textual resources about the topic you will be studying. Include information, such as...

  • what you are researching?
  • where (physically and/or electronically) have you gone to get sources?
  • what key terms you have used?
  • what have you found?
  • what have you done with what you have found?

For each of your decisions, explain why you have done this. The goal of this freewrite is to give the instructor as much information as you can to help him give you guidance.

Discussion–Types of Texts

Texts that we use for research tend to fit into three categories:

Popular opinion: The writer's purpose for this text is to provide an opinion on a timely event or something s/he has experienced. These can be publishes within minutes of an event (such as a blog), the next day (analysis article in newspaper), a few days later (analysis article in magazine, letters to the editor in newspaper).

Popular report: The writer's purpose is to give the audience such information as a current event (breaking story), an ongoing event (human interest story), or a recent study (often summarizing what was published in an academic article). Can be published within minutes of an event on the internet, but is often reported the day after in newspapers and within a few days within magazines.

Academic scholarship: The writer has done in-depth research (from textual to experimental) on a topic in their discipline. Depending upon the field, the scholarship may take a year to two years to publish.

Activity–Reading Academic Scholarship Critically

You will be assigned to one of five groups. In your group you and your peers will write down responses to the following:

  • Discuss your initial impression about the Haas article; write these down.
  • Who the author of the article is? who the audience is? and the purpose of the article?
  • What is the argument? How does the author support his argument?
  • How is this article arranged? Is this effective? Why?
  • The article is probably longer and more detailed than most texts you have read. Is there anything that you feel that the author should eliminate? If so, what? And how would this change the meaning of the text? Why do you think this level of detail is expected?
  • What does this type of writing provide the audience that popular magazines do not? What do popular magazines provide that academic scholarship does not?

Submit your collaborative work at the end of class for a process grade.