Writing texts in the social sciences

Page contents:

  • Style in the social sciences

  • The literature review

Perhaps because the social sciences share concerns with both the humanities and the sciences, the forms of writing within the social sciences are particularly varied, including summaries, abstracts, literature reviews, reaction pieces, position papers, radio scripts, briefing notes, book reviews, briefs, research papers, quantitative research reports, case studies, ethnographic analyses, and meta-analyses. You may find such an array of writing assignments overwhelming, but in fact these assignments can be organized under five main categories:

Many forms of writing in the social sciences call either explicitly or implicitly for argument. If you write an essay that reports on the results of a survey you developed about attitudes toward physician-assisted suicide among students on your campus, you will make an explicit argument about the significance of your data. But even with other forms of writing, such as summaries and book reports, you will implicitly argue that your description and analysis provide a clear, thorough overview of the text(s) you have read.

Style in the social sciences

Writing in the social sciences need not be dry and filled with jargon. While you need to understand the conventions, concepts, and habits of mind typical of a discipline, you can still write clear prose that engages readers.

When discussing research sources in a paper conforming to APA style, use the past tense or the present perfect tense for the verbs: Raditch showed or Raditch has shown. Make sure that any writing you do is as clear and grammatically correct as possible so that readers see you as capable and credible.

The literature review

Students of the social sciences carry out literature reviews to find out the most current thinking about a topic, to learn what research has already been carried out on that topic, to evaluate the work that has been done, and to set any research they will do in context. The following guidelines are designed to help you explore and question sources, looking for flaws or gaps. Such a critical review could then lead to a discussion of how your own research will avoid such flaws and advance knowledge.

Student Writing: APA-style research project (Martha Bell)

Student Writing: Literature review, psychology (Tawnya Redding)