Description
n this essay you will practicedisciplinary thinking: approaching a research topic through the
lens of a specific academic discipline. It will give you the chance to investigate how scholars
make new knowledge, and will prepare you for the kinds of research projects you might be asked
to do in other college classes. It will also help you develop richer research questions to pursue in
those projects, including in the final paper in this class. Finally, I hope it will help you think
about the disciplines you might want to study as you decide what classes to take, what to major
in, and ultimately what career to pursue.
Prompt and Process
First, choose a topic!
o You can use the same strategies you used in Paper 1 to brainstorm a topic. You
might find the lecture video on “finding a topic” (posted on Canvas in “Modules
Week 2”) helpful.
o Use the brainstorming techniques we’ve practice so far to narrow your topic down
and ask various questions about it.
Note: I recommend that you pick a relatively broad topic for this paper.
You will be looking for research articles from different disciplines that
relate to your topic, and that will be easier if you keep the topic you pick
for this paper fairly general (for example, “water in California” and not
“what caused the water level in the Colorado River to drop starting in the
year 2000”).
Next, do the same kind of background research you did on your first two topics.
o You will need to read at least two reference and/or news sources about your topic,
and gather enough information that you can explain your topic to your reader.
o As before, look for unanswered questions and assumptions that you would like
to learn more about.
Then, look for academic sources that address your topic and/or questions.
o For this paper, you will need to find two different academic sources that address
your topic from two different disciplines.
Note: The sources do not need to be about the exact same topic. Instead,
look for articles that address topics that are similar enough that you can
compare them.
o Read the articles you selected using the techniques for reading academic articles
that we have practiced in this class.
Finally, write an essay that includes the following sections:
o An introduction that explains your topic to an interested reader.
o A summary section that provides what you believe is the most important
information your reader needs to understand your topic.
This section should be similar to the one you wrote for Paper 2.
Your summary should include key background information as well as
major perspectives that you have found about your topic.
o A section that summarizes the academic articles you selected and reflects on
how they contribute to your understanding of your topic.
First, you will need to summarize each article, using the techniques we
have practiced in class. For the first article:
What larger conversation is the article part of? What previous ideas
is it building on / responding to?
What is the article’s specific research question?
What methods does the article use to answer that question? How
does it gather its evidence, and how does it interpret its evidence?
What results does the article find?
What are the article’s key takeaways? What do the authors think
are the most important conclusions to draw from the results? What
do you think is most important to learn from the results?
Next you will need to do the same for your second article.
Finally, you should reflect on how the two articles relate and how each
contributes to your understanding of your topic.
How do the two disciplines you explored differ in the way they
approach your topic? How do the methods/evidence of the articles
compare?
How do the results/conclusions of the articles relate? Do you see
connections between them? Do they support a similar conclusion
about your topic, or do they point to different conclusions?
How do the results/conclusions of the articles impact your
understanding of your topic?
o Finally, include a conclusion that summarizes your key takeaways from your
research. What conclusion(s) should your reader draw based on what you have
learned?
Again, assume that your audience for this essay is a group of scholars (students and
teachers) who are interested in your topic but have no specific background in it.
Requirements
Your essay must reference at least 5 total sources: at least three reference sources or
sources from news-gathering organizations, and two academic articles that you
summarize and respond to.
Your essay should include direct quotes from at least some of your sources, including
quotes from each of the academic articles you summarize.
Your essay should include a Works Cited page listing the articles you cite in MLA
format.
Your essay should be about 2,000 words long and formatted according to MLA
standards.
Essay 3 Rubric
1 2 3 4 Comment
Topic, background research, and summary: Did you select an interesting, narrow topic to
investigate? Did you find relevant reference and/or news articles, from reputable sources, to
learn about your topic? Does your paper summarize important information about the topic?
Does your summary follow a clear principle of organization?
Topic
Summary of key information
Organization of summary
Scholarly research: Did you select two scholarly articles relevant to your topic, from two
different academic disciplines? Have you provided the necessary context + information for
your reader to understand the articles? Have you analyzed how the two articles approach your
topic from the perspective of their disciplines? Have you reflected on how the two articles
might shape your thinking on your topic?
Summary of each article
Comparison of articles
Disciplinary analysis
Reflection on your thinking
Use of language: Are your sentences clear and free of errors? Is your use of terminology
precise? Does each sentence contribute to the point of its paragraph and ultimately to your
overall argument?
Clarity of sentences
Lack of errors
Style and Rhetoric: Does your paper generally use an appropriate academic tone? Does it
avoid generality and cliché? Does it vary its tone and sentence structure to keep the reader
engaged? Have you made rhetorical choices that emphasize to your reader what the most
important takeaways from your research / argument are?
Tone
Specificity
Variety + emphasis
Citation and MLA Formatting
Correct in-text citations?
Works Cited page?
Formatting?
Process: Did you submit each draft of your essay on time? Did you participate fully in peer
review? Did you make substantial revisions, including revisions based on the feedback that
you received?
On time submissions
Peer review
Substantial revisions
51 points total, weighted as 20% of your final grade
