Scholarly Conversation

As a student you’re participating in a scholarly conversation anytime you write a paper, complete a research project, or make a speech describing, arguing, or synthesizing information on a topic you’ve studied. In this conversation you are listening to lots of different voices such as your professors, the authors of your textbooks, journalists reporting on an issue, and researchers who have performed studies or analyzed that issue.

Through your academic assignments, you’re adding your voice to the discussion. Depending on the purpose of the assignment you may be:

• synthesizing and drawing connections between what others have said on an issue
• explaining your personal experiences related to the topic, and/or
• expressing your own opinions or conclusions about what the research shows.

For this scholarly conversation to be successful, though, you have to approach your academic assignments with honesty, use information sources effectively, and give proper credit to the other voices in the conversation through attribution and citation.