A work of writing can be categorized according to a variety of disciplinary conventions, which are typically separated into the social sciences, humanities, and sciences. In the comparative rhetorical study of Lora E. Vess' "Examining Race & Racism in the University: A Class Project" and John Streamas' "Narrative Politics in Historical Fictions for Children," the conventional structure, references, and language will be used.
Social studies and humanities are very different from one another in terms of structure. With reference to the articles, “Examining Race & Racism in the University: A Class Project” is divided into sections by the use of subheadings so as to enhance transition from one scene to the other, however, in the “Narrative Politics in Historical Fictions for Children” the paragraphs begin with topic sentences followed with supportive information and specific details. Articles of social sciences are often divided into subheadings meant to create barriers between the paragraphs while in humanities, there are no subheadings.
In humanities, the article is meant to flow together with the main ideas and the topic sentences. The article by Vess revolves around the goals and the conclusions. In the first paragraph, the reader is capable of getting reasons for the experiment which turns out is the thesis of the article. “On a pedagogical level, I had two goals: for students to become active, experiential learners on the subject of race in their own lives and on campus, and for students to learn and apply basic qualitative research skills” (Vess 1).
The rest of the article is focused on how the solution of the two goals can be achieved. Streamas, on the other hand, is a straightforward writer and focuses on his thesis statement that childhood and savagery are closely linked. This is evidence that social sciences and humanities employ different structures in writing. Streamas in his article shares his opinion and at the same time persuades the readers in opposition to the drive to the conclusion through the achievement of goals by Vess
Language and Referencing
Social sciences and humanities use two different styles as far as language is concerned relevant to each discipline. Vess in her writing is able to guide the reader through the description of what she is doing throughout the study. For instance, when she said, “I did this by developing a student research project for a 400-level Race and Ethnicity class in which students conducted face-to-face in-depth interviews with members of the university" (Vess 1). She wants the reader not to be left behind as the events in the article unfolds throughout the paper and it also makes the reader comprehend everything without thinking deeper as expected in the social science disciplines. On the other hand, Streamas through his article challenges the reader to think deeper via the questions he asks such as, “Are these children merely pawns of their parents, extensions of an adult racist imagination?” (Streamas 3). Supported by a mixture of information and research, he asks questions and answers them. He remains assertive throughout the articles besides stating his opinions. In the article, strong statements such as “Children’s literature should provide a good test of the politics of storytelling” are meant to show the language style employed by the article (Streamas 4).
In most instances in humanities, the writers strive to expand the readers' mind by involving them into the article since they value the ideas and different thoughts. It is because of this, Streamas is not afraid of expressing his ideas, since it is allowed and advocated for in the discipline. Social sciences, however, are often studies based on the facts as depicted in the article by Vess who mentions that it is her hope that the article will provide some considerations and ideas to help in the building the qualitative research skills of the students.
Vess neither agrees nor disagrees with the article as it concludes. In the end of the article, she deviates from the providing the reader for ideas and conclusion may be because, in social writing, the authors revolve around fact based writing. However, in the article, Vess is relaxed in expressing strong opinions because they are merely considered as opinions rather than facts. With regards to reference, Vess utilizes various references to the sentences and rewords frequently. She closes with a reference page, and her article is in APA format. Streamas utilizes long citations and closes with works cited page and writes in MLA format. Streamas uses his references to bolster one's thoughts and conclusions.
Conclusion
In terms of structures, language, and reference, writing in humanities and social sciences is different. John Streamas’ “Narrative Politics in Historical Fictions for Children” is a typical example of an article in the humanity discipline while Lora E. Vess' “Examining Race & Racism in the University: A Class Project is an example of a social science paper. The articles are written in the humanities and social science discipline present different ideas and various tasks to the writers. Different rhetorical situations will always be evident and present between the humanities and social sciences to distinguish between the two disciplines.
Works Cited
Streamas, John. "Narrative politics in historical fictions for children." CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 10.2 (2008): 2.
Vess, Lora E. "Examining Race & Racism in the University: A Class Project." Radical Teacher 106 (2016).
