Writing in the Social Sciences
Dan Bohr
Overview
If you are a student or professional writer, you may find yourself tasked with writing about topics in the fields of psychology, sociology, or anthropology. The following links contain useful information and advice for writing about these topics.
Of primary concern are the differing style techniques used for writing in these fields. For writing about anthropology, The Chicago Style Guide dictates style rules. The American Sociological Association maintains its own style guide. Finally, the American Psychological Association Style Guide is the preferred reference on formatting not only papers related to psychology, but several other social sciences, such as research into education and religion.
In addition, resources have been included to aid writers in constructing a good argumentative document related to these fields.
Psychology and APA Style Resources
The American Psychological Association Style GuideAlthough it is not available for free, the official style guide of the American Psychological Association is undoubtedly the most comprehensive and accurate guide to APA style. For those who intend to do a lot of writing in the field of psychology, it would be a wise investment.
APA Style SummaryIf you are a student who needs only to write a single research paper related to psychology, The APA Style guide might not be worth the cost. If that is the case, this comprehensive summary of the rules it contains should be a sufficient guide. It is well organized, and contains clear examples, such as this table, which demonstrates different rules for in-text citations.
Template For Research PapersThe University of Jacksonville Psychology department has posted this template for research papers, with lists of what each section should contain. A second page, accessible at the bottom of the first, provides an actual research paper written in this format. The sample paper contains annotations at the beginning of each section that give additional advice on what each section should contain, and perhaps more importantly, what it should not contain.
Glossary of Psychological TermsIf you are a student or professional writer, you may find yourself writing about a psychological topic, despite a lack of training in the field. This APA glossary contains clear definitions of many common psychological terms that you may not be familiar with.
Sociology Resources
Constructing a Sociological ArgumentThis handout for students of The University of North Carolina is somewhat thin in terms of describing what a good sociological argument contains. However, it contains a particularly useful section describing common pitfalls of writing in the field. It carefully describes and cautions against “the individual argument,” “the human nature argument,” and “the society argument,” as these forms of argument are common and based on assumptions that lack supporting evidence.
The American Sociological Association Style GuideThe American Sociological Association maintains its own style guide. This page describes how to cite sources using ASA style, and provides a link to a page where you can purchase the complete guide.
ASA Style SummaryThis site, provided by Purdue University, gives a summary of the proper format for a sociological manuscript, according to ASA style. Additionally, it gives its own summary of the ASA citation rules.
Anthropology Resources
The AAA Style GuideThe Anthropology Association of America requires that Anthropology Papers be written according to The Chicago Manual of Style. This PDF file advises writers to refer to the Chicago manual for any rules it does not describe. It contains detailed descriptions of how to deal with rules that may be of particular importance in anthropological papers, such as the proper way to handle foreign words and quotations, and the correct capitalization for historical, cultural, and ethnic terms.
The Chicago Manual of StyleAs mentioned above, those who write about anthropology should follow The Chicago Manual of Style. The online version is available through this link.
© 2006 Dan Bohr