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21b Writing texts in the social sciences

21bWriting texts in the social sciences

Contents:

Using style in the social sciences

Writing a 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:

Writing that encourages student learning, such as reaction pieces and position papers
Writing that demonstrates student learning, such as summaries, abstracts, and research papers
Writing that reflects common on-the-job communication tasks for members of a discipline, such as radio scripts, briefing notes, and informational reports
Writing that requires students to analyze and evaluate the writings of others, such as literature reviews, book reviews, and briefs
Writing that asks students to replicate the work of others or to engage in original research, such as quantitative research reports, case studies, and ethnographic analyses

Many forms of writing in the social sciences call either explicitly or implicitly for argument (see Chapter 9). 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.

Using 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 (39e) 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.

Writing a 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.

What is your topic or dependent variable (item or characteristic studied)?
What is already known about this topic? What characteristics does the topic or dependent variable have? How have other researchers measured the item or characteristic being studied? What other factors are involved, and how are they related to each other and to your topic or variable? What theories are used to explain the way things are now?
How has research been done so far? Who or what has been studied? How have measurements been taken?
Has there been change over time? What has caused any changes?
What problems do you find in the new research? What questions have not been answered? Have researchers drawn unwarranted conclusions?
What gaps will your research fill? How is it new? What problems do you want to correct?