Writing For Social Scientists

Download or read book Writing for Social Scientists written by Howard S. Becker and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2008-11-15 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Students and researchers all write under pressure, and those pressures—most lamentably, the desire to impress your audience rather than to communicate with them—often lead to pretentious prose, academic posturing, and, not infrequently, writer’s block. Sociologist Howard S. Becker has written the classic book on how to conquer these pressures and simply write. First published nearly twenty years ago, Writing for Social Scientists has become a lifesaver for writers in all fields, from beginning students to published authors. Becker’s message is clear: in order to learn how to write, take a deep breath and then begin writing. Revise. Repeat. It is not always an easy process, as Becker wryly relates. Decades of teaching, researching, and writing have given him plenty of material, and Becker neatly exposes the foibles of academia and its “publish or perish” atmosphere. Wordiness, the passive voice, inserting a “the way in which” when a simple “how” will do—all these mechanisms are a part of the social structure of academic writing. By shrugging off such impediments—or at the very least, putting them aside for a few hours—we can reform our work habits and start writing lucidly without worrying about grades, peer approval, or the “literature.” In this new edition, Becker takes account of major changes in the computer tools available to writers today, and also substantially expands his analysis of how academic institutions create problems for them. As competition in academia grows increasingly heated, Writing for Social Scientists will provide solace to a new generation of frazzled, would-be writers.

Download or read book Learn to Write Badly written by Michael Billig and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-06-20 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Modern academia is increasingly competitive yet the writing style of social scientists is routinely poor and continues to deteriorate. Are social science postgraduates being taught to write poorly? What conditions adversely affect the way they write? And which linguistic features contribute towards this bad writing? Michael Billig's witty and entertaining book analyses these questions in a quest to pinpoint exactly what is going wrong with the way social scientists write. Using examples from diverse fields such as linguistics, sociology and experimental social psychology, Billig shows how technical terminology is regularly less precise than simpler language. He demonstrates that there are linguistic problems with the noun-based terminology that social scientists habitually use - 'reification' or 'nominalization' rather than the corresponding verbs 'reify' or 'nominalize'. According to Billig, social scientists not only use their terminology to exaggerate and to conceal, but also to promote themselves and their work.

Download or read book Salsa Dancing into the Social Sciences written by Kristin Luker and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-30 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is both a handbook for defining and completing a research project, and an astute introduction to the neglected history and changeable philosophy of modern social science.

Download or read book Tricks of the Trade written by Howard S. Becker and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2008-09-05 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on more than four decades of experience as a researcher and teacher, Howard Becker now brings to students and researchers the many valuable techniques he has learned. Tricks of the Trade will help students learn how to think about research projects. Assisted by Becker's sage advice, students can make better sense of their research and simultaneously generate fresh ideas on where to look next for new data. The tricks cover four broad areas of social science: the creation of the "imagery" to guide research; methods of "sampling" to generate maximum variety in the data; the development of "concepts" to organize findings; and the use of "logical" methods to explore systematically the implications of what is found. Becker's advice ranges from simple tricks such as changing an interview question from "Why?" to "How?" (as a way of getting people to talk without asking for a justification) to more technical tricks such as how to manipulate truth tables. Becker has extracted these tricks from a variety of fields such as art history, anthropology, sociology, literature, and philosophy; and his dazzling variety of references ranges from James Agee to Ludwig Wittgenstein. Becker finds the common principles that lie behind good social science work, principles that apply to both quantitative and qualitative research. He offers practical advice, ideas students can apply to their data with the confidence that they will return with something they hadn't thought of before. Like Writing for Social Scientists, Tricks of the Trade will bring aid and comfort to generations of students. Written in the informal, accessible style for which Becker is known, this book will be an essential resource for students in a wide variety of fields. "An instant classic. . . . Becker's stories and reflections make a great book, one that will find its way into the hands of a great many social scientists, and as with everything he writes, it is lively and accessible, a joy to read."—Charles Ragin, Northwestern University

Download or read book Successful Academic Writing written by Anneliese A. Singh and published by Guilford Publications. This book was released on 2017-05-09 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using rich examples and engaging pedagogical tools, this book equips students to master the challenges of academic writing in graduate school and beyond. The authors delve into nitty-gritty aspects of structure, style, and language, and offer a window onto the thought processes and strategies that strong writers rely on. Essential topics include how to: identify the audience for a particular piece of writing; craft a voice appropriate for a discipline-specific community of practice; compose the sections of a qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-methods research article; select the right peer-reviewed journal for submitting an article; and navigate the publication process. Readers are also guided to build vital self-coaching skills in order to stay motivated and complete projects successfully. User-Friendly Features *Exercises (with answers) analyzing a variety of texts. *Annotated excerpts from peer-reviewed journal articles. *Practice opportunities that help readers apply the ideas to their own writing projects. *Personal reflections and advice on common writing hurdles. *End-of-chapter Awareness and Action Reminders with clear steps to take.

Download or read book Telling About Society written by Howard S. Becker and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2007-11 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores the unconventional ways we communicate what we know about society to others. Becker explores the many ways knowledge about society can be shared and interpreted through different forms of telling—fiction, films, photographs, maps, even mathematical models—many of which remain outside the boundaries of conventional social science. Eight case studies, including the photographs of Walker Evans, the plays of George Bernard Shaw, the novels of Jane Austen and Italo Calvino, and the sociology of Erving Goffman, provide support for Becker’s argument: that every way of telling about society is perfect—for some purpose. The trick is, as Becker notes, to discover what purpose is served by doing it this way rather than that. From publisher description.

Download or read book Going Public written by Arlene Stein and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2017-02-21 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction: so you want to go public? -- Writing beyond the academy -- Telling stories about your research -- Books for general audiences -- The digital turn -- Building an audience -- The perils of going public -- Making it count, making a difference