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therefore is it difficult to see how it can be used within the broader set of research findings and perspectives in the literature? Using your materials to ask questions such as these should allow you to weigh up the value of the theory in light of its concepts and propositions as well as its broader argument and so to construct your own critical evaluation. How you organise your argument as a response to any arguments presented by an academic author and their critics is by virtue of this work. Your job is to interrogate the theory, explore how others have
and to link this to your own argument. Giving a sense of purpose: Some essays are clearly about a topic that is of political, ethical or other public significance. For example, you might be asked a question about gender inequality, which continues to be a substantial problem in contemporary British society and elsewhere. Moreover, academic research on gender equality is often about trying to understand how inequalities come about in order to be able to challenge them and thus find a remedy. The scholarship has a clear political purpose. This type of work
, presenting your own deductions, comparisons, contrasts, insights and so forth. Using evidence in the way we have just described is one of the distinguishing features of scholarly work and represents an implicit claim to authority of a very particular kind. In key respects, journal articles, research reports and books published in sociology represent authors’ answers to their readers’ unspoken questions, such as ‘how do you know?’, ‘why should I accept what you say?’ or ‘why is your interpretation superior to someone else’s?’. This applies just as much at
now the object. It is conventional in the natural and life sciences to write up research in the passive voice. This device is held to be appropriate as part of helping to underscore that scientific work is considered to be objective, with the results obtaining no matter who undertakes the experimental work. If reference is needed to the experimenter or author of the article, it is common enough to find that the third person singular or plural is used; the researcher oversaw the experiment, the author undertook the calculations. Sociologists vary as to
Common spelling mistakes Certain spelling mistakes are widespread. They can be found in all kinds of writing, including drafts of research reports and even Official Statistics, and are made even by experienced writers, despite the availability of spell-checkers. 1 To be fair, some spelling mistakes cannot be detected by spell-checkers. These are cases where a correctly spelled word is used, but it is the wrong word. Familiar ones are: compliment (meaning polite admiration) or complimentary (free of charge) instead of complement (something