An Overview of the Discipline

The discipline of English studies texts and cultural production in the English language across all periods, and aims for an interdisciplinary approach to English scholarship. This broad field of study is generally divided into sub-disciplines, such as British, American, Renaissance, Medieval, Postcolonial, and African American literature. Though the content of these sub-disciplines differs, their approaches to writing are generally similar.

Writing in the Discipline

Goal

Broadly speaking, English scholarship aims to understand the production and content of texts written in the English language. Writing in English most often entails taking a position that affirms or critiques another’s position or that may assert a particular interpretation of a text. Within a given subdiscipline, there are often many existing lines of arguments already staked out. The job of an English scholar is to study these stances and refine or critique them. Scholars use a number of almost exclusively text-based approaches—literary, historical, political, linguistic, philosophical, cultural, philological, gender-studies, material, poetical—to study and interpret the production and content of texts.

Reasoning

English scholars often use a combination of justificatory, explanatory, and poetic reasoning. However, the predominant type of reasoning used is justificatory, which typically includes arguing an interpretation of a text, defending a particular literary theory, or making a claim about the history of a particular book or of literature itself. Most writing in the field relies on justificatory reasoning, with explanation used to provide summaries, overviews of other critics' positions, and historical or political contexts. Explanatory reasoning is also used to analyze and elaborate on passages of quotation or other evidence.

Literary scholars typically organize their work around a single thesis supported by a series of analytic claims or reasons. These claims may connect to each other logically as well as intuitively as they work to support the thesis. Each claim, in turn, is supported by evidence, usually quotations of text, which the writer analyzes to show how it supports the claim.

Some literary scholars, particularly those gravitating to quantitative fields and "big data," prefer to use the kinds of logical structures encountered in the social sciences, such as the Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion (IMRD) structure. In such cases, the scholar begins by introducing the problem her research will address, her proposition, her method of analysis, the data collected, analysis of that data, and a discussion of its implications.

Other literary scholars choose to present their findings in a more inductive fashion, beginning with a thesis and building on it with a series of analytic claims and evidence that not only support the initiating thesis but also develop toward a conclusion that, as one professor explained, "yields something beyond what was recognized at the outset." This inductive and often more intuitively organized structure presents the scholar's findings as a process of discovery.

Finally, some literary scholars prefer the classical structure of reasoning or argument by example. This form of critical thinking focuses on demonstrating a thesis by providing a series of examples—quotations of text—analyzing each to show how they support and illuminate the thesis. In this approach, validity is demonstrated by the consistency and persuasiveness of the examples and analysis in demonstrating the thesis. Using this logical structure, the concluding paragraphs typically point to the larger implications of the thesis, for example, how it contributes to an understanding of the work in question, the author's body of work, literary history, or a particular theory or approach to literary analysis.

Evidence

At the undergraduate level, quotation of specific passages of a given text are the most crucial form of evidence. In some cases, students may also be asked to draw upon historical or biographical evidence to support their claims. Textual quotation is also the evidence used mainly by scholars in the field, though there are a few emerging fields—distant reading and digital humanities—that produce and use data-based, quantitative evidence, including data visualization, text mining, and information retrieval.

Evidence allowed in English include texts, empirical data (e.g. data on publishing history and economics, book design and construction), and knowledge from other fields (e.g. History, Anthropology, Linguistics.) Textual evidence appears as in-text quotations or block quotes depending on its length. Professors of English do not rely on a single citation style. While most use MLA, a few of the professors interviewed prefer Chicago. Be sure to check with your professor to determine his or her preferred citation style.

Authorship

Writing in English is mainly single-authored articles or books. Collaborative writing is rare.

Writing Tips

Style

The style in English varies widely depending on the author and the type of writing in which he or she is engaged. Styles in subfields of English can range from formal to playful, satirical to poetic. As in any discipline, the particular subfield’s discourse communities defines the norms of writing, and students wishing to participate in English scholarship should consult their professor as well as pay attention to the approach and style of the scholars they read for the particular course or subfield they are in.

Common Errors

• Over-quoting: Students use too many quotations, including large blocks of quotation, and attempt to substitute this for analysis. Every quotation used should support the thesis, and should be developed. The writer should make sure that there is a strong need to insert a block of text, and is obliged to devote a substantial amount of his or her own analysis to unpacking that block in service of the paper's thesis.
• Passive Voice: Students should avoid as much as possible the use of passive voice in English papers.
• Failure to Use Signal Phrases: Signal phrases to indicate a new piece of evidence, or to emphasize a particular point, make a paper livelier and better organized.
• Inflated Vocabulary: Students should aim as much as possible for a conversational voice rather than attempt to use jargon or elevated language when they do not understand fully the meaning of the words they are using. English professors put substantial emphasis on precise, accurate use of the English language. Don’t overreach!
• Overgeneralization: Students make claims about a text that are too broad (1) to be supported in the length of the paper (2) to be proven using detailed textual evidence.
• Logical Incoherence: Students do not ensure that their examples and analysis directly support their thesis. In a good essay, as Professor Josephine Park states, "everything ... is in the service of the idea."

Genres

Writing Assignments

Undergraduate writing in English typically takes the form of research papers and critical responses that make an argument about a literary work by using textual examples. Students are often given prompts and asked to take a position, sometimes in weekly response papers and sometimes as mid-term or final essay assignments. Students may also encounter creative assignments such as drafting a parody of a given text or inserting a foreign character into a particular scene. Assignments in the discipline of English typically challenge students to think critically about how the language of a text works to produce meaning.

Professional Writing

Genres in English include:

• Journal Articles
• Book Reviews
• Scholarly Books
• Biographies
• Book Editions

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Meet the Professors

Dr. David Wallace

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Dr. Al Filreis

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Dr. Josephine Park

Dr. Josephine Park is Associate Professor of English and Director of the Asian American Studies Program. More...

Dr. Emily Steinlight

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Dr. Jim English

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