Writing in the Disciplines

University students are called upon to write papers and assignments for a number of different disciplines, each of which have their own language conventions, style, format, structure, and documentation styles. Some even have different ideas about what “counts” as good evidence or sound argument. The resources below will help you to navigate these differences with information on and writing samples from different disciplines.

Sample Scene Analyses from English 303 & 304

• Scene Analysis: Sample from English 303
• Scene Analysis: Sample from English 304

Writing About Literature

• Essay Writing for Literature Classes, adapted with permission from material by Veronica Thompson
• Handling Quotations
• The Basics of Documentation, an important resource to help students avoid plagiarism and learn how to use citations and references appropriately and correctly.
• Thesis statements in literary analyses
• Strategies for Close Reading in Literature from Mark McCutcheon of Athabasca University

Writing in Business

• Questions and Answers Regarding Writing for Organizations
• Report Format
• Writing in Organizations
• Professional Technical Writing

Writing in History

• Chicago style for History students
• Using past and present tense in History papers

Writing in Political Science

• AU Library's Political Science Research and Writing Guide

Writing in Psychology

• An APA tutorial from the Centre for Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Athabasca University
• Researching Topics in Psychology

Writing in Science

• Irregular plurals-Biology/Zoology, Athabasca University

Writing in Sociology

• Writing in American Sociological Association (ASA) Style