Scholarship is Like a Conversation

You engage in different conversations everyday, such as a simple chat with a store clerk or a casual debate with a friend over the merits of a new movie you both saw over the weekend. The content and structure of these conversations vary depending on many things, such as who is in the conversation, the topic, and the purpose of the conversation. Everyday conversations are short, lasting less than a day.

Scholars also have conversations. The conversations scholars have are different as they are formally structured. Though scholars often present initial work at a conference or other venue, traditionally the conversations consist of written products, such as published academic papers or books. Scholarly conversations go on for years.

In this lesson, you will learn to identify strategies to discover more recent, contemporary contributions to a scholarly conversation.