Charting the Disciplines

Try to create a graphic representation of the disciplines, comparing the language used, the attitudes, the use of evidence, etc., one would expect to find in the humanities, the social sciences and the sciences. Your graphic representation or chart might look something like this:

Humanities Social Sciences Sciences

Subject Areas:

  • History
  • English Studies
  • Arts
  • Philosophy
  • Languages
  • Music
  • Religion
  • Theatre Arts
  • Rhetoric

Subject Areas:

  • Anthropology
  • Psychology
  • Political Science
  • History
  • Journalism
  • Communications
  • Justice Studies
  • Business
  • History
  • Sociology
  • Geography
  • Linguistics

Subject Areas:

  • Biology
  • Physics
  • Geology
  • Computer Science
  • Chemistry
  • Environmental Science
  • Astronomy
  • Botany
  • Nutrition
  • Engineering
Focus of Study: the culture of a society revealed by the texts it produces (texts can be visual, verbal, written, oral, aural) to gain insight into the human experience

Focus of Study: Human behavior & interactions with others & their environment.

Focus of Study: Attempt to explain phenomena in natural and physical world.

Genres:

  • Creative Writing: Drama, Poetry, Fiction
  • Literature Reviews
  • Argumentative Essay
  • Book Reviews/Film Reviews
  • Applications of Theories
  • Development of new theories
  • Interviews
  • Rhetorical Analysis
  • Songs, Musicals, Symphonies

Genres:

  • Literature Reviews
  • Summaries
  • Case Studies
  • Proposals
  • Theoretical Debates
  • Original Research Reports
  • Critiques (evaluation of articles/research/theories)
  • Position Papers

Genres:

  • Summaries
  • Proposals
  • Position Papers
  • Critiques (evaluation of previous research and theories)
  • Reports of Original Research
  • Experimental Reports
  • Grants
  • Lab Reports
  • Theoretical Debates

Writing Style:

  • Active voice
  • Use of "I"
  • Informative or Persuasive
  • Audience specific Vocab
  • Rare to find tables and charts
  • Specialized language from theories

Writing Style:

  • Specialized Language (jargon)
  • Detached Persona
  • Passive Voice
  • Use of Acronyms/Initialisms
  • Tables, Charts, Graphs
  • Objective language
  • Informative

Writing Style:

  • Passive Voice
  • Inclusive Language
  • Organized
  • Outlines
  • Subheadings
  • Data, Graphs, Charts, Tables
  • Statistics
  • Acronyms
  • Detached Persona

Documentation:
MLA (Modern Language Association)

Documentation:
APA American Psychological Association (author date)

Documentation: CBE, IEEE, CSE

Inquiry (How knowledge is Made)
  • Reading primary texts
  • Research what others in the field have said about the texts
  • Formulate interpretation/analysis based on text & what others have written
  • Find evidence for that conclusion in the text
  • Argue for that interpretation
Inquiry (How knowledge is Made)

Inquiry (How knowledge is Made)

  • Scientific Method
  • Observe
  • Formulate hypothesis
  • Check against prior research
  • Test by experiments
  • Revise Hypthosis
  • Test again
  • Interpret Results
  • Draw Conclusions
  • Infer what's next

Evidence:

  • Quotes, paraphrases and summaries of primary texts
  • Quotes, paraphrase, and summaries of secondary texts

Evidence:
Results of

  • Surveys
  • Interviews
  • Observation
  • Field Research
  • Test Groups/Case Studies
  • Random Samples
  • Previous research

Evidence:
Results of

  • research
  • experiments
  • observations
  • repeatable tests

Typical Focus of Study in Discipline:

  • History: American Industrial Developments
  • Arts: Jackson Pollack's methods
  • Literature: Mark Twain's writing style
  • Philosophy: Aristotle's views on Govt.

Typical Focus of Study in Discipline:

  • Anthropology: Cultural Rites & Rituals
  • Psychology: Child/Adult Behavior
  • Political Science: Voter Turnout
  • Social Work: Substance Abuse
  • Justice Studies: Domestic Violence
  • Economics: Poverty Rates

Typical Focus of Study in Discipline:

  • Physical Science: rock formation
  • Life Science: Evolution
  • Engineering: Bridge Design
  • Enviromental Science: Conservation
  • Chemistry: Effects of Caffine on people

Differences between the disciplines, even small differences, are important. Knowing not only what documentation style the humanities uses, but why an area like English cites the author and page rather than the author and date can tell us a lot about the way the discipline work. For example, in the social sciences, emphasis is placed on recent relevant research--and thus the date of the research is especially important. In the humanities, especially in English Studies, the date of publication is not that important: English scholars are just as likely to use an ancient authority as they are a contemporary one. English is a text-based discipline, and thus more interested in the author and the place where the text is found; the social sciences is tied to observation and experimentation--and is thus more interested in building upon the latest findings.

Once you've charted your own sense of how we write in the disciplines, compare your results with others in class. Can you come to any conclusions based on several students' results?