Understanding the Rhetoric of Research

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The keys to understanding how to conceive, conduct, and report research are found by investigating and learning the important "conversations" that move the community forward. Although it's also important to learn the stylistic and organizational features of research writing, Charles Bazerman notes that "understanding the appropriate linguistic and rhetorical conventions is only a part of the difficulty that students entering an academic discipline confront. They must also become aware of the conversations of the discipline" (Berkenkotter & Huckin, 1995, p. 118).

In this section, we focus on five key issues related to learning the disciplinary converstations and discourse conventions of the field of English studies.

Becoming a member of a discourse community is largely a process of immersion. As a student new to the field of English studies, you can more quickly benefit from this process of immersion by understanding some of the unique features of the field. To read more about these features, click on the items below:

• Learning the Conversation
• Key Factors Shaping Research in the Field
• Common Features of Research in the Field
• Learning the Research Styles in the Field
• Studying the Journals in the Field
• Learning about Style Manuals and Genre Analysis