ENGH 302 : Advanced Composition

What is your discipline?  Can you distinguish between your "field" and your "subject?"  The following definitions will help you understand the differences in these terms.

A discipline is "...an organized branch of human knowledge..."                                             Any examples?

An academic field  is "...a subject or group of related subjects studied in depth..."                What is your field?

A subject is  "...any topic of study or discussion..."                                                              What might this be?

SOURCE:    ABC-CLIO-ODLIS Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science

• Visit your department's website at Mason.  Find bios of scholars who are interested in the same field as you.  What are they publishing, and where are they publishing it?
• Look at the department website at another university for faculty bios.  What are they publishing, and where are they publishing it?
• Use the Journal Citation Reports database to find important journals in your field. Which journals in your area have the highest impact?  
• View the Mason Libraries Database Portal.  Find a subject that matches your interests.  What databases are listed here?
• Study the InfoGuides for your subject.  What resources have librarians featured here? 
• Search the University's website to find undergraduate research programs.
• Visit the library's home page of another university with a respectable program in your field.  Check out their subject guides for comparison.
• Locate relevant professional associations in the Associations Unlimited database.
• Visit the Careers & Jobs infoguide to get information about the different specialties in your field.  Try the Occupational Outlook Handbook or O*Net Online to learn more.