Genre

Literature Reviews – How Scholars, Empiricists, Creatives & Designers Frame Scholarly Conversations

The discussion below provides an overview of the unique ways scholars, creative practitioners, qualitative empiricists, quantitative empiricists, and mixed methods researchers incorporate primary and secondary sources into their works. What is a Literature Review? A literature review is a systematic survey and synthesis of existing peer-reviewed works related to a specific research topic or question. ...

Research Questions – How Scholars, Empiricists, Creatives & Designers Frame Inquiry?

Why Do Different Methodological Communities Ask Different Research Questions? Researchers from different methodological communities frame their research questions in different ways because they have distinct topics, methods, and assumptions about how inquiry should be conducted. At dawn, six researchers observe the same sunrise. They are not there merely to enjoy the view—they’ve been asked to ...

Annotated Bibliography

What Is an Annotated Bibliography? An annotated bibliography is a list of reference sources and critical summaries/evaluations of the sources. Typically, researchers will Provide the citation information for each source following the rules of a particular bibliography style (e.g., MLA Style, APA Style, Chicago Style). Logically, you want to use the citation style in your ...

Two Women foregrounded @ Women's March 2018, CC BY-SA 2.0 by Mobilus

Argument – Argumentation

What is Argument? Argumentation? Argument is an iterative process that informs humankind’s search for meaning. Argument vs Persuasion The terms argument and persuasion may be used synonymously, yet subject matter experts in Writing Studies typically draw distinctions: Related Concepts: Evidence; Persuasion; Rhetorical Analysis; Rhetorical Reasoning 3 Types of Argument Arguments come in all shapes and ...

Toulmin Model Example by Chiswick Chap, CC BY-SA 3.0

Toulmin Argument

Stephen Toulmin’s (1958) model of argument conceptualizes argument as a series of six rhetorical moves: Related Concepts Evidence; Persuasion; Rhetorical Analysis; Rhetorical Reasoning FAQs Why Does Toulmin Argument Matter? Toulmin’s model of argumentation is particularly valuable for college students because it provides a structured framework for analyzing and constructing arguments, skills that are essential across ...

statue of Aristotle by a building in Freiburg, Germany - photo “Aristotle” by maha-online is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Aristotelian Argument

Aristotelian Argument is a deductive approach to argumentation that presents a thesis, an argument up front — somewhere in the introduction — and then endeavors to prove that point via deductive reasoning and exemplification. Scholarly conversations regarding this style of argument can be traced to the 4th century BEC, including, especially Aristotle’s Rhetoric as well ...

Overgeneralization

What is Overgeneralization? Overgeneralization refers to sweeping generalizations based on an opinions, anecdotes, assumptions, or prejudices. Here are some examples of overgeneralization: Each of these sentences presents propositions as facts. These sort of murky, underdeveloped thoughts are not grounded in authoritative evidence. Thus, this is a formal logic error, a logical fallacy. Synonyms Overgeneralization may ...

Executive Summary

An executive summary, a genre of discourse, is a summary of a text that conveys the essence of an original text. An executive summary may be as long as 500 words while an abstract is limited to 150 to 200 words. Key Words: Why Do Executive Summaries Matter? Executive summaries play a powerful role in ...

Progress Reports

Progress Reports are Texts. Progress Reports are a genre of writing that Knowledge Workers (aka writers, symbol analysts) employ in order to to keep their audience (e.g., manager, clients, colleagues) apprised of their team’s completed work to identify a plan of work for remaining tasks to outline any challenges they’re facing. Knowledge Workers are asked ...

Recommendation Reports

Recommendation reports are texts that advise audiences about the best ways to solve a problem. Recommendation reports are a type of formal report that is widely used across disciplines and professions. Subject Matter Experts aim to make recommendations based on the best available theory, research and practice. Different disciplines and professions have different research methods ...