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Required undergraduate diversity courses often expose students to topics and worldviews which may push them out of their comfort zones and prompt dissonance and even resistance. This paper reports on interviews with 68 faculty members across 16 humanities and social science disciplines at five predominantly white institutions in the Southern United States, detailing how they navigated discussion of controversial topics in required diversity courses. Most instructors aimed to expose students to critical social issues yet were concerned that resistance could disturb the learning process. We identified 20 unique strategies for handling controversial topics in class that included proactively establishing community and safety and normalizing conflict, and reactively acknowledging and surfacing multiple perspectives, as well as connecting content to students' lived experiences. Some instructors also reported a lack of controversy or conflict in their classrooms, which they variously attributed to student characteristics or their own disinclination to promote heated discussion - which, we argue, calls into question the breadth and criteria of many institutionally defined diversity course requirements. We conclude the paper with implications for faculty, educational developers, administrators, and institutions.

The humanities and social sciences (HSS) have recently witnessed an exponential growth in data-driven research. In response, attention has been afforded to datasets and accompanying data papers as outputs of the research and dissemination ecosystem. In 2015, two data journals dedicated to HSS disciplines appeared in this landscape: Journal of Open Humanities Data (JOHD) and Research Data Journal for the Humanities and Social Sciences (RDJ). In this paper, we analyse the state of the art in the landscape of data journals in HSS using JOHD and RDJ as exemplars by measuring performance and the deep impact of data-driven projects, including metrics (citation count; Altmetrics, views, downloads, tweets) of data papers in relation to associated research papers and the reuse of associated datasets. Our findings indicate: that data papers are published following the deposit of datasets in a repository and usually following research articles; that data papers have a positive impact on both the metrics of research papers associated with them and on data reuse; and that Twitter hashtags targeted at specific research campaigns can lead to increases in data papers’ views and downloads. HSS data papers improve the visibility of datasets they describe, support accompanying research articles, and add to transparency and the open research agenda.

This paper describes a process for guiding students through the writing of a Professional Philosophy of Recreation Paper and a one-page philosophy statement suitable for use in students' professional portfolios. The authors describe how the review of recreation education literature, scholarship on teaching and learning, and assessment of student learning were used over a 12-year period to arrive at the present design for course content, delivery methods, and the Professional Philosophy of Recreation Paper assignment. Over time it was discovered that exposing students to the humanities (e.g., philosophy, literature, film) as a complement to science (e.g., positive psychology, social cognitive theory, evidence-based benefits) was more effective for meeting learning outcomes than merely philosophy and theory alone. The authors also describe how assessment of The Professional Philosophy of Recreation Paper provides evidence that students are meeting standard 7.01 for accreditation under the 2013 COAPRT Learning Outcomes Standards. (Contains 1 table.)

This paper replicates models developed by previous research to study the effects of graduate education on new graduates' initial employment in the Japanese labor market. If education is the best investment for an individual's economic success, then graduate degrees are expected to provide an individual with higher-earning job opportunities. Despite this reasonable economic premise, previous research showed that master's degrees in the humanities or social sciences in Japan have, in fact, a negative impact on obtaining initial employment compared to those with only a bachelor's degree in the humanities or social sciences. This previous research, however, could not overcome omitted variable bias because of data limitations. Omitted variable bias is a key problem for research on education; therefore, this study uses new longitudinal data to overcome omitted variable bias and clearly demonstrate the robustness of these earlier findings. The empirical results of this study corroborate earlier work, showing that master's degrees in the humanities or social sciences do not provide graduate students with an advantage in obtaining initial employment, after controlling for potential bias. At the same time, this study also confirms that natural science majors have a higher probability of obtaining initial employment in comparison with humanities or social science majors. In other words, this paper offers a valid replication of existing research. This shows that the Japanese labor market structure for graduate students has, in essence, remained the same since previous research was completed.

While scholars have found that undergraduate involvement in research is beneficial, the lack of such experiences in the social sciences and humanities is glaring. This paper analyzes how an emphasis on community through cohort models impacts undergraduate student experience in research, taking from the Emerging Scholars Program, an interdisciplinary research program where cohorts of undergraduates are matched with faculty and attend meetings, workshops, and presentations together. We find that the cohort model created a robust community that fosters positive relationships that develop professional skills and emotional support, allowing students to collaborate and aim more toward their professional goals. The results from this study offer valuable insights into how universities can ensure that students have meaningful research experience beyond the classroom.

In an uncertain labour market, the questions around the employability of graduate students take on a new urgency. Fears about the graduate market in the coming years are acute and are compounded by a sense that there is a large disconnect between a university education and what is expected in the workplace. Australian labour market trends clearly demonstrate that the skills most in demand by Australian graduate employers are precisely the transferrable skills which are honed by doing a HASS degree at the university. However, HASS academics do not usually talk about the skills and attributes students are gaining during their university studies and how this is useful in the workplace. Creating this awareness in both staff and students is immensely important for future graduates to survive and excel beyond university. Based on focus groups, interviews, and student-led projects over the last three years, this paper explores how to balance the need to engage with deep disciplinary knowledge with the understanding that this knowledge is only useful in the real world if accompanied by explicit skills. By using a case study, this paper showcases how to articulate skills and knowledge to HASS students to prepare for workforce. Furthermore, it focusses on how graduate attributes and learning outcomes can be connected from assessment tasks to classroom teaching.

In this paper, this theme of the open question is offered as a hermeneutical approach to problem-based learning. Most of the scientific literature on problem-based learning is in the realm of the behavioral-sciences. To the extent that the latter becomes the exclusive focus of research on problem-based learning, there is a risk of instrumentalization. The hermeneutical approach of this paper is meant to complement this field of research. The subjects of humanities research are not directly available to a humanities scholar, at least not in the way experimental subjects are to a natural scientist. This is Wilhelm Dilthey's epoch-making understanding of the humanities in a nutshell. Philosophical anthropologist Helmuth Plessner, drawing on Dilthey, extends this insight to the historicity of human existence as such, summarizing the latter as an 'open question' that is always impressing itself upon us as human beings, but which at the same time cannot be answered definitively. It is through this process of asking and answering that we leave behind a history in the first place. I use these arguments to show that the theme of the open question yields a series of interconnected educational insights: notably the importance of subjectification, the social and historical context within which education necessarily takes place, and the construction of new knowledge and experience. These educational insights are rendered explicit and put into practice in problem-based learning. I hope in this way to develop a research perspective on problem-based learning as not only a set of behaviors, but as the scene of meaningful action.

The Bologna Process represents the most significant extensive reform of higher education in Europe. The particular aspects of the Bologna Process still incite critical evaluations as regards the successfulness of its implementation. The theoretical part of the paper analyzes the fundamental principles defined in the Bologna Declaration, requirements and critical views of the Bologna Process, as well as the relevant research conducted on this issue used for the comparative analysis. The introduction of the Bologna Process into the Serbian university education has initiated numerous changes, the increase of the student mobility being the most striking one. The empirical part of the paper focuses on the study of the following problem: the manner in which students of social sciences and humanities perceive the Bologna Process fifteen years after its implementation into the Serbian university education. Consequently, the subject matter of the research is the observation and description of students' attitudes to this phenomenon with the purpose of acquiring relevant information "firsthand." The achievable objective of the presented research reviews the context and condition of the Bologna Process during 2019/2020 academic year and its feasible improvements, which can contribute to comparative study of similar researches in the time of the pandemics. The specific research tasks include the study of the Bologna requirements, attitudes to the Bologna Process, benefits and restrictions of this reform, and particularly the attempt to suggest the improvement of the Bologna Process realization from the perspective of students of social sciences and humanities. The research sample consisted of the Bachelor students of social sciences and humanities from the Faculty of Philosophy in Niš (N=150). The survey technique and the scaling technique with a rating scale questionnaire were used (BOL-JM-JOZ). The questionnaire had five closed-ended questions, while the Likert scale was comprised of 23 items. The test of the instrument consistency proved its reliability. The obtained results were shown by the chi square test, which proved a statistically significant difference in the respondents' answers as regards the year of study, p<0.05. The main factors were extracted from the assessment scale by the application of the factor analysis. These factors examined the students' perceptions of the Bologna Process, comparing the answers provided by the students of the first, second, third and fourth year of study of social sciences and humanities, p<0.05.

Out of East Asian languages which do not use the Latin alphabet, Japanese is a very complicated writing system that uses “kanji,” which are ideograms, and “kana,” which are phonetic characters. Most of the Japanese papers published so far using Journal Article Tag Suite (JATS) are science, technology, and medicine fields adapting horizontal writing systems, which are structurally consistent with English papers. Most of them only replace Latin letters with Japanese characters. In this presentation, we suggested method of presenting vertically oriented Japanese humanities articles in JATS XML. For vertical description of Chinese numeric, we would like to propose the introduction of an element which specifies description direction. Alternatively, could be used as a hidden command when creating a document. We propose the following notation in the part of the number that can be converted: 六五. Chinese numeric 六五 is a Arabic numeric 65. With this, it is shown that 六五 of Chinese numerals can be converted to 65 in Arabic numerals. For vertical text description with JATS, we would like to suggest adding @ writing-mode as an attribute to :. Furthermore, note and references should be differentiated for example, between a and a in the future. As Kanji are ideograms, there are variations that cannot be expressed with UTF-8. If these difficult Kanji are included in the JATS text, it will be necessary to decide on their description method. For the propagation of use of JATS XML for non-Latin characters articles, the structure of the document for example, vertical description, and special presentation should be considered more widely.

Copyright of Digital Studies / Champ Numérique is the property of Open Library of Humanities and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper critically reviews the research done in education faculties in Nigerian universities. This research, though categorized in postgraduate schools or colleges as mainly in the liberal arts/humanities and the social sciences, depends on the theories and methodologies from other disciplines. The arts and social sciences are disciplines where undergraduates in education take courses in teaching to earn bachelor's degrees, the postgraduate level offers varied opportunities for educational research to maximize the uniqueness of mixed method research for education.

The inspiration for this collection of papers lies in a 2016 conversation with Miren Egana Goya, linguist and historian in Donostia--San Sebastian, in which she expressed the desire to tell [...]

Humanities and social sciences studies in Korea have remarkably low rates of co-authorship between professors and students. We chose a bibliometrics-based approach to characterize changes in the ratio of joint authorship between professors and students. Articles classified in the humanities and social sciences sectors that were published in journals registered in the Korean Citation Index during 2 phases over a 10-year period—2004 to 2006 (phase 1) and 2011 to 2013 (phase 2)—were used as the main source for the analysis. The study results can be summarized as follows: first, the overall number of co-authored articles drastically increased from phase 1 to phase 2; the percentage of co-authorship articles increased from 34.8% to 47.7%, and the percentage of co-authorship between students and professors rose from 9.9% to 20.7%. This trend was particularly noticeable in the social sciences, such as accounting, social welfare, and economics/business administration. Second, papers written by scholars from Seoul National University, Yonsei University, and Korea University were often published in high-impact factor journals. Among those articles, the rate of professor-student co-authorship increased by 21.6% for 7 years. Third, the increase in professor-student co-authored articles published in high- impact factor journals was even sharper. These findings indicate that perceptions of professor-student co-authorship have changed in the humanities and social sciences. In the near future, positive perceptions toward joint research and joint authorship between professors and students are expected to become more widespread.

A copy of a letter addressed 'to the right honourable Charles, Earle of Nottingham' is preserved in a manuscript collection in the library of Christ Church College, Oxford. (1) The [...]

The study deals with teaching Russian as a non-native language to Kazakh students from linguistic and cultural positions. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the efficiency of adapting the integrated technology of mastering a non-native language based on the psycholinguistic analysis of the basic values. As the research methods, the study employs the association experiment and Karaulov's matrix of the "semantic gestalt" along with the classic linguodidactic attitudes; based on these methods the study provides the commentary of the associative fields with the valuably marked incentives. Such material being used will promote the actual development of the basic ideological values with the students. The theoretical and experimental content of the paper testifies to the effectiveness of the integrative methods in teaching Russian as a non-native language. The materials of the Free Association Experiment are presented in the comparative commentary of the semantic gestalt stimulus "Azhe -- Grandmother"; the latter represents in the linguistic consciousness of Kazakhs and Russians the significance of the concept under study in the system of the basic human values in the lexical-semantic group "Kinship relations". The conclusion postulated in the paper is as follows: the heuristic potential of the complex usage of the psycholinguistic (associative) and linguodidactic innovations is included in the process of developing a non-native language. The results of the study allow speaking about the expediency and prospects of further integration of the selected material into the study of the humanities at school and university.

Initial Teacher Education (ITE) reform in Australia has mandated that graduating teachers demonstrate their practice and 'impact' through the completion of a Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA) prior to graduation. The requirement to analyse 'impact' in teaching, requires a nuanced understanding of what 'impact' is and how it manifests in varied contemporary classrooms. This paper reports on how a sample of high-performing pre-service teachers from one Australian ITE institution, within a framework devised by Australia's largest TPA consortium, appraised the impact of their teaching in the context of the disciplinary area of Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS). How 'impact' was articulated through GTPA submissions revealed data-informed and holistic interpretations layered to include opportunistic teaching moments and relational and affective impact as well as analysis of cognitive progress. The paper also identifies ways in which analysis of impact might be further finessed with greater attention to pedagogical content knowledge and discipline-specific progression.

This essay argues for the urgent need for philosophy as the necessary first step in any educational undertaking. Philosophy is involved with making fine distinctions which are necessary to clarify concepts and terms. The paper focuses primarily on the problems with an overreliance on scientific research in the social sciences, with special emphasis on the dangers posed in educational research. Three specific problems are identified. First, the emphasis on scientific research downgrades non-scientific research, which may be more appropriate as modes of inquiry in many aspects of education. Second, the emphasis on scientific research distorts research in areas such as the arts and humanities because individual success as a scholar is largely measured by criteria that make sense in the natural sciences but not necessarily in the arts. Third, and most significantly, the paper questions whether social action and interaction can be investigated in a truly scientific manner. [This paper was presented at "Philosophical Issues in Education: A Symposium in Honour" of Dr. Robin Barrow, held at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, B.C. on November 2, 2018.]

Collaborative research is one of the most noteworthy trends in the development of scientific research, and co-authored papers are some of the most important results of this research. With the speed-up of globalization, wider adoption of computers and advanced communication technologies, and more frequent academic exchanges and co-operation, collaborative research across organizations, regions, and fields has provided greater access to Chinese researchers in the humanities and social sciences. Accordingly, co-authored papers have witnessed considerable growth in number and proportion. The Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) and the Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI), published by the Institute for Scientific Information (USA), enjoy a high reputation worldwide as large-scale and comprehensive retrieval systems for international large comprehensive papers and citations. This article aims to reveal the trends of Chinese collaborative research in the humanities and social sciences from the perspective of bibliometrics and offer advice for Chinese researchers and managers in these fields, by analyzing Chinese co-authored papers in the humanities and social sciences indexed in the SSCI and A&HCI in the last decade (1995-2004).

Maria Kurdi and Antal Bokay (editors), Focus: Papers in English Literary and Cultural Studies. Pecs: University of Pecs, 2002. 149 pages. No price given. Michael Boss and Irene Gilsenan Nordin [...]

Oxford: Oxbow Books, 2001. Pp. xiii + 368. For its quadrennial meeting in 1987 the Viking Congress chose to focus on the Danelaw, an obvious choice since, beginning in the [...]

This paper focuses on exploring the intellectual basis for establishing an academic development program for international doctoral students in social sciences and humanities in Central Europe so as to cultivate a reflective scholarly approach to teaching early on in their academic career. The program conceptions and practices are embedded in the notion that a scholarly approach to teaching integrates the understanding and demonstration of knowledge about teaching and necessitates a continuous learning process about teaching through reflection and through conducting research on teaching in the various disciplines. In particular, taking on board the domains of teaching knowledge which derived from the kinds of reflections on teaching (cf. Kreber & Cranton, 2000; Mezirow, 1991), instructional, pedagogical and curricular knowledge and continuous reflection at the level of content, process as well as premise, are represented in an integrative manner in our overarching program principles and pedagogical strategies. As we see, professionalization of doctoral students' teaching practice in higher education (cf. Lueddeke, 2003) is particularly important in the context of enhanced faculty mobility and internationalization. Therefore, this paper aims to contribute to the literature and practice on establishing academic development programs, especially in academic environments with low institutional support for teaching and lack of formal requirements for professional development.

Nancy Earle, ed., Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada 48, 1 (Spring 2010). Special Issue: 'Book Culture in Newfoundland and Labrador.' ISBN 0067-6896.IN HER INTRODUCTION to this special issue [...]

Paul Stiff, ed. Typography Papers 6. London: Hyphen Press, 2005. 156 pp. illus. bibl. $40. ISBN: 0-907259-29-4. The title of Typography Papers is misleading, since its interests range far beyond [...]

David R. Carlson, ed. John Skelton and Early Modern Culture: Papers Honoring Robert S. Kinsman. Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies 300. Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, [...]

A growing body of literature recognizes the importance of examining research article (RA) abstracts in particular disciplines. RA abstracts, after titles, are the first mini texts that readers may encounter in a scientific paper. Abstracts, therefore, determine the value of the paper and categorize them as good or vague. The present contrastive study aims to investigate the rhetorical organization of RA abstracts published in native and non-native English-speaking countries. It adopts Hyland's (2000) rhetorical structure model: introduction, purpose, method, product, and conclusion. A corpus of eighty RA abstracts written in the fields of humanities (education and sociology) and science (electronics and agronomy) and published in Ecuadorian and American journals between the periods of 2010-2016 constitutes the target data for the analysis. The results show rhetorical variation in the construction of RA abstracts across the four disciplines. These abstracts followed a non-hierarchical five move structure with three stable moves, as of M2, M3, and M4 sections. Research findings add to the claim that in academic writing, different discursive conventions and discourse community practices influence writers' preferred rhetoric and composing patterns.

The scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) defines itself as an inclusive field of study, and scholars have long lauded its ability to engage academics from each and every discipline. Yet SoTL's research culture has long been dominated by a narrow conception of social science. As a result, the lived experience of scholars from other disciplines, particularly the humanities, is one of engaged alienation. The borders created by SoTL's research paradigm are invisible to those within and somewhat impenetrable to those who are othered by virtue of their disciplinary identities. This paper interrogates the contradictions between SoTL's espoused values and values-in-use.

The paradigm on which a methodological approach is developed determines the situations in which its application will be most appropriate. The quantitative approach implies a positivist paradigm, the basis of which is cause-and-effect relationships, as well as the questioning and verifying of existing theories. Positivism aims to prove that phenomena from the field of social sciences and humanities are equally subject to measurement as natural phenomena. That assumption is also the epicenter of criticism directed at positivism, from which, in addition to its strengths, post-positivism developed, characterized by more flexible views on absolute objectivity. The aim of this paper is focused on the analysis of the basis of the quantitative approach, the possibilities and limitations of the positivist paradigm and the post-positivist paradigm that overcomes the limitations of positivism. The tasks are as follows: 1. Define the concept of paradigm and its role in pedagogical research, 2. Determine the connection between the positivist and post-positivist paradigms and the quantitative approach, 3. Analyze the strengths and limitations of positivism and post-positivism and the possibilities of overcoming its weaknesses. The authors applied the theoretical method with content analysis and accepted the facts and ideas of positivism as the primary paradigm for researching educational reality. They state that post-positivism is intuitive and holistic, flexible in research, while positivism is based on solid facts that are objective and do not depend on subjective interpretation.

Michael Pincombe, ed. Travels and Translations in the Sixteenth Century: Selected Papers from the Second International Conference of the Tudor Symposium (2000). Studies in European Cultural Transition 20. Aldershot and [...]

Partaking in the editorial process of an academic journal is both a challenging and rewarding experience. It takes a village of dedicated individuals with a vested interest in the dissemination and sharing of high-quality research outputs. As members of the editorial team of an open access data journal, we reflect on the emergence of data-driven open research, a new journal genre (data paper), and a new journal type (data journal) in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (AHSS). Access to data—the currency of empirical research—is valuable to the research community, crucial to scientific integrity, and leads to cumulative advancements in knowledge. It therefore requires significant investment and appropriate venues for dissemination. We illustrate the necessity of raising awareness about data-driven open research and best practices in data-driven publishing. We discuss how it involves building a community of authors and readers, establishing a company of editors, reviewers, and support staff, and passing on the practice, which has been challenging the status quo in research and publishing. Potential future directions are considered, including data peer review and reward, recognition, and funding structures for data sharing.

Thomas A. Brady, Katherine G. Brady, and Susan C. Karant-Nunn, eds. The Work of Heiko A. Oberman: Papers from the Symposium on His Seventieth Birthday. Leiden and Boston: Brill Academic [...]

PNM Series: Studies in Archaeology & History 4. Copenhagen: The National Museum, 1999. Pp. 261. With some few exceptions, these twenty-five papers, now published in well-documented and illustrated form, are [...]

The study of the popularization of science sheds light on how particular ethnic and religious communities engage with science. To gain a properly nuanced view, this study must extend to [...]

Virtual Reality (VR) is a computer-generated environment with noteworthy didactic applications in different educational levels and areas of knowledge. The study of the perceptions of the agents involved about the use of VR in lectures is a fruitful line of research because it has implications in terms of the measures to be taken to improve the training and competence of professors in its use. In this paper, a quantitative, descriptive, and correlational research is carried out on the assessments of a sample of 1638 Latin American university professors on both (i) the didactic use of VR and (ii) the influence of the professors' area of knowledge on these assessments. For this purpose, a validated questionnaire was used, the responses to which were subjected to statistical analysis. As a result, it was found that the ratings of VR are very high, but professors believe that their digital skills for its use are insufficient. In addition, the professors' area of knowledge significantly influences their ratings, being higher in the areas of knowledge in which professors have a better self-concept of their digital skills. Furthermore, gender gaps have also been identified in the answers given, which behave differently according to the area of knowledge. Finally, some conclusions, implications, and recommendations are drawn from the results obtained.

One of the most important tasks of higher educational institutions is the training of specialists to be able to adapt to changes in their professional life. At the end of the twentieth and the beginning of the 21st centuries, some methods for developing foreign language competence, needed for their future professional activity, were created by teachers. However, the effectiveness of these methods has not been studied. This fact has aroused the authors' interest and generated the idea about the necessity to conduct scientific research in order to identify the most effective methods of teaching foreign languages for special purposes. Methods: The given research paper is based on the analysis of Russian and foreign scholars' scientific works covering the problem of teaching foreign languages for special purposes to the students of humanitarian professions, as well as on the basis of the results from questioning students of bachelor degree programs who study foreign languages for special purposes in the field of humanitarian professions, and also of the results from questioning teachers specializing in teaching foreign languages for special purposes. Results: In the students' opinion, the most effective methods of teaching foreign languages for special purposes in the field of humanitarian professions are the following: discussion, ICT (information and communication technologies), and SCRUM (framework that helps teams work together, encourages team to learn through on a problem). According to the interviewed teachers' opinion, the most effective methods are discussion, ICT, and round table. The "dilemma" method is the least effective according to the students. As for the teachers, the less effective method is CLIL (content and language integrated learning). Conclusions: The study showed some common views among teachers and students concerning the effectiveness of methods of teaching foreign languages for professional purposes, such as discussion and ICT. The effectiveness of the discussion method is explained by the fact that it allows the integration of students' knowledge from different areas when solving a problem and provides an opportunity to apply language knowledge and skills into practice. This contributes to forming students' ability to think clearly, to perceive information critically, to highlight the main idea and find the means and arguments to confirm and substantiate it, and, consequently, to improve the understanding of any theoretical material. The use of ICT in the educational process allows the efficiency of the educational process itself to be improved significantly and leads to new approaches and organizational forms of educational work. In fact, while preparing educational programs and creating didactic materials, special attention should be given to the implementation of ICT methods and discussions in educational activities. Nevertheless, the respondents' subjective opinion should not reduce the scientific value and effectiveness of other methods of teaching a foreign language for professional purposes. The authors of the paper believe that methods that have not found much support from students and teachers should be studied more thoroughly and carefully. To this end, it could be recommended to organize special training seminars that would allow teachers to be informed of new methods of teaching foreign languages for professional purposes, of their particularities, and to help their active implementation in the learning process.

Ross Bleckner, 1986-96, watercolor on paper. Courtesy Mary Boone Gallery and Ross Bleckner [...]

In author attribution studies function words or lexical measures are often used to differentiate the authors' textual fingerprints. These studies can be thought of as quantifying the texts, representing the text with measured variables that stand for specific textual features. The resulting quantifications, while proven useful for statistically differentiating among the texts, bear no resemblance to the understanding a human reader--even an astute one--would develop while reading the texts. In this paper we present an attribution study that, instead, characterizes the texts according to the representational language choices of the authors, similar to a way we believe close human readers come to know a text and distinguish its rhetorical purpose. From our automated quantification of The Federalist papers, it is clear why human readers find it impossible to distinguish the authorship of the disputed papers. Our findings suggest that changes occur in the processes of rhetorical invention when undertaken in collaborative situations. This points to a need to re-evaluate the premise of autonomous authorship that has informed attribution studies of The Federalist case. Key words: authorities attribution, collaboration, federalist papers, statistics

The database Profil has been set up to offer readers studying modern literary manuscripts a reference tool to identify watermarked papers. In the study of writers' drafts as in artists' sketches, the different kinds of papers used provide valuable information on the genesis of a work of art and watermarks, when they exist, are the best visible hint allowing us to identify paper. A multimedia database, with digitized images more precise than usual traced design, seems to be appropriate to register, visualize, and compare modern watermarked papers. Besides its usefulness for specialists, such a database bearing on modern manuscripts should also be conceived in a didactic perspective, as it is oriented towards literary scholars who are not particularly familiar with the history of modern paper. In this paper we present the database Profil which includes a set of digitized images from a collection of betagraphies made by the reproduction service of the National French Library. Then we explain problems of database normalization when human sciences are involved. Key words: betagraphy, codicology, database, image, watermarked paper