Writing in Sociology PDF
Preview Writing in Sociology
Writing in Sociology Second Edition Writing in Sociology Second Edition Mark Edwards Oregon State University FoR INFoRMATIoN: Copyright 2015 by SAGE Publications, Inc. SAGE Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be 2455 Teller Road reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, Thousand oaks, California 91320 electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, E-mail: [email protected] recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. SAGE Publications Ltd. 1 oliver’s Yard 55 City Road Printed in the United States of America London EC1Y 1SP United Kingdom Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data SAGE Publications India Pvt. Ltd. Edwards, Mark Evan. B 1/I 1 Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area Writing in sociology / Mark Edwards, Oregon State Mathura Road, New Delhi 110 044 University.—Second Edition. India pages cm SAGE Publications Asia-Pacific Pte. Ltd. Includes bibliographical references and index. 3 Church Street #10-04 Samsung Hub ISBN 978-1-4833-5129-2 (pbk. : alk. paper) Singapore 049483 ISBN 978-1-4833-6572-5 (Web PDF) 1. Sociology—Authorship. 2. Sociology—Research. 3. Report writing. 4. Sociology—Study and teaching (Higher) I. Title. HM569.E39 2015 301.072—dc23 2014011469 This book is printed on acid-free paper. Acquisitions Editor: Jeff Lasser Editorial Assistant: Nick Pachelli Production Editor: Kelly DeRosa Copy Editor: Codi Bowman Typesetter: C&M Digitals (P) Ltd. Proofreader: Penny Sippel Indexer: Jeanne Busemeyer Cover Designer: Anuparma Krishnan Marketing Manager: Erica DeLuca 14 15 16 17 18 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents Preface vii About the Author ix Section I. Thinking Broadly About Writing Sociology 1. Introduction 3 2. Turning Ideas Into Researchable Questions 7 3. Overview of Writing a Research Paper: An Extended Analogy 19 4. Borrowing Well From the Literature 25 5. Citing Sources: Why, When, and How 31 Section II. Writing Quantitative Papers 6. Quantitative Papers: The Introduction 43 7. Quantitative Papers: The Literature Review 47 8. Quantitative Papers: The Data and Methods Section 55 9. Quantitative Papers: Presenting Results 61 10. Quantitative Papers: Discussions and Conclusions 71 Section III. Writing Qualitative Papers 11. Presenting Qualitative Data: A Brief Example 79 12. Ethnographic Interviewing and Storytelling 87 13. Writing a Case Study 109 14. The Internship Journal 113 Section IV. Other Sociology Writing Tasks 15. Revisiting Literature Reviews: Applied Sociology Research Projects 121 16. Peer Review 127 17. Writing a Book Review 135 18. Tips on Writing Theory and Content Papers 139 Appendix: Word Use and Misuse 143 Index 157 Preface In the late 1990s, I began my career as a sociology professor at Oregon State University, hired specifically to teach research methods and socio- logical writing to undergraduates. In the subsequent years, as our depart- ment reoriented toward also teaching graduate students, I discovered that many of the things I was saying to undergraduates I was saying to gradu- ate students as well. The challenges of writing confront us throughout our education and our careers. My hope has been for this project to encour- age, comfort, and train anyone who wants to effectively communicate sociological insights. As in most writing projects, there was a community of scholars and friends (not mutually exclusive groups, to be sure) who made it possible. Thanks to Vicki Tolar Burton for her vision and leadership in advancing the Writing Intensive Curriculum program at our school. With a small grant from the Writing Intensive Curriculum at Oregon State University, my colleague Dwaine Plaza and I were assisted in the process of organizing our department’s faculty to create a writing handbook for our undergradu- ates around 2000. In the original version of this handbook, my senior col- leagues Gary Tiedeman, Loyd Klemke, Sheila Cordray, and Rich Mitchell (all now retired) and my not-so-senior colleagues Dwaine Plaza, Lori Cramer, Denise Lach, Rebecca Warner, and Sally Gallagher contributed chapters that have been valuable to the sociology majors at Oregon State University for the past 10 years. This significantly revised version of that original handbook has retained some of the original work of Tiedeman, Mitchell, Cordray, and Lach while less obviously folding ideas from the others into the fully rewritten chapters I have created. Annually teaching a course that requires students to write like sociolo- gists has convinced me that writing is both personal and social, emotional and rational, daunting and yet often gratifying. I recall with satisfaction the students who have written back to me to say how proud they were of vii viii— Writing in Sociology their progress as writers or thankful that they studied in a department that encouraged writing in the discipline. It is for the future cohorts of sociology students that I have prepared this writing handbook. Those who purchase it may wish to know that most of the royalties from the sales of this book provide resources for departmental writing awards, scholarships, and con- ference fees for sociology students. About the Author Since 1997, Mark Edwards (PhD, University of Washington) has taught stratification, research methods and writing, and social statistics in the sociology department at Oregon State University. His recent research on food insecurity has been used by nonprofit groups, state agencies, and the media to address domestic hunger in the Northwest. Many of his research papers have appeared in social science journals such as Social Forces, Rural Sociology, and Social Science Quarterly. But a favorite part of his work is helping students improve their social science writing. ix
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