Penn Professors on Writing in Anthropology

Dr. Theodore G. Schurr

About the Professor

Biological anthropologist Dr. Theodore G. Schurr is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania and a Consulting Curator in the Physical Anthropology section of the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. He conducts primary research, which often takes the form of manuscripts in peer review journals. Dr. Schurr also does review articles, textbook writing, book reviews, popular science articles. As he himself puts it, "I never really stop writing."

Dr. Schurr adds, "I write for either an anthropological or biology/genetics audience, that is for social or hard sciences, depending on the research being described and the journals to which papers or book chapters are being submitted."

Important Criteria for Student Writing

Dr. Schurr organizes writing criteria into three groups, all of which he considers equally vital.

Basic Readability

following the assignment instructions
proper formatting (i.e., font, margins, etc.)
grammar and mechanics
following disciplinary citation practices

Writing Ability

reasoning and evidence
organization
style

Originality and Synthesis

having original ideas
demonstrating mastery of others' ideas
ability to synthesize and produce

Common Student Errors

Dr. Schurr observes, "Errors typically come from inexperience. Students try to make general statements about a pattern they’ve never seen before. If the pattern has been published on before and the student doesn’t cite it, it’s my task to tell them to consult previous literature. Students also occasionally misinterpret outputs from statistical analysis when they don’t understand the whole context around a population’s history. My role is to polish work when students make errors based on inexperience and try to work through analysis independently."

Typical Assignments

A typical writing assignment in Dr. Schurr’s class "might be a film review, which critiques a film and relates it to a body of literature we have read. I also assign short research reports on key concepts from class. My exams, especially for grad students, are term papers in which a broad topic is reviewed (like biological anthropology). My undergraduate classes are essays in which students are asked to synthesize materials and concepts from class."

Expectations

"I expect students to organize their information in a streamlined manner. Writing should be clear without being complex. As for formatting expectations, I follow the Chicago handbook, as well as the basic formatting followed in journals."

Links

Back to Writing in the Discipline

Other professors in anthropology: Dr. Philippe Bourgois, Dr. Deborah Olszewski, Dr. Deborah Thomas