On Dec 17, 2008, at 2:05 PM, Thomas Dalton wrote:
2008/12/17 Phil Sandifer
<snowspinner(a)gmail.com>om>:
On Dec 17, 2008, at 1:45 PM, Thomas Dalton wrote:
What? WP:NOR barely mentions lit crit or anything
related to it.
It's
a general policy that applies to literature as much as it does to
science or history. I think you may be a little paranoid...
Lit crit, however (or more broadly, English departments), is the
general discipline under which writing and research skills are taught
these days.
I disagree. A scientist learns how to read and write scientific papers
in their science classes. A historian learns how to read and write
historical papers in their history classes, etc. An English professor
isn't going to know the first thing about judging the credibility of a
paper on Quantum Electrodynamics.
Sure. And if we want to break NOR into individual field-specific
guidelines, it changes. But a general principles of research and
writing class? That's an English class in almost every University. I
know, because I've taught it. And NOR is a general principles of
research and writing policy.
I'd also say that an English professor knows a great deal about
judging the credibility of a paper on Quantum Electrodynamics. They
know the basics of the system of peer review and of academic
credentials. They know what an academic journal is. They even know
enough grammar and vocabulary to verify, in many cases, whether a
given statement matches the one given in a reference.
Now, could I peer review an article on Quantum Electrodynamics? No.
But I can judge the credibility of a published article on it. I'm even
capable of preparing a bibliography on the subject - find articles
that mention Quantum Electrodynamics, then classify them based on
reputation of journal (not that hard to figure out as an outsider),
frequency with which the article is cited, and degree to which the
term appears in the article, and I can create a pretty good
bibliography of essential sources on the subject.
The skills that allow that are taught in English departments.
-Phil