Workshop "The Invention and Structure of Definitions in Academic Texts"

Definitions are the linguistic timber that researchers, scholars, and writers use to undergird their arguments, theories, paradigms, theses, and claims. Definitions are like a building’s load bearing beam – the entire weight of a writer’s or scholar’s argument rests on them. Without the “load bearing definition,” the writer’s argument, like a building, would collapse. Writers use definitions to both invent and support arguments.

The workshop presents some basic rhetorical structures for definition. We will discuss and analyze scholarly writers’ use of definition in published articles.  The workshop provides researchers, graduate students, and instructors with exercises to practice drafting their own definitions.

Speaker: Dr. Melvin Hall has a Ph.D. in Composition and Rhetoric from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and has taught academic writing, argument, and critical thinking for over fifteen years, with an emphasis on the cultural role of rhetoric and comparative rhetoric. 

Target audience: HSE teachers, researchers, and graduate students
Language: English
Date & Time: October 31, 17:30 - 19:30
Location: online