Writing
a Social Science Paper
Paul A. Kowert, Florida International University
To write a successful
paper, you will probably have to do the following:
A. Decide on a
topic that interests you. If you do not, it will be obvious. Your paper
will leave your reader as bored (or as interested) as it leaves you.
A good way to proceed is to pick a question that you are not sure how
to answer. But be sure the question you pick is narrow enough that it
can be answered. "Why do nations go to war?" is an important
question, but it is much too general for a short paper (perhaps even
for a long book). "Why did President Truman decide to use the atomic
bomb against Japan?" is more manageable as a paper topic, but it
still covers a lot of ground. There may have been several reasons. Pick
one and focus on the contribution it made. As a general rule, it is
almost impossible to focus your topic too narrowly. You should also
expect, as
you do research for your paper, that your topic will change and evolve.
Be sure, however, that it gets more specific rather than more general.
B. Don't assume
that you know the answer to your question (if the answer is obvious,
it may not be that interesting a question). This means you will have
to do some research.
There are many
ways to prepare to answer your question:
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The
best place to begin is with the library's reference staff. They may
not always be able to help, but reference librarians can often guide
you directly to good sources of information on your topic.
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Periodical
indexes, such as PAIS or the Social Science Index, are
probably the best way, in general, to discover what social scientists
have written about your topic. Each volume of an index allows you
to look up all the articles by a certain author, or on a certain topic,
published in that year in a select number of scholarly journals. Do
not be satisfied, however, with the first few articles you find. Look
these articles up (use the library computer to find the call number
of the journal in which they are published) and consult their footnotes
or bibliographies. This will help you to identify the most important
recent works on your topic.
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The library computer makes it very easy to search for books on your
topic. But "easy" does not necessarily mean "helpful."
Journal articles usually provide more information in less space than
books. Look for books on your topic only after you have read a few
articles and have a sense of what the relevant, important books are.
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The
internet makes available a wide variety of information. Reference
librarians can give you some good advice about computer-based services
and basic strategies for searching on the internet. But beware
— do not begin with the internet! It can overwhelm you with information,
much of which is of poor quality or will turn out not to be relevant.
It is a good place to find examples or illustrations, but not to develop
an argument. Resist the temptation to "dump" information
into your paper. This will almost certainly hurt it. Also remember
that anthing you do use must be properly cited just like information
found in articles or books. Failing to do so is plagiarism!
C. People write
in many different ways. Some slowly produce one draft, revising as they
go. Others write out a rough draft quickly, then they begin again, making
revisions and repeating the process several times. Some write parts
of their paper as they do research; others wait until they have gathered
"all the facts." Some like to make careful outlines. Some
begin with notes and examples. And some start by focusing on their argument.
There is no single correct way to write a paper.
But every paper
has one objective: to persuade the reader (in this case, your instructor).
Different professors expect different things, and part of writing a
good paper is figuring out what your professor will find persuasive.
You may find differences in your professors' expectations frustrating,
but they simply reflect a fact of life: people disagree about many things,
including writing. This makes effective writing a challenge.
But while writing
is a challenge, it is not impossible. Avoiding basic grammatical and
stylistic errors is a good place to begin. Sometimes even grammar is
debatable, but every language has rules (that is what makes it a language).
Set for yourself the goal of writing a paper with no grammatical errors.
A college student should achieve this goal or, at least, come close.
Three simple tactics can help you avoid mistakes.
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First,
read your paper out loud from beginning to end — your ear will
often catch mistakes that your eyes do not.
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Second,
ask at least one friend to read your paper, to circle errors, and
to give you comments.
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And
third, use (and learn from) your word processor's spelling checker.
Stylistic errors
are more debatable — in fact, good style is impossible to define.
But that does not mean that there is no such thing as good writing style,
and your reader will be looking for it. An excellent place to learn
some basic lessons about style is William Strunk and E. B. White's small
book, The Elements of Style. It is widely available and contains
many suggests that will help you move beyond correct writing to stylish
and effective writing. Do not be mislead into thinking that style is
equivalent to "fancy" writing using technical jargon and complex
sentences. Clear and simple sentences are often very effective.
D. Be sure to follow
the instructions of your paper assignment regarding topic, page limits,
format, and so on. This, at least, is under your control.
E.
Avoid the following common errors:
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Cite
other people's work properly. One way to do this is with "in-text"
citations. If you use this method, you must also provide a full citation
in your paper's bibliography. Whatever method you choose, be consistent.
Example: For all Presidents "since Eisenhower the presidency
has been something of a disaster" (Lowi, 1985, p. 10).
Sample Bibliography entry:
Lowi, Theodore J., The Personal President: Power Invested, Promise
Unfulfilled (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1985).
If you wish, you may provide a footnote or an endnote instead of an
in-text citation.
Example: Bruce Jentleson argues that the American public will
support intervention in other countries to stop international aggression,
but not to "remake" their governments in the image of the
U. S. government.1
In this case, footnote/endnote 1 should include the following
information:
1 Bruce Jentleson, "The Pretty Prudent Public: Post-Vietnam
American Opinion on the Use of Military Force," International Studies
Quarterly 36 (1992), pp. 49-74.
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Omit
unnecessary words and sentences.
Instead of: It is necessary to define a "security dilemma."
A security dilemma can be defined as a situation in which the actions
a nation takes to enhance its own security simultaneously diminish
the security of other nations.
Write: A security dilemma is created whenever a nation's efforts
to enhance its own security simultaneously decrease the security of
others.
On the subject of word choice, by the way, remember that a
nation is a singular thing (an "it," not a "she"
or a "they").
Example: The United States is a hegemon. It is stronger than
any other nation.
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Use
active verbs. This means two things: (1) avoid the passive voice,
and (2) avoid linking verbs. The passive voice makes your writing
sound "weak," and it directs your reader's attention away
from the person or people responsible for an action. This is often
a matter of political importance!
Instead of: A policy of deterrence was chosen in order to prevent
further aggression.
Write: President Kennedy placed the Air Force on alert in Florida
to deter further Soviet escalation of the crisis in Cuba.
For the
same reason, you should try to use active verbs rather than linking
verbs.
Instead of: There are three reasons why the U. S. invaded Grenada.
Write: The U. S. invaded Grenada for three reasons.
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Avoid
the first person in social science writing unless you are actually
writing about yourself.
Instead of: I believe that superpower rivalry during the Cold
War wasted resources without making anyone more secure.
Simply write: Superpower rivalry during the Cold War wasted
resources without making anyone more secure.
Instead of: Our nation's foreign policy is based on two principles.
Write: The United States' foreign policy is based on two principles.
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Prefer
the specific over the general and vague.
Instead of: The U. S. intervened in Cuba in 1961.
Write: President Kennedy authorized covert U. S. support for
a brigade of Cuban exiles, which went ashore at the Bay of Pigs on
April 17, 1961.
- As Joe Devine
put it, "commas are our friends" (Devine, Commas Are Our
Friends. Seattle: Green Stone Publications, 1989). They have many
uses, but there are also certain rules that must be followed. Two of
the most common errors are: (1) omitting a comma when joining two independent
clauses with a conjunction, and (2) failing to set off an introductory
adverbial clause. An independent clause is a part of a sentence that
can stand on its own as a complete sentence.
Example: Mikhail Gorbachev hoped that the process of restructuring
that he termed "perestroika" would lead to the rebirth of
Soviet economic power, but it actually worked instead to hasten
the Soviet Union's collapse.
In the above sentence, but is a conjunction. It must
be preceded by a comma.
Adverbial clauses tell us when, where, or how something happened. When
they appear at the beginning of a sentence, they should be set off with
a comma (as in this very sentence!).
Another example: When the U. S. retaliated against Libya for
supporting international terrorism, its leaders appeared to place more
faith in their own weapons than in the mechanisms of international law
and diplomacy.
For more help on commas, see The
Armchair Grammarian's page on comma usage.
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Avoid
rhetorical questions.
Instead of: Why did Saddam Hussein invade Kuwait? The answer
is because he wanted to improve Iraq's access to the Persian Gulf.
Write: Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait to improve Iraq's access
to the Persian Gulf.
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