Writing for Social Scientists: How to Start and Finish Your Thesis, Book, or Article (Chicago Guides

Author by : Howard S. Becker
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 2020-09-01
Publisher by : University of Chicago Press

ISBN :

Description : The classic guide to avoiding pitfalls and achieving success in academic writing—in a fully updated edition with a new preface by the author. For decades, Writing for Social Scientists has been a lifeboat for academic writers of all fields, from beginning students to seasoned professionals. With reassuring candor, author and sociologist Howard S. Becker identifies some of the common problems all academic writers face, including from procrastination and stifling perfectionism to getting caught up in the trappings of “proper” academic writing, and struggling with the when and how of citations. He then offers concrete advice, based on his own experiences and those of his students and colleagues, for overcoming these obstacles and gaining confidence as a writer. This new edition has been updated throughout to reflect the contemporary landscape of academic writing, offering a new generation of scholars and students encouragement to write about society or any other scholarly topic clearly and persuasively. As academics are called upon to write more often, in more formats, Writing for Social Scientists continues be an important resource for any writer’s shelf....

Author by : Howard S. Becker
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 2008-11-15
Publisher by : University of Chicago Press

ISBN :

Description : 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....

Author by : Howard Saul Becker
Languange Used : de
Release Date : 2000-01
Publisher by :

ISBN :

Description : ...

Author by : Howard S. Becker
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 2020-09-01
Publisher by : University of Chicago Press

ISBN :

Description : For more than thirty years, Writing for Social Scientists has been a lifeboat for writers in all fields, from beginning students to published authors. It starts with a powerful reassurance: Academic writing is stressful, and even accomplished scholars like sociologist Howard S. Becker struggle with it. And it provides a clear solution: In order to learn how to write, take a deep breath and then begin writing. Revise. Repeat. This is not a book about sociological writing. Instead, Becker applies his sociologist’s eye to some of the common problems all academic writers face, including trying to get it right the first time, failing, and therefore not writing at all; getting caught up in the trappings of “proper” academic writing; writing to impress rather than communicate with readers; and struggling with the when and how of citations. He then offers concrete advice, based on his own experiences and those of his students and colleagues, for overcoming these obstacles and gaining confidence as a writer. While the underlying challenges of writing have remained the same since the book first appeared, the context in which academic writers work has changed dramatically, thanks to rapid changes in technology and ever greater institutional pressures. This new edition has been updated throughout to reflect these changes, offering a new generation of scholars and students encouragement to write about society or any other scholarly topic clearly and persuasively. As Becker writes in the new preface, “Nothing prepared me for the steady stream of mail from readers who found the book helpful. Not just helpful. Several told me the book had saved their lives; less a testimony to the book as therapy than a reflection of the seriousness of the trouble writing failure could get people into.” As academics are being called on to write more often, in more formats, the experienced, rational advice in Writing for Social Scientists will be an important resource for any writer’s shelf....

Author by : Howard S. Becker
Languange Used : de
Release Date : 2021-09-27
Publisher by : Hamburger Edition HIS

ISBN :

Description : Howard S. Becker erzählt auf persönliche und unterhaltsame Weise von Möglichkeiten, über Forschung nachzudenken und sie voranzutreiben. Dazu schöpft er aus seinem Erfahrungswissen. Die größten Feinde des soziologischen Denkens sind, so Howard S. Becker, Konventionen – soziale wie wissenschaftliche. Statt zu vertiefter Erkenntnis zu verhelfen, stehen sie ihr oft eher im Weg. Doch es gibt den einen oder anderen Trick, um Denkroutinen zu erkennen, zu überwinden oder zu umgehen. Wie kommen wir auf Ideen, wie an unsere Daten, welche Konzepte helfen uns weiter, wie machen wir unser Argument nicht nur nachvollziehbar, sondern verleihen ihm auch Überzeugungskraft? Becker versorgt uns mit Kniffen, die er und andere über die Jahre erprobt haben. Soziologische Tricks erlaubt es daher, Sozialforschung als Handwerk zu begreifen, ein Handwerk, das wie andere auch im fortwährenden Lösen von Problemen besteht. Becker arbeitet mit Beispielen, Geschichten und Modellen, an denen man sich orientieren kann, wenn man auf ein vergleichbares Problem stößt. Seine Tricks machen das Forschen freilich nicht zwingend leichter, denn es geht darum, Dinge anders oder aus einem anderen Blickwinkel zu betrachten, um neue Fragestellungen zu entdecken....

Author by : Robert Stimson
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 2014-07-31
Publisher by : Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN :

Description : The chapters in this book provide coverage of the theoretical underpinnings and methodologies that typify research using a Spatially Integrated Social Science (SISS) approach. This insightful Handbook is intended chiefly as a primer for students and bu...

Author by : Frederick T. L. Leong
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 2023-11-16
Publisher by : SAGE Publications

ISBN :

Description : In the Third Edition of The Psychology Research Handbook editors Frederick T. L. Leong and James T. Austin have assembled experienced expert researchers to provide graduate students and research assistants with a comprehensive framework for conducting many types of psychology research. The book is organized around the idea of a "research script," following the step-by-step process of research planning, design, data collection, analysis, and disseminating research. Many chapters are coauthored by advanced graduate students to give their fellow students a sense of real-world research, adding to the clarity and practicality of many chapters. Students and instructors alike will appreciate chapters on topics typically missing from introductory methods texts, including applying for research grants, dealing with journal editors and reviewers, working within research teams, and conducting cross-cultural research. Structures such as recommended readings and exercises guide students to develop and expand their research skills. New chapters include Power and Evidence, IRB as Critical Collaborators in Research, Alternative Data Collection Strategies, Structural Equation Modeling and Replicability and Reproducibility. A comprehensive, easy-to-understand guide to the entire research process, this book quickly and efficiently equips advanced students and research assistants to conduct a full research project....