This report is the second in a three part series of reports on academic writing you will do this semester. It is a continuation and extension of both the Journal Review Report, and the Academic Reading Report you have just completed. That is, you have already critically examined a range of sources of academic reading to explore what academic reading consists of in your field, and what it means to read as a major in your field.
For this second report, you will gather first-hand data consisting of the various kinds of writing you are assigned or expected to do as a major in your academic field, and write a 3-5 page analytical report on your findings.
Draw on methods that you have already been practicing in this course to help you find and gather data. Look at your own course notes, course syllabi, and handouts that specify writing requirements and and activities. Look at the kinds of writing you do/have done/will do as a student in a particular field. Interview/visit your professors to find out what kinds of academic writing they assign and why. Ask them what kinds of writing they actually do as professional practitioners in their field. How is writing taught and assessed in your field? Go to the journals, books/textbooks, websites that represent learning, teaching, and research in your field to see what they have to say about written communication and disciplinary specific writing practices. How do these compare/contrast with the kinds of writing that you actually do?
Use the research questions for this assignment (What is academic writing? What does it mean to write in your academic field?) to help you devise questions that will allow you to analyze your data effectively. Use the textbook chapters on writing in the disciplines to help you construct your analysis questions.
Further, as noted above, you will need to also consult secondary sources that focus on academic/disciplinary reading and knowledge construction to help support and inform your research and findings.
Provide parenthetical citations of published reference and data sources
in the text of your final draft (you don't need to cite handouts, syllabi, exam
questions, and so forth, but you should identify them clearly in your report)
and a list of references or works cited (depending on the citation format you
use).