Students and researchers all write under pressure, and those
pressures—most lamentably, the desire to impress your audience
rather than to communicate with them—often lead to pretentious
prose, academic posturing, and, not infrequently, writer’s block.
Sociologist Howard S. Becker has written _the_ classic book on how to
conquer these pressures and simply write. First published nearly
twenty years ago, _Writing for Social Scientists_ has become a
lifesaver for writers in all fields, from beginning students to
published authors. Becker’s message is clear: in order to learn how
to write, take a deep breath and then begin writing. Revise. Repeat.
It is not always an easy process, as Becker wryly relates. Decades of
teaching, researching, and writing have given him plenty of material,
and Becker neatly exposes the foibles of academia and its “publish
or perish” atmosphere. Wordiness, the passive voice, inserting a
“the way in which” when a simple “how” will do—all these
mechanisms are a part of the social structure of academic writing. By
shrugging off such impediments—or at the very least, putting them
aside for a few hours—we can reform our work habits and start
writing lucidly without worrying about grades, peer approval, or the
“literature.”
In this new edition, Becker takes account of major changes in the
computer tools available to writers today, and also substantially
expands his analysis of how academic institutions create problems for
them. As competition in academia grows increasingly heated, _Writing
for Social Scientists_ will provide solace to a new generation of
frazzled, would-be writers.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780226041377
Publisert
2016
Utgave
2. utgave
Utgiver
Vendor
University of Chicago Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter