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Disciplinary epistemologies, generic attributes and undergraduate academic writing in nursing and midwifery

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Abstract

Generic attributes such as ‘holding a critical stance’, ‘using evidence to support claims’, and ‘projecting an impersonal voice’ are central to disciplinary academic writing in higher education. These attributes, also referred to as ‘skills’, have for a long time been conceptualised as transferable in that once learnt students are able to use them in a variety of contexts and for a range of needs. Over the past few years, however, the conceptualisation of these attributes as transferable has come under close scrutiny as they have been identified to be highly context-sensitive rather than context-flexible as they were once thought to be. Drawing on data from a 2-year study on undergraduate academic writing in nursing and midwifery at a university in the UK, this paper critically examines the role of disciplinary epistemologies in the conceptualisation of these attributes in the two disciplines, and demonstrates how these beliefs help to shape academic writing at undergraduate level, thus contributing to debates on generic skills and attributes and specificity in disciplinary discourses. The paper concludes by highlighting the importance for writers to examine how knowledge is displayed, constructed and communicated in their disciplines, and the significance of analysing the relationship between disciplinary epistemologies, generic attributes and academic writing as a way of gaining access to and producing central discourses in their professional community.

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Notes

  1. Please see Kim (2010) and Munhall (2007) for detailed accounts of the history of nursing, and Donnison (2004) and Varney et al. (2004) for midwifery.

  2. ‘A levels’ are qualifications taken during the optional final 2 years of secondary education in the UK, ‘Access courses’ provide more mature students preparation for higher education and ‘AVCE’ is a qualification which allows students to continue into higher education or go into employment.

  3. All participants have been given pseudonyms.

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Acknowledgments

First and foremost I would like to thank the students and lecturers who participated in this study. Without their participation, time and dedication this paper would have never been possible. I am also grateful to Chris Bewley for her feedback on earlier versions of the paper and two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments which have made this a stronger paper. All other shortcomings remain my own.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for English Language Education, School of Education, University of Nottingham, Dearing Building, Jubilee, Nottingham, NG8 1BB, UK

    Julio Gimenez

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  1. Julio Gimenez
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Correspondence to Julio Gimenez.

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A version of this paper was presented at the University literacies: Knowledge, writing, disciplines international conference, Université Charles de Gaulle—Lille 3, France, 2–4 September, 2010.

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Gimenez, J. Disciplinary epistemologies, generic attributes and undergraduate academic writing in nursing and midwifery. High Educ 63, 401–419 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-011-9447-6

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