Shared Characteristics Among Discipline-Specific Papers

The following generalizations emerged from the Workshop's examination of six discipline specific student papers:

• Disciplines have specific genres for student academic writing.
• Academic assignments across the disciplines follow specific forms or conventions depending on the discipline.
• Academic assignments ask the students to argue a point.
• Academic assignments across the disciplines require close textual reading.
• Academic assignments across the disciplines require subtle analysis.
• Academic writing across the disciplines requires students to contextualize their information and ideas to the specific demands of the assignment.
• Academic assignments across the disciplines require that the student writers anticipate their readers' needs.
• Academic assignments across the disciplines should pay careful attention to diction and language use.