Writing in the Disciplines

OVERVIEW

• Business & Communication
• Humanities
• Social Sciences
• Sciences
• Mathematics

Each discipline has its own style, structure and format when it comes to academic writing. This section provides resources on writing in specific discplines, broken down into the following four general academic categories: Business & Communication, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Sciences.

The Humanities category is further broken down into common rhetorical writing tasks in that discipline: analysis, argument & persuasion, cause & effect, classification, comparison & contrast, definition, description, and narrative.

• Also see:Citing Sources for discipline-specific citation styles | Specific Types of Writing for common non-academic writing resources such as writing for email, for the web, for presentations, etc.
• Approaching an Assignment in Any Discipline (Bedford St. Martin's)
• Model Papers (PDF format) (Hacker A Writer's Reference companion website)
  Sample papers include: MLA papers, MLA Argument Papers, MLA Analysis Papers, MLA Literature Papers, MLA Paper-in-Progress, MLA Sample Outline, MLA Annotated Bibliography, APA Papers, APA Annotated Bibliography, CMS Paper, and CSE Paper.
• Sample documents in design (Re:Writing from Bedford/St. Martin's)
  Sample documents in Business and Technical Writing, Humanities, Applied Sciences, Literature

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BUSINESS & COMMUNICATION

• Business Writing (Writing@CSU)
  An online writing guide about writing for business. Sections address writing business letters, resumes, press releases, and executive summaries.
• Business Writing Tutorial (Writing@CSU)
  Online activities for "writers who are writing in business." Specific tasks addressed are letters, memos, and press releases. Site Access: To access these exercises, you need to register with Writing@CSU. Registration is fast and simple.
• Communication Studies (The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
  "This handout describes some steps for planning and writing papers in communication studies courses."
• Writing for a North American Business Audience (Purdue OWL)
  Resource written particularly for non-North American business writers
• Writing for an Indian Business Audience (Purdue OWL)
  Resource written particularly for business writers doing business in India or with Indian companies

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HUMANITIES

Resources for writing in the Humanities are broken down into the following sections. See resources for each below.

• General
• Art & Art History
• Dance
• Drama
• Film
• Literature
• Music
• Poetry
• Philosophy
• Religion
• Rhetorical Tasks

HUMANITIES > GENERAL

• Writing in the Humanities (The Institute for Writing & Rhetoric, Darmouth College)
  This is the introductory page to a collection of resources on writing papers for fields within the humanities. The information focuses on issues that impact writing academic papers in these and related disciplines: Art History, English, Film, Music, Religion, and Philosophy.

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HUMANITIES > ART & ART HISTORY

• Art History (The Institute for Writing & Rhetoric, Darmouth College)
  This handout explores the challenges and purposes of writing about art.
• Art History (The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
  "This handout discusses several common types of art history assignments, and talks about various strategies and resources that will help you write your art history papers."
• A Guide to Writing about Art (Univ. of Iowa Writing Center)

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HUMANITIES > DANCE

• Guidelines for Viewing Dance; Writing Critiques for Dance Performances (University of Richmond Writing Center and Myra Daleng & Anne Van Gelder, Richmond Department of Theater & Dance)
  Ideas and suggestions for writing a critique of a dance performance. One of the most interesting sections of the handout is the "Dance Critique Pet Peeves" that lists words and phrases to avoid when writing a dance critique. There is also a checklist for writing a critique at the end.

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HUMANITIES > DRAMA

• Guidelines for Viewing Dance; Writing Critiques for Dance Performances (University of Richmond Writing Center and Myra Daleng & Anne Van Gelder, Richmond Department of Theater & Dance)
  Ideas and suggestions for writing a critique of a dance performance. One of the most interesting sections of the handout is the "Dance Critique Pet Peeves" that lists words and phrases to avoid when writing a dance critique. There is also a checklist for writing a critique at the end.

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HUMANITIES > FILM

• Film (The Institute for Writing & Rhetoric, Darmouth College)
  This handout explores the challenges and purposes of writing about film.

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HUMANITIES > LITERATURE

• Literature (The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
  "This handout describes some steps for planning and writing papers about fiction texts."
• Book Review (The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
  "This handout will help you write a book review, a report or essay that offers a critical perspective on a text. It offers a process and suggests some strategies for writing book reviews. "
• Literaure Reviews (The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
  "This handout will explain what a literature review is and offer insights into the form and construction of a literature review in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. "

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HUMANITIES > MUSIC

• Music (The Institute for Writing & Rhetoric, Darmouth College)
  This handout explores the challenges and purposes of writing about music.
• Writing about Music (Univ. of Iowa Writing Center)

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HUMANITIES > POETRY

• Poetry Explications (The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
  Official Description: "A poetry explication is a relatively short analysis which describes the possible meanings and relationships of the words, images, and other small units that make up a poem. Writing an explication is an effective way for a reader to connect a poem's plot and conflicts with its structural features. This handout reviews some of the important techniques of approaching and writing a poetry explication, and includes parts of two sample explications."

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HUMANITIES > PHILOSOPHY

• Philosophy (The Institute for Writing & Rhetoric, Darmouth College)
  This handout explores the challenges and purposes of writing about philosophy
• Philosophy (The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
  "This handout discusses common types of philosophy assignments and strategies and resources that will help you write your philosophy papers."

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HUMANITIES > RELIGION

• Religion (The Institute for Writing & Rhetoric, Darmouth College)
  This handout explores "the challenges and purposes of writing in religion."
• Religious Studies (The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
  "This handout will help you to write research papers in religious studies."

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HUMANITIES > RHETORICAL TASKS

analysis | argument & persuasion | cause & effect | classification | comparison & contrast | definition |description | narrative

In academic writing, one can be asked to do many different types of writing. Some papers have you conducting research, while others require you to formulate an argument or write a critique, and some often have you do a combination of research and argument. This section includes resources on the following specific types of academic writing: analysis, argument & persuasion, cause & effect, classification, comparison & contrast, definition, description, and narrative. (See Conducting Research for resources on wriing research papers.

Analysis

• How to Analyze a Text (Goshen College English Dept.)
• How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay (PDF) (Gwynedd-Mercy College (Rptd. from Bucks County Community College)
• Writing a Literary Analysis Paper (Univ. of Iowa Writing Center)

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Argument & Persuasion

• Argument (Writing@CSU)
  An online writing guide to "help writers better understand how to plan, organize, develop, support and revise a written argument." Sections of the guide address the parts of an argument, the Toulmin Method, and even adapting the argument to the audience.
• Argument Tutorial (Writing@CSU)
  Online activities to "help writers better understand how to plan, organize, develop, support and revise a written argument." To access these exercises, you need to register with Writing@CSU. Registration is fast and simple.
• The Argumentative Essay (Purdue OWL)
• Establishing Arguments (Purdue OWL)
• Writing an Effective Thesis Statement: The Six-Step Method (for persuasive essays) (Univ. of Iowa Writing Center)

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Cause & Effect

• A Brief Guide to Writing Cause & Effect Essays (Roane State Community College)

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Classification

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Comparison & Contrast

• How to Write a Comparative Analysis (Writing Center at Harvard University)
• Comparing/Contrasting (The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
  Official Description: "This handout will help you first to determine whether a particular assignment is asking for comparison/contrast and then to generate a list of similarities and differences, decide which similarities and differences to focus on, and organize your paper so that it will be clear and effective. It will also explain how you can (and why you should) develop a thesis that goes beyond "Thing A and Thing B are similar in many ways but different in others."

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Definition

• Definition Essay (Northland Community College)

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Descriptive

• Things to Consider as you Write your Descriptive Essay (St. Cloud State University)

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Narrative

• A Brief Guide to Writing Narrative Essays (Roane State Community College)
• The Narrative Essay (Purdue OWL)

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SOCIAL SCIENCES

• Anthropology (The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
  "This handout briefly situates anthropology as a discipline of study within the social sciences. It provides an introduction to the kinds of writing that you might encounter in your anthropology courses, describes some of the expectations that your instructors may have, and suggests some ways to approach your assignments. It also includes links to information on citation practices in anthropology and resources for writing anthropological research papers."
• History (The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
  "This handout was written with several goals in mind: to explain what historians do and how they approach the writing process; to encourage you to think about your history instructor's expectations of you; and to offer some strategies to help you write effectively in history courses."
• History (The Institute for Writing & Rhetoric, Darmouth College)
  Description: This handout explores the challenges and purposes of writing about history.
• Sociology (The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
  "This handout introduces you to the wonderful world of writing sociology. Before you can write a clear and coherent sociology paper, you need a firm understanding of the assumptions and expectations of the discipline. You need to know your audience, the way they view the world and how they order and evaluate information. So, without further ado, let's figure out just what sociology is, and how one goes about writing it."
• Sociology (The Institute for Writing & Rhetoric, Darmouth College)
  Description: This handout explores the challenges and purposes of writing about sociology.
• Writing in the Social Sciences (The Institute for Writing & Rhetoric, Darmouth College)
  This is the introductory page to a collection of resources on writing papers for fields within the social sciences.
• Writing in Political Science: An Introduction (Dave Roberts, UR Writing Fellow 07, University of Richmond Writing Center)
  A guide that dissects what is involved in writing in the field of political science.
• Writing in Political Science (The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
  "This handout will help you to recognize and to follow writing practices and standards in political science. The first step toward accomplishing this goal is to develop a basic understanding of political science and the kind of work political scientists do."

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SCIENCES

• On Writing Lab Reports (Reed College).  A manual from Reeed College
• Writing Biology Lab Reports (Writer's Web - University of Richmond Writing Center)
  A guide for writing biology labreports with secions on writing the abstract, the introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion, and works cited.
• On Writing Chemistry Lab Reports  (Kenyon College).  A guide to writing lab reports in Chemistry from Kenyon College.
  
• Chemistry Example Lab Report An example from a course at the University of Delaware
• Science Writing (Writing@CSU)
  Online activities for writers in the sciences. Specific tasks addressed include generating ideas, using desciption in science writing, revising organization in science writing, and revising a science argument.
  Site Access: To access these exercises, you need to register with Writing@CSU. Registration is fast and simple.
• Writing in Science (Writing@CSU)
  An online writing guide that addresses the challengese and issues involved in scientific writing. Sections include Writing the Scientific-Format Paper and Achieving the Scientific-Voice.
• Writing in the Sciences (The Institute for Writing & Rhetoric, Darmouth College)
  This is the introductory page to a collection of resources on writing papers for fields within the sciences. The information focuses on issues that impact writing academic papers in these and related disciplines: Biology and Chemistry.
• Writing in Science (Writing@CSU)
  An online writing guide that addresses the challengese and issues involved in scientific writing. Sections include Writing the Scientific-Format Paper and Achieving the Scientific-Voice.
• Writing in the Sciences (The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
  "Every element of style that is accepted and encouraged in general academic writing is also considered good practice in scientific writing. The major difference between science writing and writing in other academic fields is the relative importance placed on certain stylistic elements. This handout details the most critical aspects of scientific writing and provides some strategies for evaluating and improving your scientific prose."
• "Write your Writing: How to sharpen your writing and make your manuscripts more engaging" (The Scientist.com Magazine of the Life Sciences)
  Contributor Judith Swan offers "ways to improve your writing practices and tips on how to align your writing to your readers' expectations. *subscription required for access
• Technical Writing (Michigan State).  A guide to technical writing from Michigan State. 

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MATHEMATICS

• AMS Author Resource Center (American Mathematical Society [AMS])
  Provides links and tools to assist in writing, editing, illustrating, and publishing mathematical works.
• AMS Author Handbook (if this link does not work, you can download the PDF directly here) (American Mathematical Society)
  This is the most widely recognized handbook for writing in mathematics.
• Guide to AMS Editor's Package (American Mathematical Society)
  This link from the AMS website covers formatting for papers/monographs using LaTeX software, a common program for setting math type used here at MSU. It also provides templates to create title pages, bibliographies, etc. for LaTeX users.
• Overview of AMS-LaTeX Software (American Mathematical Society)
  This is an overview of the AMS-LaTeX software.
• MRef (American Mathematical Society)
  This is a citation generator for standard references that include links to the MathSciNet database.

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