This activity will help to you to learn more about your discipline, as well as the current conversations or issues within your chosen field. For your argument research project, you will be writing about a much-needed change within your field or within a company, or a current and essential discussion or controversy within your field. The first step to prepare you for the next major assignments is to conduct discipline research.
Directions:
Answer the following questions directly in this document. When you are done, save the document, and upload your work to the exercise submission page on Blackboard:
Research Suggestion:
To get started with your research, begin with the homepages of individual departments at GMU and other institutions. Check out the websites of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Occupational Outlook Hand-book in particular, professional organizations, professional journals, news articles, and other resources to gather information about the career aspects of your discipline.
1. Name of your discipline:
2. Name of department at Mason that houses your academic discipline and the url for the depart-ment website:
3. Name of the school (if relevant) and your college that houses your department:
4. How is your discipline defined formally by experts who have shaped and continue to shape it?
A) Go to www.gmu.edu and type your major in the search box. Go to either your discipline or col-leges homepage to find out any information about how your discipline is defined. If no definition is found (rare, but possible), try to access another university or colleges page for your discipline definition. Cut & paste what you find here:
4B) Go to Wikipedia and type in your discipline or major. What definition is provided? Cut & paste part of the entry (the most essential information) here:
5. Go to the George Mason University Library INFOGUIDE page and find the InfoGuide for your academic discipline. A) FIND FOUR SOURCE OR RESOURCE TYPES/CATEGORIES IN-CLUDED ON THE INFOGUIDE FOR YOUR DISCIPLINE AND LIST THEM BELOW:
5B) NAME and EMAIL OF LIAISON LIBRARIAN FOR YOUR DISCIPLINE:
6. Whats the job outlook for your future career choice?
Go to Bureau of Labor Statistics and type your discipline or major in the search box at the top to find this information.
7. What kinds of jobs will academic training in the discipline typically lead to?
8. What kinds of skills are fostered by your discipline?
9. What are the theories/debates/controversies in your discipline that have had considerable influence on the field and/or knowledge in general? (Consider current topics as well.)
10. What are the names of a few leading or important businesses or companies connected to your dis-cipline?
11. What citation style is common within your field?
12. List possible topics you are considering for future research and POSSIBLY for your research ar-gument paper (*Important: Think about much-needed changes within your field or within organiza-tions or a businesses OR possible essential controversies within the field.*):
