The Craft of Research, Third Edition (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing) Third Edition

We all respect scientists--even budding science students--for their commitment to accuracy and objectivity. Sometimes our strengths are also our weaknesses. Beginning scientists can naively believe that their writing only needs to report the facts, that anything further is bias, sophistry or even dishonesty. This book lays out the path to a better writing style. Readers will learn how to arrange and present their facts and evidence as coherent arguments. As a result, they will better serve their own readers.The table of contents, outlined below, shows that the authors cover more than putting fingers to keyboard. Introductory chapters discuss the perspective and information needs of readers and how to connect with them. The authors address development of one's own authentic authorial "voice"--a topic often neglected in books about research writing. The next four chapters teach us how to conceptualize a research question, then find relevant and credible sources of information to answer it. The third edition contains a needed revision of the authors' earlier avoidant stance on the credibility of web-based information, containing good guidance for weeding flakey from factual online sources.Chapter 7, "Making Good Arguments: An Overview," is the keystone chapter and a relatively quick read at eleven pages. It's where to focus when deciding whether to read the rest of the book. The authors define their working vocabulary of arguments, reasons, evidence, claims and warrants. In this and the following four chapters they show us how to use these concepts to present our points and how to acknowledge and respond to positions with which we disagree. They demonstrate how to do this with integrity as well as skill.The final six chapters address the actual writing of a research report. Much of the advice on planning, drafting and revising is standard and consistent with other writing guides. Some, such as advice on graphical presentation of data, is an overview of information covered more thoroughly in other books (e.g., Tufte's Envisioning Information). But there is also a great deal of guidance on revising and fine-tuning arguments that is unique to these authors and their framework of written arguments. The closing chapter on style will help writers create clear and understandable structure while following their own authorial style. Recognizing they have presented only an introductory measure of what good writers need to know, the authors close with a comprehensive bibliography of readings, both online and in print.This book, thoughtfully read and put into practice, is as good as a course in professional writing. Read it, underline in it, bend back the page corners, and keep it nearby when you write your next report.--Brief Table of ContentsI. Research, Researchers and Readers- 1. Thinking in Print: The uses of Research, Public and Private- 2. Connecting with Your Reader: (Re-)Creating YourselfII. Asking Questions, Finding Answers- 3. From Topics to Questions- 4. From Questions to a Problem- 5. From Problems to Sources- 6. Engaging SourcesIII. Making a Claim and Supporting It- 7. Making Good Arguments: An Overview- 8. Making Claims- 9. Assembling Reasons and Evidence- 10. Acknowledgements and Responses- 11. WarrantsIV. Planning, Drafting and Revising- 12. Planning- 13. Drafting Your Report- 14. Revising Your Organization and Argument- 15. Communicating Evidence Visually- 16. Introductions and Conclusions- 17. Revising Style: Telling Your Story ClearlyV. Some Last Considerations

this book was great

This book describes at a fundamental level what is a research problem, breaking it down into partssuch as Topic, Question + Relevance, etc.The authors have captures many essential but non-obvious aspects of real research, such as(I totally agree with these, after only a few years of research myself):* The core of a research paper is to make a CLAIM, back it with REASONS, support themwith EVIDENCE, ACKNOWLEDGE AND RESPOND to other views, and sometimes explainyour PRINCIPLES (WARRANTS) of reasoning. Finally, the SIGNIFICANCE of the claim mustbe explained.* Most researchers will tell you that as often as not, their papers are cited inaccurately,summarized carelessly, or critized ignorantly.* A good research paper must anticipate and respond to reader's predictable questionsand objections. Doing this, rather than trying to sell your point by playing down allother views or contradiction evidence, will easily be sensed and hurt your ethos,which over times hardens into your reputations, your most important asset asa researcher, and something delicate : if you lose it, you will probably never regain itno matter how many better papers you write.* The meeting of other views, discussion of weaknesses in your arguments,and hedging (specifying the limiting assumptions of your claim) have to be donein a well-balanced way : too little and too much attention is drawn away from yourmain arguments and you seem timid and your conclusions unreliable, too much and you seemarrogant and even unethical, losing the trust of the readers.* Discuss all available evidence, also weak or ambiguous. Explain why you think thatevidence has low reliability. Both if it supports your claim or goes against it.Confiding low reliability for evidence supporting your claim increases the trustfrom the reader.* There is no cure [for accurate reporting] than checking, rechecking, and rechecking again.* When you want to criticize a source for being unclear, it looks nice to formulate it like"We do not clearly see", "We do not understand", etc,i.e. formulate it like YOU have failedto understand rather than bluntly state that its badly written.* Another nice way to lay out critique is to first give a plus : "Although the treatment of Xis exemplary, the simple approximation used for Y might lead to serious errors". Or,"Smiths evidence is important, but we must look at all the available evidence."* Introductions should start with a brief summary of sources relevant for your claim. Avoid a longaccount of marginally relevant sources. Then, come to open questions still lacking in the field,or gaps in previous sources. After that, explain the value of being able to answer those questions.Finally, either state your answer already here, or "promise" an answer at the end of the paper.* Their quotation from Hemingway is really good when it comes to revising : "You know you'rewriting well when your discarding stuff that you know is good, but not as good as what you keep."I often found myself being a bit paralyzed with a draft containing many half-good paragraphs,all not fitting so well together. One has to overcome to barrier to delete half-good stuff : once youstart doing that and don't is as 'sacred' because its been there for solong, you get into a flow in writing and the manuscript improves quickly. Yes you may end uprewriting a whole section, but you'll be surprised at how quick it goes and how much it oftenimproves! The authors here suggest to keep sections-paragraphs only if they either directlyadd to the ARGUMENT you are making in the paper, or that they provide CONTEXT/BACKGROUNDfor the analysis. Just stating facts or some numbers you have calculated are not of interest tothe reader unless they relate to your point. And the key here is not to be afraid to discardstuff that only has MARGINAL relevance : keeping all such material makes for a bloated, longand boring paper where the main points get lost. If anyone actually needs some particular numberof your calculation, they will ask for it and cite you anyway.* The point of each paragraph should be summarized in the first or last sentence(s).Avoid too short paragraphs (less than 5 sentences), except for transitions andconclusions.* Drafts have to be given time to "cool". What looks good one day often looks completelydifferent upon a fresh look a few days later. Therefore, it is of no use to makelast-minute changes just before submission : chances are you write something bad.* You think your graphics and plots speak for themselves, but your readers won't. You haveto highlight what you want them to notice in them, and choose what to plot to emphasizeyour point. For example, you can make the most important line bold, but a box around the most importantpoints, or add a line showing that a difference between two lines has increased, if this is your point.* Graphs should be kept as simple as possible : consider skipping marginally relevant data in them,for the same reason as one should cut marginally relevant paragraphs. Keep only data relevantto your point.* For readability, label lines inside the plot, rather than in a legend (forces the eye to go back and forth)* In the legend you should NOT explain that the data imply : this should be in the text.* No matter what you write, it will never be perfect. Still, you build an illusion that if you have justone more month, week, or day, you can actually finish it. Its not so! You will NEVER be satisfiedwith it. So one should set deadlines and make the best possible product within that time.Strange as it sounds, after working 2-3 YEARS on a short paper, one is still feeling there are dozensof places which are not quite good enough. But it has to go. Otherwise insanity will catch upwith you for sure.* A generally successful work flow is to draft quickly, revise carefully, and toss irrelevant stuff.Drafting quickly means writing with a flow, not pausing to get details, references and exactnumber right, but rather the general structure and logic of the section.* Make sure the numbers you present are rounded to a reasonably accuracy.Kindle version is not great : one cannot scroll between chapters for whatever reason, and there arequite a few "special text boxes" where the font is very small.

It's easy to get buried in research, because it's so much fun. At least I think so. This book proves it can be even better if one is focused and organized. It has a wealth of information to share with writers, particularly those working in the nonfiction realm. Finding sources, crafting your arguments to make them beneficial to the overall objective, organizing the mountains of research material like notes, photos, interview recordings, etc. I found the Quick Tips helpful, and I liked learning more about storyboarding, which is a great way to actually "visualize" the story itself, not just in words. It is helpful also in outlining work so fiction. The book is written well and will help writers get from that research phase into actually writing, which can be a tough transition if you find the research phase infinitely more fun. I like both, but I admit I'm happy to wade around in the research for longer periods of time with each new project. There's just so much information out there, and almost limitless perspectives on a given topic.This is a tool worthy of a writer's investment of time as part of his/her own continuing education ont he craft. It can only help, particularly the electronic version, which will allow a writer to keep his/her notes and bookmarks at hand whenever they need to refer back. Definitely worth the investment.