To distinguish different types of peer assisted learning, people
use terms like:
academic subjects, which are discussed here.
A department or field of study is called a subject.
Branches of knowledge and learning are also known as
academic
disciplines, because of the rules that those
who study them follow. This
idea
of
established rules
to disciplines is part of Thomas Khun's concept of
scientific
paradigms.
Sometimes distinctions are made between subjects with
an internal consistency and others that are mixtures of
disciplines. For example, one writer identifies forms of
thought, like mathematics, science, history, aesthetics
and ethics, which he says have clear rules of conduct,
including appropriate ways of discovering new
information and methods of assessing truth. He
distinguishes these from fields of study, like geography,
engineering and gender studies, which apply a number
of forms of thought to a particular area. Geography
applies mathematical, scientific and historical thinking.
Many science subjects (especially social science
subjects) have names ending ology. "When you've got
an ology you're a scientist" (BT advert). This ending
comes from logos, Greek for a word, speech,
reckoning, calculation or thought. It is just added to the
subject matter to describe the science: biology (life
science), sociology (society science), psychology (mind
science), gerontology (old people science), criminology
(crime science).
But, whatever the lady in the BT advert says, not every
subject ending in ology is a science. The word theology
describes one of the oldest subjects. It means the study
of God. Many modern dictionaries define theology as
the study of
ideas
about God. Presumably
this change
is
because many people do not think God exists.
Behaviourists who denied the existence of mind still
called themselves psychologists (mind scientists) and
people who think society is just an abstraction still call
themselves sociologists - so we should not take the titles
of subjects (or those who teach them) too seriously!.
Subjects at Middlesex University
are
groups of related
modules
covering the same area. [Now out of date]
Text:
Text is a little word with a multitude of meanings and
shades of meaning, especially in academic writing.
In one sense text is just any written material. You can speak of
printed text or handwritten text.
Text is also used to refer to the written form or
part of something:
The text of a radio play is its written form.
The text of a computer document is the part that is words, without
pictures or other parts that are not words.
Plain text means the words without any
attributes. Attributes are elements that determine the appearance of the
text, like
bold
and
italics,
font
and size of print.
Plain text in a
computer file,
is
not a
text file
unless it is saved as a
text file.
The word text is not just used for the writing itself. It
is also used for books and
essays.
The course texts
are the books you are told to use to study it. The text of a
book is its main body, as distinct from any
notes, appendices, bibliography, index or pictures it
may have.
If someone speaks of the text of an essay you will need to work out
what they mean from what they are contrasting text with. For example, they
may mean:
- The essay as distinct from its bibliography and any notes or appendixes
- The
body
of the essay as distinct from
its
introduction
and
conclusion.
- The parts of the essay in the essay writer's own words, as distinct
from the
quotations.
Text can also mean the original words of an author or document, as
distinct from a commentary on them or the way someone has rewritten them.
Here, however, it is sensible to speak of original text, or
primary text.
User friendly:
Computer
software,
books or other
material written by someone who wants to be
understood by new users and readers.
User nasty:
Computer software, books or other material which is
very difficult to start using.
Sometimes the difficulty is because
there are real advantages to starting the hard way. The
books, for example may communicate more
sophisticated thought than is possible in plain English
and the software may give you more control over what
you are doing than simpler software.
Often it is because
no one can be bothered to do the hard work necessary
to make the material user friendly.
Study
links outside this site
Andrew Roberts' web Study Guide
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of
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© Andrew Roberts 3.1999 - 3.2001
Written by Andrew Roberts, but drawing on material written
by
Barry Jackson,
Chris Osborne,
Lisa Crivello
and others.
This qualifies the copyright notice.
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