Writing for Social Scientists: How to Start and Finish Your Thesis, Book, or Article: Second Edition (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing)

Becker, in a very straight-forward and humorous manner, gets you going. He lets you know the absolute fear you are feeling is perfectly normal and that the first draft is just that - a first draft. It doesn't have to be perfect; in fact it *shouldn't* be perfect. After reading this book, I simply sat down and started writing. I didn't worry about punctuation or sentence structure, I just wrote. Some of it ended up in the trash, but much of what I wrote on the first go-around was molded into some very good work.

Thanks to Howard Becker I think I might actual graduate!


A must have!   April 30, 2000
 22 out of 24 found this review helpful

Everyone of us, to include social scientists, have flaws. While reading this book, it is common to see yourself in some of Becker's examples - the relief comes when Becker explains how you can work through your faults and get to what is important - finishing your project.

I did not find out about this book until after I started on my Master's Program. I wish this was made required reading when I was an undergrad, it would have helped me out greatly.

This book should be on every college students' bookshelf, no matter what field they are in.


Some Considerations   December 22, 2000
 16 out of 32 found this review helpful

The orange cover with the pathetic cartoon character starts Becker's book out so interestingly. Orange of all colors. What serious academic writer would write a book and grace these cherished thoughts with a bright orange cover seasoned with a hunching, disheveled, befuddled wreck of a character in desperate and dire need of a four-year sabbatical? What possibly could be the point?

The stereotype abuses of academia come to mind: stale, formulaic, "a craven surrender to custom", staid, a case study in lethargy. All the concentration on ultra-definition of disciplines, protocol ad infinitum, political positioning, and methodologies presents a convenient hideout from ever having to really say anything. All the excess concentration on the medium and style of writing oft-times has sacrificed any real message, creating a gas law of writing: Having little to say, no matter how little, can be said in whatever length required, no matter how long.

All of this comes back to Becker and the orange cover. It is precisely one of his points in this book that the meticulously perfect and judicious assumptions surrounding intellectual life get in the way of good writing. The assumption that there is one correct way to do something, for example, does not aid intellectual curiosity. Academic thought may be the venue for the most creative and imaginative work to date. There are an infinite number of ways to view anything and an equally vast amount of corollaries to a million other subjects. Many of the great intellectuals have followed this trend in diversity demonstrating amusing and sometimes alarming personal eccentricities. They are manifestly unique in their thinking and personal lives, and have become beloved for it. Therefore, Becker's call to give up the need for "one right way" remains good advice for the introduction into academic writing (and the adult world, for that matter). Writing rules may not be as hard and as fast as some grammarians have suggested.

Fear also seems to be at the heart of the scholarly writing problem. Becker's chapter on personae and authority drives at the concept of fear in revealing one's humanity to others. People are slow to reveal fears, especially professionally. Openly emerging from scholarly facades of perfection requires humility. Titles of superiority and elitism diminish in such an environment. The status quo in academic writing is a convenient way to hide one's fear.

In his first chapter, "Freshman English for Graduate Students," Becker's call for simplicity in writing is valid, but he might be overstating the point. Anyone trying to actually apply the freshman English style of writing to academic sociological writing might find it difficult. It does not work very well. His point must be, then, to cut the verbiage that does not aid in understanding the essential message of the writing. His call for using less academic words, however, may be somewhat simplistic. Some concepts used in the sociological sciences cannot be explained well in layman's terms (for example: "weltanschauung," "epistomology," "ontology," etc.). Furthermore, the purpose of scholarship is not to boil everything down to a lowest common denominator. The scholarly quest is to lift the bar and to encourage others to do the same.

Regardless of these few clarifying details, everyone reading the book will probably identify with many of the various messages and be properly reprimanded throughout the writing process. It is a nice insight and reminder put forth by Becker to be genuine people, even in the realms of academic writing. mdm


The book is helpful   August 21, 2003
 13 out of 13 found this review helpful

Having read a bunch of books on the topic of doing your thesis, I was a bit desperate since none of them seemed to offer really practical advices on how to tackle the problem of starting to write. I got lost in "how to read and write a literature review" and "how to talk to your committee members", and only when I start reading Becker's book I found this seemingly crazy but increadibly fine advice: sit down and write - just about everything that comes into your mind. If you get stuck, put it down. Your first draft will be much of a weird writing, but only through materializing it you will be able to make further steps forward. I've read this book in less than two days and have brightened my view of this huge task in front of me. The only redundant thing is the chapter on using the computer, since it became a usual stuff since this book was published. Everything else is a true confidence booster!