When you are trying to determine how to define article discipline in writing samples, it is important to understand the different ways that writers from different disciplines produce and share knowledge. You will need to distinguish between those who write for a general audience, like a popular journal article, and those who use specific conventions that professional researchers often adhere to in their work.
The word discipline comes from the Old English d
Another is: “a socially constructed network of information and knowledge” (Lawn and Keiner 2006). This is a more precise way to define the scope of academic disciplines and makes their broad purpose more clear.
In addition to these broader terms, the term discipline is also used to describe the fourfold division of soft/hard and pure/applied disciplines that originated with Biglan (1973a). For example, science is classified as hard because the standards of inquiry are established and a body of accumulated knowledge is developed; arts and humanities are considered soft because they are contested, and less developed.
A great place to begin your research is in the journals of your discipline. These have a rich history of publication and are likely to contain articles that explore issues pertaining to teaching and learning in your field.
Look for a famous piece of writing in your discipline that uses disciplinary rhetoric to address contemporary problems and controversies. For instance, consider Abraham Lincoln’s speech at the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery. Apply the disciplinary lenses you have identified in this section to this classic reading and draw on your disciplinary experience to make a logical connection between what is being said and what is happening in the world around us.
You can also take inspiration from what is being written by others in your discipline to develop a disciplinary analysis of contemporary controversies and questions. For this, you may wish to interview an instructor or other scholar in your discipline about the great questions that continue to fuel its work.
Similarly, you might interview a graduate student about the great questions that he or she has encountered during his or her studies. Once you have absorbed the responses, write a report in your own words about what is being asked and discussed.
Defining the characteristics of effective writing in your discipline is an essential part of teaching students to read and write well within it. The ability to identify and reproduce the conventions of your discipline will help them to learn to write effectively for a wide variety of purposes, including journal articles and academic research.
