SOC b2500
Sociological Writing
(“Making Sociology Speak”)
B. Nadya Jaworsky
Office 3.66
Consultation Hours:
Wednesdays: 13.00-14.00 or by appointment

NEW! FINAL ESSAY TIMELINE
–PRESENTATION in class, May 13 (5-7 min.)
–FINAL ESSAY DRAFT for peer review due to your partner and in the Homework Vault by Wednesday, May
20 at 23:59.
–PEER REVIEW COMMENT SHEET for your partner due in Homework Vault and to your partner by Monday,
May 25.
–FINAL ESSAY due EITHER June 25 or September 25. Email when uploading!
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FINAL ESSAY
TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
•3,500-4,000 words ~ 11-13 pp.
•2.5 cm. margins, 12-pt or larger font, left justified
•PLEASE REMEMBER TO NUMBER THE PAGES and INCLUDE YOUR NAME! Ideally, you would do this in the
header or footer.
•-Title page and abstract (150 words or less)
•-Text w/footnotes (I prefer them to endnotes)
•-References (using ASA format)
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PEER REVIEW PARTNERS
•Grahovac, Marko & Grauerová, Gabriela
•Cercnik Pusavec, Nika & Janzekovic, Nejc
•Rüster, Karl-Albert reads Konschuh, Veronika •Konschuh, Veronika reads Rachůnková, Nadia
•Rachůnková, Nadia reads Rüster, Karl-Albert
•

Avoid Procrastinator’s Tricks
•Don’t substitute more reading for writing.
•Don’t keep revising the same pages over and over •Don’t focus on how much more you have to do.
•Don’t allow yourself to do anything else during your writing time.
•

Revising the Draft:
Check Intro, Conclusion, Claim
•Your readers should see:
•Where your introduction ends
•Where your conclusion begins
•What sentences in both state your main claim
•

Revising the Draft:
Make sure body is coherent
•Readers should see:
•The key terms running through your paper
•Where each section ends and the next begins
•How each section relates to the one before it
•What role each section plays in the whole
•What sentence in each section and subsection states its points
•What distinctive key terms run through each section
•

Revising the Draft:
Check your paragraphs
•
•Each paragraph relevant to the point of the section
•Good topic sentences at beginning or end
•Avoid strings of short paragraphs
•See if the topics sentences make sense out of context; make an outline of them
•

Revising the Draft:
The final Intro & Conclusion
•
•Introduction three goals:
•Put your research in context
•Make your readers think they should read your paper
•Give them a framework for understanding it
•Conclusion should:
•Leave readers with a clear idea of your claim
•Reinforce its importance
•

Revising the Draft:
The final Introduction
•Here’s what we think we know (stability)
•Here’s what we don’t know (disruption and danger; dragon is the research question) •Here’s why we
need an answer (the dragon’s fire is a problem that must be solved) •Here’s the answer (resolution;
you are the knight in shining armor)
•

Revising the Draft:
The first sentences
•A striking quotation
•A striking fact
•A relevant anecdote
•Combine all three
•

Revising the Draft:
The Conclusion
•Restate your claim
•Point out a new significance, a practical application, or new research
•
•Write your title last!
•

Writing an abstract:
•Peer reviewers (and eventually, readers) typically will read the abstract first to make sure that
the paper is worthy of further consideration.
•Most abstracts are between 150 and 200 words. Generally, the shorter the better.
•Key elements of the abstract:
–General purpose
–Specific goals
–Research design
–Methods
–Expected Results/Significance
•

Example of a good abstract:
•The research addresses two major deficits in knowledge regarding the adaptation of immigrant
students to the U.S. school environment: a lack of information about the impact of immigration on
students at different age levels and the absence of longitudinal data regarding post-migration
adjustment. The focus of the study is on the emotional, behavioral, and academic adaptation of
immigrant children and adolescents, in relation to their level of post-migration stress and the
support provided by their social networks. Participants are 600 newly immigrant elementary, middle,
and high school students. Participating students are interviewed shortly after school entry, with a
second assessment two years later. Higher levels of stress and lower levels of social support
following migration are associated with poorer adaptation. The proposed research provides a
much-needed window on the initial adaptation of immigrant children and adolescents.
•

Revising Sentences
•Focus on the first 7 or 8 words of a sentence
–Make subjects short and concrete
–Avoid interrupting subjects with more than a word
–Put key actions in verbs, not in nouns
–Put familiar information at the beginning of a sentence, new at the end
•

Revising Sentences
•Avoid long introductory phrases
•Choose active or passive verbs to reflect the previous principles
•Use first-person pronouns appropriately
•Diagnose what you read
•Choose the right word
•Polish it off (read aloud or backwards)
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Becker – One Right Way
•The shame and embarrassment of re-writing
•No one ever tells you about the backstage
•“Only dummies have to do it over and over”
•Getting out that first sentence
•Write the introduction (a map) last
•Writing a “spew” draft; then the outline
•Talk about problems instead of wishing them away
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Becker – Editing by Ear
•Rules and Guidelines – sometimes a matter of taste
•Unconscious heuristics – “It just sounds right.”
•“..line by line editing is easy because the things to fix fall into classes.”
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Becker – Editing by Ear
1.Active/passive.
2.Fewer words (page 81)
3.Repetition
4.Structure/content (syntax)
5.Concrete/abstract (“relations”)
6.Metaphors (alive)
•