How To Write & Organise a Social Sciences Paper

How To Write & Organise a Social Sciences Paper
Social scientists write many different kinds of documents for a wide variety of reasons. As students they write term papers, reports, literature reviews, dissertations and theses; later in their careers they write academic books, articles for scholarly and more popular journals, presentations for conferences, lectures for students and proposals for research projects. Each piece of writing in the social sciences tends to be produced for specific purposes, such as disseminating groundbreaking research, earning a degree, achieving successful publication and obtaining necessary funding. In every one of these situations it is essential that the writing done by a social scientist accomplishes through clear and effective written communication exactly what he or she intends.

It is likely that you will begin your writing in the social sciences while you are a student working towards an undergraduate degree. Such writing must contain appropriate content according to the nature of the course and the particular assignment, and it must also be sophisticated, reflecting keen observation and penetrating thought. To achieve such a high standard, you must use language accurately and effectively and apply consistent formatting and documentation to each written assignment. Thoughtful organised writing that is carefully prepared receives high passing grades, whereas writing that contains many errors and inconsistencies does not, so painstaking proofreading and editing are always required to check and correct every piece of writing submitted for grading. Unfortunately, university writing must often be produced at an extremely rapid rate, leaving very little if any time for the proofreading and editing necessary to achieve the best work and the grades you desire. You therefore may want to buddy up with a fellow student who earns good grades and is willing to read your work and help you improve it by offering critical feedback, and you can return the favour in kind.

The writing done later in a social sciences career is equally if not more important. Publication in respected scholarly journals, for instance, can lead to high citation counts, successful employment, significant promotions, research funding and other rewards. The competition for space within such journals seems to increase daily, however, so it is essential that the writing you submit for publication stands out as excellent, and not only because of its exceptional content. Certainly it must be engaging, interesting and, if possible, groundbreaking, but in order to meet with a positive response from acquisitions editors, papers submitted for publication must also observe with precision and consistency the journal’s guidelines for formatting, editorial styles and referencing techniques. In addition, social sciences papers must be written in language that is clear and correct if it is to communicate effectively, so it is essential that your writing is free of grammatical, spelling, punctuation and typing errors that can undermine clarity, accuracy and precision and therefore confuse readers. A beautifully polished paper has the power to catch the eye of an editor in all the right ways and thus be considered much more seriously than one that is disorganised and poorly written.

Whether you are writing research papers for university courses or research articles for scholarly journals, as a social scientist you may find yourself in need of the services of an academic proofreader, so do not hesitate to seek the professional help that can benefit your research, your writing and ultimately your career. In fact, many scholars are surprised by the many ways in which a proofreader or editor who specialises in their field can help them improve their work and achieve their goals.