Humanities Essays: Why are They Important, and What Makes …

[Pages:17]Humanities Essays: Why are They

ImCpenoGtrreotafoToJnhadretnACU,uEpSonaappasivrymlnseyrireiagsd2dCihyt8ytoEWs,?olne2fGg0Hhl1ioosa5nhogtSKdMtou?ndgaiekses

An Overview

1. 2. 3. 4.

5. 6.

WWWCeCImsorushhhpmaycaaoyimttaarqmatlroaeruhnaneaaektalebseirtdssishytTsavseeahyicteiyssnoessCUiar?meoaniycpsinpsvaysderoalcrigyshsrcihtktoawaytinlln?lolrecsftiten?HfiorgnonirgnnsgegrsK?esoganaygrwdirnitging

What is an essay?

? "a short piece of writing on a particular subject"

ng (Oxford English Dictionary) t ? g Ko ? Essays are a relatively `old' genre of academic writing,

igh on dating from the Renaissance (Andrews, 2003). pyr of H ? The English word derives from the French essai (`to

Co ity attempt'), but modern usage implies a complete, rs polished piece of writing. nive ? In humanities and social science essays, knowledge is The U questioned rather than presented as absolute.

Why are essays important in the humanities and other disciplines?

Kong Essays are the ht ? ng dominant genre yrig f Ho required of students Cop ity o in the humanities, ers and are highly valued niv in non-humanities The U disciplines.

British Academic Written English Corpus:

86% of Arts and Humanities assignments are classified as essays.

56% of Social Science assignments are classified as essays.

Why are essays important in the humanities and other disciplines?

? ?

Ekt"eletaihhntxTsssteasspsholaaennelewiyys,comses:liietmsrseanedsntvreeragheeoenseyerlstf...syyliguieistisnrTehgsxecahnigitoapnbehreknogelCUgeseesroetnipyttasipaniervavcycun`rdeerarahercdinbgdseattiehahxoteerrytshncarmvds?ooedeecfyoluott-lHteb"oengrernoorh(nxitinAcsatchuwgte-rnaaeitdKcrdlyfnl...'iooppyrt...cneriae.inrTg.nwgTighicgenhs.he,eirrw;n2aeeht0tsihhi0ssceea3hry),

What makes humanities essays challenging?

? Essays are a `loose' genre,

ong and the idea of the essay t ? g K varies from discipline to igh on discipline. pyr of H ? Undergraduate tudents are Co ity increasingly exposed to, and ers required to adopt the writing niv conventions of, a few e U disciplines rather than just Th one.

"Common terminologies may actually refer to different underlying constructs and elements in the writing of different disciplines" (Bruce, 2010).

What makes humanities essays challenging?

Differences between

ong humanities essays and text ? K genres common in other ight ong disciplines boil down to yr f H different ways of creating Cop ity o knowledge.

`Hard' sciences and social sciences are hypothesis and concept driven, and this seems to lead to common templates for texts.

Univers Humanities disciplines are broadly text-driven, he and knowledge is created by (often diverging) T interpretation (MacDonald, 1989).

Differences in ways of creating knowledge-different text `shapes.'

A `Pure' Science Research

ng Report Ko Title ht ? ng I. Abstract rig Ho II. Introduction py of III. Methods and Materials Co ity IV. Data ers V. Results niv VI. Discussion/Analysis e U VII.Conclusion Th References

A Business Case Study

Title I. Executive Summary II. Findings III. Discussion IV. Conclusion V. Recommendations VI. Implementation References

GGeoneofnefsretsirrctiurclucaltcbautbeurleerinleingg

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download