Engaging Inquiry: Research and Writing in the Disciplines

by Kirscht, Judy; Schlenz, Mark

• ISBN13: 9780130116994
• ISBN10: 0130116998
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-01-01
• Publisher: Pearson College Div
• More Book Details
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Summary

ENGAGING INQUIRY RESEARCH AND WRITING IN THE DISCIPLINES by Judy Kirscht and Mark Sehlenz, familiarizes students with the purposes, processes, and forms of academic writing across the disciplines by introducing them to the ways that academic knowledge and writing emerge from methodical approaches to inquiry, research, and critical thinking. The text's inquiry-based approach to academic writing arises from and incorporates cutting-edge insights of emerging composition theory. It also carries students' personal questions and curiosities through academic inquiry processes in science, social science, and the humanities to address real world problems. Among its many features, the text includes the following: bull; bull;Topics applicable in all disciplines including cloning, pollution, violence, and population control bull;Field exercises, surveys, and reading logs that promote first-hand observation and data gathering bull;An array of writing assignments ranging from evaluating websites to editing a student paper bull;Detailed charts that provide visual examples of the text's processes bull;Appendix on MLA/APA citation and documentation In addition to its features, the text enables humanities-trained composition instructors to prepare their students for the types of scholarship and writing that will be required of them in science and social science courses as well as in literature, history, and the arts. Ultimately, it engages students in real inquiry and encourages them to think and write like natural/social scientists and humanist interpreters.

Table of Contents

PART I The Sciences	9	(100)
Inquiry and Writing in the Sciences	11	(42)
Readings in the Sciences	53	(56)
PART II The Social Sciences	109	(212)
Inquiry and Writing in the Social Sciences	111	(58)
Readings in the Social Sciences	169	(152)
PART III The Humanities	321	(98)
Inquiry and Writing in the Humanities	323	(38)
Readings in the Humanities	361	(58)
PART IV Critical Applications	419
Critical Applications	421
Readings for Critical Applications	445

Excerpts

TO THE INSTRUCTOR Engaging Inquirycreates a framework that joins writing and disciplinary inquiry processes and so introduces academic argument as an integral part of the creation of knowledge. The book is intended as scaffolding for designing cross-disciplinary writing courses at many levels and of varying lengths. We have chosen the creation of knowledge as our central theme because we believe that theme (What should we believe? What is true?) undergirds all others, not only in academic but in public and personal spheres, as well. Three basic questions guide the text--What is it? How does it develop or change over time? How does it function? These questions guide inquiry on many subjects, from mental illness to cloning to sexuality to controversies over the local landfill, which can be and are studied from scientific, social science, and humanities perspectives. Though we developed the book from our work with students at the university level, we believe the model of inquiry can be adapted and applied in any college level course as a standard for argument. We have included sufficient readings to implement the framework in a number of different configurations (outlined at the beginning of the chapters on readings) and certainly more readings than can be accommodated in any single course. Their purpose is to demonstrate the level of difficulty of university-level content course readings and the way two or three readings can be grouped to create a thematic focus. We hope teachers will complement these readings with other more accessible material from the public domain or find comparable readings to develop their own thematically unified courses. We have found the readings most successful when combined with readings on issues and events from the current press addressing issues in the local community or specific campus and so have not included very many such readings here. When so combined, however, the units relate the academic texts to the "real world" very effectively and demonstrate to students the complexity of knowledge-making in any field, and its relevance to the study of current issues. The articles on coyotes and anemone in the science section, for example, echo environmental issues frequently in the Santa Barbara press; similar studies on other animals would certainly be more appropriate in Kansas City or Tucson. The theories on in-group behavior might be applied to dorm life, ethnic groups, or workplace behavior, depending on the student population. The only constraint on such themes is that they be on subjects appropriate for study in all three divisions: natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities and that writing assignments arise from academic questions raised by the readings. Many familiar composition themes such as capital punishment, abortion, or euthanasia must be translated into more abstract topics, such as violence or population control, to raise questions appropriate to all three divisions. We have found most writing teachers think of disciplinary differences in terms of the differing written genres. For us the importance of disciplinary distinctions among forms lies in the inquiry processes they reflect and reinforce, not in the conventions and forms as separate and separable entities. The science report, for example, takes its form from the constraints and rigors of scientific study; if severed from the scientific method it reflects, the form becomes a formalistic exercise without any obvious purpose. The critical difference of the inquiry approach, for us, is that it begins with questions, not beliefs--that in the university, argument begins with inquiry, results from inquiry, and sparks further inquiry. Truth claims are tested, not simply defended. The written forms grow out of that inquiry and emphasize important aspects of it; as such they reinforce the critical thinking and linguistic requirements of the discipline and teach thinking habit