Academic Communities/Disciplinary Conventions

Unique in approach, this book explores the similarities and differences in various discipline-specific epistemologic and rhetorical conventions--and how the two are related. Each chapter is organized around a shared content topic, then divided into Science, Social Science and Humanities sections, and then two specific disciplinary units--each of which addresses the chapter's topic from the discipline's perspective. Features essays that span a range of genres, audiences, and levels of difficulty, and that explore timely and engaging topics--within such broad areas as identity and consciousness, gender and sexuality, capital economics, and the environment--from the perspectives of the more traditional fields, such as sociology, literary studies, biochemistry, and others, as well as relatively new and exciting fields, such as evolutionary psychology, computer science, genetics, ethnic studies, lesbian and gay studies, social ecology, and cultural studies. Articles range from those written in a "popular" and reader-friendly journalistic tone, to more difficult, scholarly pieces. Includes the scientific report format as well as the academic essay typically produced by humanists. Rhetorical modes and skills are discussed as they arise within writing assignments so that their specificity in different contexts is clear. For anyone interested in the similarities and differences of the techniques and conventions of academic writing in the different disciplines.