Interdisciplinary Studies

Guidelines for Researching Disciplines Worksheet

This sheet will explain what each section is and what you should include. The worksheet that you actually complete starts on page 2 (delete this page once you are finished)

Name/Title of Discipline:

Discipline Subject Matter:

What is the object(s) of study? What is this discipline about?

**cite where you got this information, both with a parenthetical citation and a bibliographic entry**

Definition of Discipline:

Find an academic definition, by consulting textbooks, academic disciplinary journals, books published by university presses, departmental or professional academic organization web sites. Do not try to define a discipline by looking up the word in the dictionary!

**cite where you got this information, both with a parenthetical citation and a bibliographic entry**

Sub-Fields within the Discipline:

How is this discipline organized or divided? Can this discipline be broken down further into smaller areas (sub-fields)? List out at least 3 sub-fields. Carefully describe the purpose or goal of each sub-field. What specific concerns do each sub-field address?

**cite where you got this information, both with a parenthetical citation and a bibliographic entry**

Key Concepts:

What are some of the key concepts associated with this discipline? List out at least 3 key concepts within the discipline. Define each concept according to how they are defined within the discipline. It is important that you understand how a given discipline defines a specific concept as another discipline may define the concept differently.

**cite where you got this information, both with a parenthetical citation and a bibliographic entry**

Key Books/Seminal Texts:

List three influential, well-known, or seminal texts in the field. Be sure to provide a correct, full citation (APA or MLA style) plus a brief description of what each is about and why it is important to the discipline.

**no documentation/citation is needed in this section**

Key Thinkers:

List three top thinkers in the discipline. Try to list people who have not authored any of the key books your have listed above. Provide each thinker’s name, birth, and death year (if deceased), and a brief description of their contribution to the field.

**cite where you got this information, both with a parenthetical citation and a bibliographic entry**

Worksheet for Researching Disciplines

Name/Title of Discipline:

Discipline Subject Matter (plus parenthetical citation):

Definition of Discipline (plus parenthetical citation):

Sub-Fields within the Discipline (plus parenthetical citation):

Key Concepts (plus parenthetical citation):

Key Concept 1 (plus parenthetical citation):

Key Concept 2 (plus parenthetical citation):

Key Concept 3 (plus parenthetical citation):

Key Books/Seminal Texts:

Key Book/Seminal Text 1:

Why Key Book/Seminal Text 1 is important:

Key Book/Seminal Text 2:

Why Key Book/Seminal Text 2 is important:

Key Book/Seminal Text 3:

Why Key Book/Seminal Text 3 is important:

Key Thinkers and Practitioners:

Key Thinker 1 (plus parenthetical citation):

Key Thinker 2 (plus parenthetical citation):

Key Thinker 3 (plus parenthetical citation):

Bibliography:

Entry for source 1

Entry for source 2

Entry for source 3

(repeat for each source you use in the worksheet)