ERIC Number: ED235495
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1983
Pages: 19
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Early Developments in Argumentation in Physics.
Bazerman, Charles
An evaluation of four seventeenth and eighteenth century essays on optics revealed early trends in the evolution of scientific articles. The later articles showed a growing tendency to (1) separate practice from pure knowledge, (2) organize information around problems of knowledge and theory rather than around chronological events, (3) emphasize the rhetorical focus of the experimental design and report, and (4) accept individual responsibility for research results. In addition, the later works differed from the earlier ones in their methods of persuasion. They no longer used ostentatious descriptions of single observations, but presented plain narratives of repeated observations; they emphasized the accuracy of their theories not by relying on self-evident truths but by devising experiments to prove their theoretical points; and they stressed the importance of their findings by showing how their research contributed to the advancement of knowledge rather than by suggesting its practical significance. This development of argumentative patterns continues, in a more advanced form, in contemporary research. (MM)
Publication Type: Information Analyses; Opinion Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Researchers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A