To explore and become familiar with your discipline; to prepare you for your major researched essay.
You might begin by considering the following questions:
• What are the discipline's fundamental assumptions or driving questions?
• Are they stable or in a state of change?
• What would you say constitutes a "fact" in this discipline?
• What do you consider objective and subjective data?
• Does the discipline use experience and/or observation as evidence? If so, how?
• What are the discipline's fundamental methods of inquiry?
• What kinds of careers are typically open to students with this major?
• What kinds of writing and research might they do in those careers?