Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

WRITING THE RESEARCH REPORT AND THE POLITICS OF SOCIAL RESEARCH

to rewrite a report a dozen times. Do not become
discouraged. If anything, rewriting reduces the pres-
sure; it means you can start writing soon and get out
a rough draft that you can polish later. Plan to
rewrite a draft at least three or four times.
Rewriting can help you express yourself with
increased clarity, smoothness, and precision and an
economy of words. When rewriting, the focus is on
clear communication, not pompous or complicated
language. As Leggett et al. (1965:330) stated, “Never
be ashamed to express a simple idea in simple
language. Remember that the use of complicated
language is not in itself a sign of intelligence.”
Rewriting means slowly reading what you have
written and, if necessary, read it out loud to see
whether it sounds right. It is a good idea to share
your writing with others. Professional writers have
others read and criticize their writing. New writers
soon learn that friendly, constructive criticism is
very valuable. Sharing your writing with others may
be difficult at first. It means exposing your written
thoughts and encouraging criticism of them, yet the
purpose of the criticism is to clarify writing, and the
critic is doing you a favor.
Rewriting involves two processes: revising and
editing. Revisingis inserting new ideas, adding

supporting evidence, deleting or changing ideas,

moving sentences around to clarify meaning, or

strengthening transitions and links between ideas.

Editingis cleaning up the more mechanical aspects of

writing, such as spelling, grammar, usage, verb agree-

ment and tense, sentence length, and paragraph orga-

nization. When you rewrite, go over a draft and revise

it brutally to improve it. This is easier if some time

passes between a writing draft and rewriting it. Phrases

that seemed satisfactory in a draft may look fuzzy or

poorly connected after a week or two (see Expansion

Box 2, Suggestions for Rewriting).

Even if you have not acquired typing skills, it

is a good idea to type, or print out if you use a word

processor, at least one draft before the final draft

EXPANSION BOX 1

Suggestions for Ending Writer’s Block

1. Begin early.Do not procrastinate or wait until the
   last minute. Beginning early not only gives you time
   to come back to the task but also reduces the ten-
   sion because you have time to write a poor-quality
   first draft that can be improved upon. Shafer
   (1980:205) chided, “Writing is hard work, and the ex-
   cuses authors find for postponing it are legendary.”
   Set yourself a deadline for a first draft that is at least
   a week before the final deadline, and keep it!
   2.Take a break and then return.Some writers find
   that if they take a walk, get a snack, read a news-
   paper, and come back to the task a half hour later,
   the block is gone. Small diversions, if they remain
   small and short term, can help on occasion.
   3.Begin in the middle.You do not have to begin at the
   beginning. Begin in the middle and just start writing,
   even if does not seem to be directly relevant. It may

be easier to get to your topic once the writing/think-

ing process is moving.

4.Engage in personal magic rituals.Some people

have unusual habits or rituals that they engage in be-

fore writing (e.g., washing dishes, clearing a desk,

sharpening pencils). These can serve as mental trig-

gers to help you get started. Do what gets you

started writing.

5.Break the writing into small parts.Do not feel that

you have to sit down and complete the writing task

as a whole. Begin with pieces that come easily to you

and stitch together the pieces later.

6.Do not expect perfection.Write a draft, which

means that you can throw away, revise, and change

what you wrote. It is always easier to revise a rough

draft than to create perfect writing the first time.

Revising Correcting process that is part of rewriting,

in which a writer adds ideas or evidence and deletes,

rearranges, or changes ideas to improve clarity and bet-

ter communicate meaning.

Editing A step in the writing process, part of rewrit-

ing, in which a writer cleans up and tightens the lan-

guage, checks grammar (e.g., verb agreement, usage),

adjusts sentence length, and reorganizes paragraphs

to improve communication and strengthen style.