Pros: light and humorous, good use of stories and anecdotes from colleagues
Cons: offers nonspecific advice throughout much of the work, too removed from writing anxieties
The Bottom Line: Becker's Writing for Social Scientists is a solid pep talk during moments of discouragement, but offers little authoritative guidance or firm steering when writing puts us at wits' end.
deeblackthorne's Full Review: Howard Saul Becker and Pamela Richards - Writing f...
The back cover reads, "It" -- writing "is not always an easy process... 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." Take note of the bold word above. I'll return to that in a moment.
In the meantime, Writing for Social Scientists is a book about writing professional work in academia without taking itself too seriously as an authority. Penned in a refreshingly informal style (because Becker makes a pet peeve of wordiness among other things), the author spends ten chapters discussing the various stumbling blocks about academic writing. He begins with the necessity of learning solid writing structure, goes at length regarding the importance of multiple drafts and the creative art of splicing them together, understanding the pressure to "sound" like a scholar, and then getting it out of the door. Becker does a solid job of identifying the common stress points in writing, for certain, and readers at different stages in our careers will easily nod in agreement at some point. Pamela Richards carries the weight of chapter six in talking about how hard it is to share work and invite feedback from colleagues considering the competitive nature of tenure, promotion, and scholarship.
Citing a former student of his named Rosanna will probably give graduate students a veritable neck ache in agreement. Why? She admitted that sociologists should sound "classy" and command language not easily interpretable or understandable by lay persons. A scholar's reputation might shine so brightly as to blind us to bad research, off-balanced analyses, or poorly written prose. If we can't get the draft right the first time, then we have a problem. And so forth. Becker utilizes personal stories from his former students and colleagues to let readers know that, yes, lots of people have the same worries and anxieties as we do with regard to writing.
Curiously enough, while he does a good job in capturing our attention and empathizing with our concerns, he offers at best an umbrella solution. Not to bastardize the popular shoe slogan, he offers a short and direct, "Just do it." Primarily, just doing it involves writing a first draft in one setting, writing page after page until mental exhaustion sets in. If something doesn't make sense, that's fine. If you can't complete a thought, say so. Just get it down. After writing it down, fill in the problem areas.
Somewhere between "just doing it" and cleaning up bad prose lies the real meat of the anxiety: knowing which books to read and cite, organizing thoughts into a logical fashion, making an argument or interpretation more convincing to a reader, and so forth. It is unclear if "just doing it" will resolve these concerns as well, or if Becker thought it unimportant to include any advice here. It is rather curious that Becker would do well to assauge the reader at the front-end and to leave a lot of meaningful content unreferenced.
The back panel also notes that the new edition adds more commentary on advances in personal computers and Internet research, which amounts to little more than recognizing that high-tech gadgets, too, have their own quirks that frustrate users. Even in his "Final Word" chapter, Becker states point blank that, ultimately, readers have to understand and take action on their own problems. I wouldn't necessarily call this a quip of false advertising. There are style and technique types of books out on the market. Still, I might reconsider a title change: Emphasizing with (Up and Coming) Social Scientists, perhaps.
Quirks aside, Writing is a fast and, at time, humorous read. Students will feel simultaneous comfort and betrayal at Becker's work. As soon as you think he understands your pain, you realize that he has been in academia for over 50 years. He published his article "Becoming a Marihuana User" in 1953. Becker would probably empathize just as well with teenagers learning how to drive, considering he's had decades to build competency. As cool, funny, and approachable his prose sounds on the front-end, readers might feel some irritated at the eventual letdown.
In the end, I recommend this book. It is a quick and light read that will probably serve as a useful pep talk in between real consultations with committee members, faculty persons, and junior professors who are a bit closer to the academic struggle than Becker makes himself to be.
Social scientists, whether earnest graduate students or tenured faculty members, clearly know the rules that govern good writing. But for some reason ...More at HotBookSale
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