Social sciences focus on studying human behavior, human systems, and interactions between behavior and systems. According to the reading, “professionals in the field of the social sciences help us understand why we do what we do as well as how processes (political, economic, personal, etc.) contribute to our lives” (183). Reading and writing in the social sciences includes many common elements of structure, language, and reference and this chapter of A Guide to Academic Writing discusses them.
One of the main methods of structure in the social sciences is the IMRaD, which stands for Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. Starting with the introduction, researchers establish a context for the study and provide an appropriate background on the topic. In the methods section, researchers identify the methods used, explaining their reasons for choosing them. In the results, researchers often present their results by using headings and subheadings and simply stating what they found. The last section, discussion, is where researchers explain the significance of their findings and reflect on their findings. Other structural conventions in the social sciences can include titles, abstracts, conclusions, acknowledgements, references, and appendices.
When it comes to language conventions, social scientists use various languages depending on the audience and genres. The different aspects of language consist of voice and the concept of hedging. In this chapter we see that passive voice is used more often than the active voice. It is explained that this is because “skillful use of the passive voice can actually foster a sense that researchers are acting objectively or with neutrality” (208). The concept of hedging is when researchers want to propose a claim based on their findings but want to avoid overstepping the scope of their findings. To do this, researchers use specific words or phrases to essentially “beat around the bush”. These phrases include but are not limited to, probably, perhaps, some, possibly, sometimes, might, likely, it appears that, apparently, and partially. Hedging is most often used considering the fact that many claims about human behavior are made and that not all individuals will agree with the conclusion.
The last common element of structure is references. Regarding social sciences, the reference style most often used is APA. This reference style includes many distinguished features, specifically when it comes to in-text documentation and summarizing/paraphrasing. Within both aspects, there are comparisons that can be made to the MLA documentation we have previously learned about.
The process of writing a literature review, as discussed on page 213, includes many different steps. One of the most important steps of this process is organizing the gathered sources. An individual must find the most efficient way to organize their sources to keep their research in line. Two ways that they can accomplish this are by producing an annotated bibliography or a source synthesis chart. Either way will provide a good foundation for the organization of the individual’s sources, ultimately keeping them on track and allowing for the visualization of the areas of overlap in research.