Our second reading of the semester will build upon Prompt #2, drawing you to consider the expectations of academic audiences and how academic communities expect you to shift to accommodate their needs. This question concerning our relationship with academic norms (i.e. how we are expected to perform in academic settings) lies at the heart of David Bartholomae’s “Inventing the University”
Bartholomae focuses upon what is to be expected of new students entering the university, particularly whether new students should adapt to and take on the styles of writing and performance of the disciplines they plan to enter.
For your Summary Synthesis response you can use the following guiding questions to help you summarize the reading (these are only guiding questions, if they’re helpful use them, if they’re constricting then ignore them):
1) What does it mean for students to “invent the university.” What are students inventing when they write for university audiences?
2) According to Bartholomae, what must writers/people do when they become new members of a community? (Will the community shift to accommodate them or are new members expected to change for the community?)
3) How does Bartholomae frame incoming students? (How does he distinguish between “skilled” and “unskilled” (In your Synthesis you might consider whether this distinction is fair, and whether it applies to you).
