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Introduction to Interdisciplinary Studies
This book provides instructors and students in entry-level interdisciplinary courses and thematic programs with a comprehensive introduction to interdisciplinary studies. Authors Allen F. Repko, Rick Szostak, and Michelle Phillips Buchberger introduce students to the cognitive process that interdisciplinarians use to approach complex problems and eventually arrive at more comprehensive understandings of them. Students learn how to think like interdisciplinarians, understand interdisciplinary processes, and assess the quality of their own work. Changes to the Fourth Edition include revised content on epistemology and methods, more on integrative strategies, reordering of some chapters, new assignment ideas, and new examples which include student examples and insights from the latest scholarly works.
An instructor website at includes PowerPoints, a test bank, and figures and tables from the book.
An instructor website at includes PowerPoints, a test bank, and figures and tables from the book.
400 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 2013
33 people are currently reading
67 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 29, 2017
The other seemed angry.
November 18, 2020
Clear direction on interdisciplinary studies. The chapters are formatted well and are a good length. I had to read this for a class, but felt I got a lot out of the book.
May 7, 2023
Had to read for my Interdisciplinary Capstone Course (IDS 490). Graduating on Friday, May 12! So excited & happy!
September 10, 2016
Three strengths of the text book are as follows.
I like how the text illustrates complex ideas and outlines them in diagram form quite well. I am a visual learner and as such I like to see complex ideas illustrated out in diagram form. I thought the diagrams were thought-provoking and well done in conveying the concepts of the book. I especially liked and used Table 5.4 on pages 222 and 223 of the text explaining the categories, disciplines and phenomena they study.
Complex theoretical ideas explained in accessible ways and simple terms making it easily digestible and understandable. I felt the author did a great job of thoroughly explaining interdisciplinary study and its different aspects.
The book was well written (in grammar and flow); it has some nice examples and rubrics to help people who struggle with identifying interdisciplinary work. Being my first class in a long time as a student, I felt the text was quite simple to read with nice illustrations. I also feel it is important to keep the budget of text books low with little to no use of color. The author used just enough so as not to increase the cost, but make certain elements stand out.
The weaknesses of the text are as follows.
While I appreciated the simplicity of the text, sometimes I wanted it to be more complex. I felt like it took the author many, many words to convey a simple point. I would have liked more real-world illustrations and stories and examples on points and less redundancy and repetition.
Perhaps it's my business background which makes interdisciplinary ideas of cross subject integration a necessity when solving problems, but I felt like some of the ideas and concepts were so widely used within the business setting that they were not necessarily a new concept. I can see where in an academic setting the ideas, research, etc., would be more single disciplinary; but in a business setting, it is critical when achieving a goal. If you want to be successful in a business environment, it is even a must! In any given week, you are using multi-disciplines to solve challenges. In that respect, I felt it was somewhat trite.
Probably the biggest weakness, at times, I felt, the author seemed pretentious and almost to be patting himself on the back for studying something other than his chosen discipline. I will admit, I had the occasional eye-roll as I read about the author’s experiences of using interdisciplinary objectivity in completing tasks, projects and research. Like I said before in a business setting, you have to look at challenges from as many perspectives as you can. I understand specialties in education, but I think the lines of interdisciplinary are crossed more and more, and it is not a unique concept.
I like how the text illustrates complex ideas and outlines them in diagram form quite well. I am a visual learner and as such I like to see complex ideas illustrated out in diagram form. I thought the diagrams were thought-provoking and well done in conveying the concepts of the book. I especially liked and used Table 5.4 on pages 222 and 223 of the text explaining the categories, disciplines and phenomena they study.
Complex theoretical ideas explained in accessible ways and simple terms making it easily digestible and understandable. I felt the author did a great job of thoroughly explaining interdisciplinary study and its different aspects.
The book was well written (in grammar and flow); it has some nice examples and rubrics to help people who struggle with identifying interdisciplinary work. Being my first class in a long time as a student, I felt the text was quite simple to read with nice illustrations. I also feel it is important to keep the budget of text books low with little to no use of color. The author used just enough so as not to increase the cost, but make certain elements stand out.
The weaknesses of the text are as follows.
While I appreciated the simplicity of the text, sometimes I wanted it to be more complex. I felt like it took the author many, many words to convey a simple point. I would have liked more real-world illustrations and stories and examples on points and less redundancy and repetition.
Perhaps it's my business background which makes interdisciplinary ideas of cross subject integration a necessity when solving problems, but I felt like some of the ideas and concepts were so widely used within the business setting that they were not necessarily a new concept. I can see where in an academic setting the ideas, research, etc., would be more single disciplinary; but in a business setting, it is critical when achieving a goal. If you want to be successful in a business environment, it is even a must! In any given week, you are using multi-disciplines to solve challenges. In that respect, I felt it was somewhat trite.
Probably the biggest weakness, at times, I felt, the author seemed pretentious and almost to be patting himself on the back for studying something other than his chosen discipline. I will admit, I had the occasional eye-roll as I read about the author’s experiences of using interdisciplinary objectivity in completing tasks, projects and research. Like I said before in a business setting, you have to look at challenges from as many perspectives as you can. I understand specialties in education, but I think the lines of interdisciplinary are crossed more and more, and it is not a unique concept.
May 3, 2014
Moderately helpful, but there are so many better ways to learn this stuff.
June 15, 2015
Very good resource for learning the interdisciplinary approach to education. Great text for learning about interdisciplinary research and writing!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews