11: Discipline-Specific Assignments


	Questions to Ask the Student

1. Who is the audience? What do these readers want or need? What distinctive beliefs, prejudices, assumptions, and other attitudes do they hold? What is the relationship between the writer and the readers? What does the writer assume they will do with the information in the writing?

2. What ideas will the reader need to know to understand this writing? What knowledge can the writer assume that the reader already possesses?

3. What is considered acceptable evidence in this discipline?

Who or what is presented as an authority? How are credentials established by the writer?
What is considered a primary source? A secondary source?
How are empirical data (what can be observed and measured) used?
How are statistics and other numerical information presented and used? Are they included in the text or in charts or graphs?
How are interviews, case studies, field research, and other kinds of firsthand experience presented, used, and valued?
How is the argument presented in logical terms? Does it rely on a particular strategy or organization?

4. To what extent is the writer’s voice present? Are the writer’s own opinions prominent? Are they considered valuable? Or does the writer seem to leave his or her own opinions unstated?

5. What specialized vocabulary are readers expected to know?

© 1999, 2000, 2002 Virginia Bower (Mars Hill College), Charlene Kiser (Milligan College), Kim McMurtry (Montreat College), Ellen Millsaps (Carson-Newman College), Katherine Vande Brake (King College). All rights reserved. This manual was made possible by a Culpeper grant from the Appalachian College Association; click here for information. If you encounter difficulties with these web pages, please notify kmcmurtry@montreat.edu.