Written Communication Apr 2006

Literary Scholars Processing Poetry and Constructing Arguments

James E. Warren

Abstract

Previous studies of the professional discourse of literary studies have focused solely on published scholarly articles and have produced contradictory evidence regarding the knowledge-building function of literary argument. In this study, 9 English department faculty members use a “think-aloud” procedure to read four lyric poems and compose a short text proposing a hypothetical conference talk about them for a professional conference. Data are analyzed using the commonplaces, or “special topoi,” of literary argument. Results show that (a) different topoi are used when scholars read literary texts and in constructing written arguments and (b) some special topoi are used for communal knowledge building and others are used as audience appeals that may not reflect a commitment to knowledge building. The author concludes by comparing the findings of the study to those of other researchers of literary argument andto those of researchers of scientific argument construction.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
2006-04-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088306286864
Topics
professional writing multilingual writers

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (2)

  1. Banting (2023)
    Humanistic Knowledge-Making and the Rhetoric of Literary Criticism: Special Top…
    Written Communication
  2. Roozen (2010)
    Tracing Trajectories of Practice: Repurposing in One Student’s Developing Disci…
    Written Communication

Cites in this index (7)

  1. Wilder (2005)
    “The Rhetoric of Literary Criticism” Revisited
    Written Communication
  2. Wolfe (2003)
    A Method for Teaching Invention in the Gateway Literature Class
    Pedagogy
  3. Wilder (2002)
    “Get Comfortable With Uncertainty”
    Written Communication
  4. MacDONALD (1992)
    A Method for Analyzing Sentence-Level Differences in Disciplinary Knowledge Making
    Written Communication
  5. MacDONALD (1989)
    Data-Driven and Conceptually Driven Academic Discourse
    Written Communication
Show all 7 →
  1. FAHNESTOCK et al. (1988)
    The Stases in Scientific and Literary Argument
    Written Communication
  2. BAZERMAN (1985)
    Physicists Reading Physics
    Written Communication
Also cites 3 works outside this index ↓
  1. 10.2307/377930
     ↗
  2. 10.1632/074069505X79044
     ↗
  3. 10.1016/1041-6080(93)90026-O
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 9 View in citation network →

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