Revising your research proposal is the focal point of this course. Everything so far has lead up to this point-- this week we talk about writing and look at examples of scholarly writing to help us improve our own writing.
See the shared google document :654 Writing Advice for the links to the documents listed below.
Note that the second draft has a 2000 word limit (twice that of the first draft).
Following is from that document.
Writing advice:
You should have several short term writing goals. First, read your paragraphs and write a sentence that directly states the argument of that paragraph (thesis statement). Use your improved thesis statements to improve the rest of your paragraph. Make each sentence more purposeful and active. Second, revise the content of your proposal by making the important sociological contribution of your work clear. Finally, improve the consistency of your argument between different analytic levels: title, abstract, paragraph, section, paper. Your message needs to be consistent across these levels. In other words, your title should be the heart of abstract, your abstract should be the core of the paper; the thesis statement of each paragraph should be a good short version of your paragraph.
Here are suggestions and links to the exemplars:
Hechter paper: Read the introduction. 400-405. Notice his use of example--how and why does he use the example that he does? What is the role of drama? What is the thing that he wants to explain?
Papachristos paper: 74 to 82. What sort of puzzle does Papachristos solve? Why is this an especially sociological answer to this puzzle? How can you frame your research questions to make them fully sociological?
Stark paper: All 5 pages. Pay attention to the direct, active sentences. Notice the clear sentence and paragraph level construction. Also note his advice about writing and revising.
Kreager paper: 351-357 Pay attention to how Kreager uses theories in his study. Can you identify theories in your research topic that would predict contrasting patterns in how people behave or interact?
