An Overview of the Discipline

Chinese Studies is a field that encompasses many different facets of life in China both today and in the past. While some to choose to specialize in the historical sub-disciplines (such as Professor Goldin who studies Chinese Thought) others choose to focus on more contemporary issues such as the development of the language itself and the evolution of Chinese language and literature. Interdisciplinary study is essential to almost any project in Chinese studies as investigations often take everything from culture to art to language to linguistics into their work.

Reasoning and Evidence

Reasoning

A vast majority of the reasoning that Chinese Studies scholars perform is explanatory reasoning. Rather than attempting to sway an audience through emotion or personal appeal, hallmarks of justificatory reasoning, scholars working in Chinese Studies tend to stick to demonstrating claims with empirical evidence rather than arguing for a certain position. At times, the tone and structure of Chinese Studies pieces can appear to be justificatory (especially when dealing with controversial topics in the field) however for the most part scholars tend to explain. As Professor Goldin puts it, “Justificatory reasoning requires a certain knowledge of audience. If I hope for my work to hold any weight past the current generation, it must appeal to something that doesn’t pertain just to that audience but to all audiences. That appeal is an appeal to logic, something that I don’t anticipate changing in the foreseeable future.”

Evidence

Textual evidence is most convincing in the field of Chinese Studies. Many times, a scholar will be working with a text or a variety of documents and will use these to demonstrate their proposition, choosing selective quotes from these texts. Depending on the project, qualitative evidence such as art or other artifacts can be used to demonstrate certain facets of culture from a time period. Additionally, data can be used extensively when an important part of the scholar’s argument is based upon linguistics.

Authorship

Authorship in Chinese Studies tends to be fairly individual. Contrary to the practices in the sciences where many researchers work together on the same project, scholars in Chinese Studies tend to work alone until they are receiving feedback from peers on an idea or edits on a paper. Most published pieces in the discipline of Chinese Studies feature only one author. Interestingly, it is a common practice for scholars who are translating a work to proceed in a group of three, ensuring that the group never comes to a roadblock when it comes to agreement on meaning.

The Writing Process

Professional Writing in Chinese Studies

Although each scholar will vary in his or her work habits, there are certain writing norms that exist within the discourse community of Chinese Studies. As a whole, scholars in the discipline tend to spend a long period of time thinking and churning ideas internally before ever putting them on paper. Between teaching classes and reading peers’ work, scholars are often sparked to investigate a certain facet that interests them. Once an idea has formed, the scholar then begins gathering evidence that supports the proposition. This evidence collection can vary in how long it takes as some pieces of evidence are significantly harder to obtain than others. Once an idea has formed and evidence has been collected, the first draft process often occurs “pen to paper” where the scholar simply translates from head to document. After the first draft has been created, the lengthy revision process begins where scholars consider their own work and ask colleagues for their critiques, pressing the proposition and determining where it needs work and if it stands up at all. After revision, the piece is then ready to publish or distribute.

Common Student Errors

The most common student errors in Chinese Studies papers, like many papers in the humanities, lies in the organization of ideas into a piece with logical coherence. Chinese Studies papers ideally feature a proposition fairly early on in the piece, stated clearly and concisely, followed by evidence and quotes that demonstrate that proposition. Many students take a roundabout approach to discussing their proposition, confusing their readers and not clearly conveying their message.

Common Citation Practices in Chinese Studies

While preferences vary from scholar to scholar, many scholars in the field favor the MLA format of citations. While others (such as Chicago) are used occasionally, the predominant form of citation that a reader will see in Chinese Studies publications is MLA.

Genre

Typical Professional Publications

Professional scholars in the field of Chinese Studies write in a variety of media ranging from something as long as a book to something as short as a journal article. The length of the piece is dictated by the scope of the discussion so that the piece grows with the idea. For instance, a specific and short claim about a certain facet of Chinese culture may be able to be discussed and demonstrated in a ten-page paper whereas a sweeping thesis about a trend in Chinese thought may have to be spread throughout a 300-page book. Additionally, some scholars post on blogs to keep their work to the public consistent.

Typical Student Assignments

Typical student assignments in Chinese Studies classes vary according to the level of the course. In introductory Chinese Studies courses, professors tend to give students very guided assignments where the context of the essay is framed very explicitly and the student then researches something within that context. As the level of the course increases, students tend to have more freedom in terms of topic in assignments: whereas introductory courses will ask a student to investigate something with a certain given scope, students in higher level classes are free to define their own scope according to what interests them.

Additional Resources

Penn EALC Department
EALC Course Catalog

Professor Profiles

Professor Victor Mair
Professor Paul R. Goldin

© 2013 The University of Pennsylvania

Meet the Professors

Professor Victor Mair

Professor Mair is a Chinese Studies scholar specializing in the linguistic facets of Chinese and the development of the language over time. He maintains a blog where he discusses the linguistic development of the Chinese language and is also involved in teaching and research at the University of Pennsylvania.

Professor Paul R. Goldin

Professor Goldin specializes in Chinese Thought throughout history. In his studies, he often investigates facets of Chinese culture and literature in addition to the things directly related to Chinese Thought.