How to Write a Cross-Disciplinary Research Paper

Academics have long been described as conducting research in the silos of their own disciplines. Cross-disciplinary research attempts to build bridges connecting these silos. For example, computer scientists have drawn on the work of psychologists to improve access to computers for nontechnical users. Building bridges between silos requires the construction of strong foundations. Cross-disciplinary research builds on existing research to create new insights. Writing a cross-disciplinary research paper requires pre-existing expertise in one or more disciplines or the ability to build such expertise.

Instructions

    • 1

      Identify a cross-disciplinary research question. An example of a cross-disciplinary research question is whether there are significant differences between the income aspirations of those living in rich and in poor countries. This research question is appropriate for cross-disciplinary research because poverty has been studied in the disciplines of economics, sociology, anthropology, politics and human geography.

    • 2

      Decide on the disciplines to include in your research. Cross-disciplinary research involves two or more disciplines. For example, writing a cross-disciplinary research paper on doping, or the use of performance enhancing drugs in sport, might include both the scientific and humanities disciplines. The scientific discipline contributes the knowledge of the probability of error in drug tests. The humanities discipline contributes the knowledge of how sporting organizations ought to use drug tests.

    • 3

      Familiarize yourself with the language, concepts, theory and research methods of each of your chosen disciplines. The same words can have both subtle and completely different meanings across disciplines.

    • 4

      Exercise patience in your research. New insights are not silo-bound and thereby more difficult to track across disciplines. Use the information from other disciplines to inform the question you asked from within your home discipline.

    • 5

      Recognize that some disciplines already move subtly between one another. For example, psychologists use insights from sociologists, and vice versa, to formulate integrated theories on the causes of criminal behavior.

    • 6

      Invent a document structure for your cross-disciplinary research paper that acknowledges differences in stylistic expectations between discipline areas. Inventing your own structure allows you to avoid favoring one disciplinary approach over another.

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