Writing for social scientists : how to start and finish your thesis, book, or article / Howard S. Becker ; with a chapter by Pamela Richards.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 167-171) and index.

Freshman English for graduate students -- Persona and authority -- One right way -- Editing by ear -- Learning to write as a professional -- Risk / by Pamela Richards -- Getting it out the door -- Terrorized by the literature -- Writing with computers, then and now.

"For more than 30 years, Writing for Social Scientists has offered readers a powerful reassurance: academic writing is difficult, and even accomplished scholars like Howard S. Becker struggle with it. Becker, the consummate sociologist, both analyzes how the professional context of academia contributes to writing problems and offers concrete advice, based on his own experiences and those of his students and colleagues, for overcoming them and gaining confidence as a writer. While the underlying challenges have remained the same over the years, the context in which academic writers work has changed dramatically, thanks to technology and new institutional pressures. This new edition has been updated throughout to reflect these changes, offering a new generation of scholars and students encouragement to write about society or any other scholarly topic clearly and persuasively"-- Provided by publisher.

Originally published: Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 1986.