On Dec 17, 2008, at 2:05 PM, Thomas Dalton wrote:
2008/12/17 Phil Sandifer snowspinner@gmail.com:
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