Writing for Social | Scientists How to Start and Finish Your Thesis, Book, or Article Second Ealtion Howard 8. Becker ‘with a chapter by Pamela Richards ‘The Univers of Cleago Prose Cheng and Londonby Pamela Richards the sty would be more dificult than i tuned out to be. The prison officals made her entance easy, and the residents, initially suspicious, son talked to her [freely ond gave her acess to mos prison activities, ‘After a year she had occumtloted w substantial file of field notes and knew a great deal about life in this Dison. She thought she ought to begin writing up her Fesulls, Wo had eomesponded earlier about he fil ‘work problams so she confided that she was having trouble geting sorted. Since she hed successfully twiten up her eolier research she thought there might be something about quolittive moteials that requled ardiferent approach. and she asked mo about T brought out my standard remedy, mentioned eo lie, suggesting that sho sit down and wete whatever ome into her head, as though the study were done, bat without consulting her field note, tho Ierture on Dulsons. or onvthing else. I told hor to keep Iyping a fast as he could. When she got stuck, I sugested, she should type in "Pm stuck” and goon to another topic. Then she could road the seaulte and ste whet she thought wos tue, la that way, she would find ot how tocanalyze ber field meterils, because she would have {oeheck them oof what she thought was tue cally Wwasand, noe whot wa. In any cas, sd, he could produce alot of rough dof quickly and that would be TThave given this advice to many people over the years. Netimany take t They don't aru with me, they Fast don't'do it 1 had always found that hard to Understand, but the results of my advice to Pamala halped me to sce why they were so bolky. She wasnt bulky. but, becouse she was reflective and articulate, She could make clor what others had found trouble: Tot while 1 heard nothing from her. Then she ‘wrote to se thet she had followed my advice and wat fnelosng the fifty pages she hed waite in ton dys at ‘result That eked mo, of conree. W's rewarding 280‘youradvice payoff But her accompanying lterraleed what tomed ou to be an important question, ne for hic, witha ite prodding she provided a wonder- Fully detailed answer. She itote that she hod rented @ cabin inthe woods to live in while she tied the experiment of writing the draft, "Even though Iknew it would be avery high sk operation,” the sald,“ decided to ty it anywey.” 1 couldn't understand what she meant. She was 2 wel tstobished. professional sho had published In 16 Spece journals and coauthored a book, ‘She gare papers at profesional meetings ond hed just been promoted dad given tenure, She had, in otter words, been through the scariest tale thet oflet young ‘cademice. Where wa the risk? Here was my chance to use the “research mathod! that had ben s successful with Rosanno Hers wrote mela, asking her to explein what was so risky about siting at a typewriter for ten days and waiting ony ‘dom thing that cme into her ead. At worst, pointed ‘ut, he would have waste the time she had spent on it but tht can never be much of a pice fr someone who otherwise might nat have weltlen anything ot al ‘Again! didn’t hear for awhile, Then Igo the lter that follows explaining honestly and personally whet lay behind that casual remark. originally intended to ‘ute what she wrote ae row material for on analysis of the problems of risk As Tvetead what she had wetter, Iwrever it was clear that Feould add vty litle het tory and analysts, $0 1 asked her ff she would b ‘uthor ofthe body of thi chapter, for which T would Simply wito an Introduction and whatever else wos ‘nceesary toate itt thereat ofthe book. She agreed. Ws.on unorthodox way of dotng things. butt seems the eat ond moat honest way of geting what needs Yo be seid said: What follows 1s her leter answering my Dear Howie, T jus Bnished to cups of cofes while thinking shoot the igue of risk. My metlations have to stat ‘with geo dreams that ve had inthe lst week, Two re about isk among many ether things, 'm se) and fone is about pushing Unough the risk. Actually, only {ho ae dreams, the other fa diferent sort of midnight ‘vent that suflered through right belore | eceived your Inter. Tn my frst dream, Thad sont copies of three chapter drafts to. close fiend ve known since graduate School They were the tame draft that sent to you. (Chavon really sent her ansthingyet) She and Ime st ‘he American Sociologia! Assocation mectins in San Francisco, and she brought a huge stack of written ‘comments with her. She was angry with me, and the comments were scathing. They went on for page ater page: “This Is absolutely the stupidest stu you've ver waite... How could yo say such things, Dont you rele the politically objectionable ature ct what you've sald here... Whats wrong with you, haven’ you any sense at al? -'This ls nothing but bullshit" As reed through the stack of comments, shes thor and simply glowered a me, andl elt ke ‘the ovated to take me bythe shoulders and shake me Ull my teeth ell ont Netoraly I bog to exy—sllenly, with the tears running doven my fce I wantd to wall ‘nd kaon and run away, but because we were atthe meotings and thee were ll these colleagues around, Tid to koop as good a face on ies posible. I folt terible, Betrayed, pera, but not ee hed let her elven flt hat ad flied to easuve up to what she ‘expected of me, and tht this praliminary work had Somehow demonstrated that 1 was a shit~intllact aly. personally, poteally, and morally. sagged up fom the able where 1 wat resding the comments She leaned back in har chalr and watched mo. Her fac was old and the anger hed tured to disgust. Then some: how T was pushing my way though a crowd ofconventioning socioogsts (none of whom I knew) trying to-get out. I kept bumping into them, saying "Bxeuse me," ut no one rexponded much. They didnt oven really lookin my dvection wha I ran night into them. Then Two ip, ‘Now for some balance {had 8 second dream that night, it seemed to be right after that one (Td boon reading Lill Hellmen’s An Unfinished Woman and Pentimenio. Over and overend over {dont quite know Why.) Im the second dream I was sting fn 8 chait ‘composing things forthe book onthe women’s prison Tm not sure what chaptar or what tope, but the words ‘were flowing beeuifuly. 1 wasnt waiting them down: Inston war speaking hem andthe just rolled out of my mouth, Everything was perfoc, the style was gos feous, and I'eas conscioe of the fact that stall ‘Sounded a Lillian Hellnan were weting tit was feracly the same syle, the same marching sentences, th samo foel and expression. It wes wonderful. fot ‘very powerful and flly in command of what { was ‘doing T know i wae ood sto, Knew it was elogant, land even began gontoring ae Iwas speaking. almost ae ‘ware ora interpretation. When tase, Ifo sort of fated up into consciousness slowly and comfortably, ‘very pleased with mysel end what Lhad accomplished ‘But then, to nighs ago Ifashed out of deopsleop (oo droam tis time) with peractly formed, crystal {ine conviction. know, abeoutely and with complete carlanty. that war fad. Tho knowledge ast {onstucied through some explicit argument it didnt Sdevolop out of anything Trecognzod: twas jus there So bepan turning it ever in my mind, tying to 800 ‘what might bo on th underside and It began to take on bet form: "ama fraud bocnne I dont rok the way everyone ele dos. don't read the class as bedtime ‘eading: ell, don't oad anything excaptweled novels ‘Sd stl that has nothing todo with my ‘work’ dont Sit in tho libzary taking nots don't read the journals ‘overt cove: and what's wore, I don"t want fo. am) not schola, am not « sociologist because 1 don't now any sociology. Thavon the commitment to steep rnysolf in tho ideas and thoughts of The Masters. 1 ‘couldn't converse meaningfully about The Literature ‘on eny top including those in which 1am allegedly a ‘pecalist Even wore have the temerity to claim that Tem doing «stay of women's prisons, when Infact 1 haven't done tight don't know al sorts of thing ‘ought to know, and cant seem to force mysel todo t the way sought tobe dane: Wore still {know I ave to gn back soon and do antier data push ling in the holes, expanding things, and doing tight this tine. And I dont want to. 'm oo tired. ‘Nattoo useful for he mile ofthe night right? God leas torture. wen! round and round on thes sorte of thlogs, geting angry and rghtened by ture 1 simpy ‘couldnt shake the conviction tha Iwas 4 fraud. The main tason? T don't do sociology” the ay all sy Calloggues appa odo and the way i's supposed to tie done, (And ve hal a dry period as fr as weting s2es-elmost two weeks—which lads rapidly to the Envietion that I am a lazy parasite who doasn't do fnything anything a all) The fet that {know hat no fone works the way they say they do and that no one hows the perect mathodological line doesn" help ‘much because I cannot translate this knowledge into futevel belie. fool vlnrable. Others can gt me i Teton that tama misshapen limp ofa sociologist, even If ihey ae equally misshapen So what does all this vo to do with risk? Forme siting down to write sky because st mean that haveto open myself to srutiny, Todo that roqute that rust myself and it also means that Ihave to trust my calleaguon.By far the moro tcl af there e the late, ‘because itis collegues responses that make it possible {ore to trast mysot. So have dreams of self-doubt fand personal atlack by ane of my closest and most {rast friends, (God, is hard to trust colleguos. There's more atstake than simply beng auphod at Every pace of work ‘an be used as evidence about what kind of aocolo- fst (an person} you are. Peers read your work and say, Holl thar's not So bright. could do beter than that She's not so hot ater all.” (And, by extension, they decide that your public ecto socilogat i fraudulent) ‘The discipline i¢st up in such «competitive fashion that we assuage our oten insecurities by denigrating others, aon publicly. There's always a nagging foot 2 of us who are junior unknown soclologss) en poor can make alfiand comment about us that will become par of our profesional image those ‘comments are cts! of negative, its dangerous, This ‘makes i very sakytogiva dite of anything to pers Fev poople understand what working dats ace They assume that frst drafts eo jst one step removed from boing sent out for review. So if you thow up with & working fest dal, you wort about what cold ap pon. They could decide that it's shoddy work, poorly onstracted. and really quite slopzy. The conclusion? ‘That you're not much of a sociologist if you pass sazound such cmp. And hat they tel tat fo others? ‘But say you can convineo them that « working frst draft is indeed working drat that it hes bus ‘whapped out na stream of consciournes fasion, that ‘ts truly jst fr Idee, I's ail teribly risky bocause the reader may not be looking fr gret grammar and ‘wollturned phrases, but she is Tooking for stunning das. in somo ways thie is even mote terrifying. Itt {des that are on theline, not ability to wit, How ott have you heard someone say, "Well the may not be sll to write, but po ir abe brillant” Ie OK to write like a college sopbomore i you aro bright. I you give fomeone a working drt to read, what you're osking them fo dots pass Judgment on your alli to think Sectologically. You's asking them to decide whether you ao smart or no and whether or not you eevee ocologaIl there ae no Rashes of insight no ting fdeas, what will the reader conclude? That you's ‘ae stupid. If she tll that to anyone ose, t's tho Kiss of ‘leath, Hence the fer af letting anyone see working rafts cannot face the possbity of poople thinking Tim atupid Most ofthese points lo apply to letting sociologists oer than your peers soe yur work, but with some thing ofe twit. There ee Unc when giving your work to zenior collegues seams even more dangerous than fving to peers Say you've an untemured faculty ‘mombur. What is the prectcal outcome of geting Known as a sloppy wotker (scenario 1 above) or & concrete brein (scenario 2)? What if mombers of the tenured faculty reach this conclusion about you and sour work” No grants, no Job flere, no promotions. That's risky. Professional reputtion i ied to pros onal portion, and few of ws have the power to say" ‘dnt care what you think ‘To overcome those fous, 1 take te ssk of boing thought sloppy oF stupid, you have to wust your col Toaguos. But tho discipline is rganizod in away that sindermines that trust at every turn. Your poo are ‘competing with you paycholgically (oh, the perversity that allows me to feel bfter when sonicone eis eats air) and structurally, Tenure, guns, goodies ere bee coming mare and moro prt of a zro-sum game, asthe Sscademic world fas the current economie crunch. ‘So poors are hard totus, especially thse close to you: thoso In your department or those in your spe- lat Is aap very easy to fear your senor colleagues becatsa you fol that they are constantly judging You, ‘Theyre supposed fo, because they are the Ones who fool that tay have the duty to weol out the good from tho bed inthis young crop of academics, They do alk to fone atherabost sour work nd tell one another what {hey think of your potential. Solow can you wust hema ‘ott al fale sehen they desde that sour rk ent very good? “hie problem of trust ie critical because It under- nines the kind of cxotional and intellectual freedom‘hat we all need if wear to crate. Who can you trast? imagine there area few people who are eo confident that they don't relly worry about what collegues ‘think, but they're special Breed, avery uncoenmon type. They just charge aheod, dropping of manuseipts left ond right, fling up people's mailboxes with page alter page of intresting and useful ideas, How fat possible” Soue of tham have the kind of personality that gives them this ably others (most) have the sructural froodom that gives them more power os, oa pve a darn what sciloget aresuposed to do, im doing what want” I've noted a ite it of ths (@ vary ttle bt, Ym ari) in mysol now hat { have tenure. 1's not that I necessarily trust anyone ‘ore, It's ust that I can be less concerod about the Impact of thelr nogaive judgments. ‘But trust, Who can you trust? When {think about the people rst to read my work, Loaiza ha they are people who already know how stupid Tan bet the people {went to graduate school with, the people who {aught me socology while was in graduate school, and few people since that me whom have come to know 8s rends a well es collegues. People who knew mo in graduate school have cen tal. and Know tha with them thor’ only one way Tenn go up. They've soon my early sttompls fo waite and think, supported me through that and believed thot there wat something Tueking here beneath al the confusion, Strat thts, ‘And, not incidentally, they trast me, We share things Back and forth because of thove early bonds. Aer al, nothing could rivel the pel involved in thse Brat Stomp to sneak out into the world, scribble a few ‘ote, and thon com home and try wo make something Gt And nothing can rival th exhilaration of having fomaane tall you that thot ting, tentative oferings ‘wore good. The colleagues since then who have also bhcome friends are few but precious, Our mutual ust comes fm heving tugged to overcome te structsal bamets that originally divided us. Like al endships, theyre the product of those cautious litle dance steps that move you clos together and then apa, near agatn land then farther vey, each approach creating & bit fmore ust and. concer. I have 20. prescription for treating thot trusting fiendships, though {wish I i. ‘With me its highly Idiosyncratic, lthoagh i some tUmes comes rom working ona shared research project. ‘Se thse are the people I trust with working drafts ‘The professional rik fe minimizod by ouF eominon history. Their esponse o me do something impertat, something ebsolutely critical fT am going to be able to Continue fo construct working dats Thtt responses convince me to ust mysel, beause for me, there's other ret rik involvod in writing. I's th risk of discovering that am incapable of doing sciaogy and, ty extension, tha um not«socolopet and therefore ‘not the person Ila tobe. Tha sk of belng found out fd judged by collagues is bound vp in the risk of Ting found out and fudged by mel! The two ae 90 Closely interwoven that it ie often hard for me t0 Separate them. How can you know tha you are dong (OK, that you are socilogat, unless somenne tells you for It's other people's responses that enable me to ‘endertad who Ta. "Those then ar the wists of risk: rst mysalf (and can therefore sk writing down my Ideas—things that Ihave made up) primarily because others ¥ trust have {old me that am OK. But noone can tell me thet st actually do something ntl 1 setslly write rome: thing down. So there {am faced with Unk pags, confronting the risk of discovering that I cannot do rat [et out to do and therefore azn not th person { protend tbe. haven't yot written anything so no one Ean help me firm my commitment and underscore my onan of who Iam. ‘Taeed to mention something else ebout gathering confidence fom the feedback of tried frends. You Frvefo trl these people not just treat you righ (oot to be competitive with you, nett all tales when Youise ne ‘moss up), but algo to tll you the ruth, I must believe ‘beoltey that if writ crap or think oie thought ‘hoy sil tll me. Ie ean" trast ther to tell me the truth, then thelr fedback will nt belp me ust ysel Tilalaye wonder whether my ideas ee realy good, of ‘whether they'e just tying to be nice. The feoing that Someone s huroring mes more damaging omy son of self than outright attack. Sure, wo all tell ito white Tiesto ach other. But there's got to bean underlying hhonety, or eally start spinning. We must believe that ‘te no sin to make misakar and no sin to critica, others foodbeck uses ‘How do ty to dea with il his rak and gt myself ‘moving? To begin wating tal, T sometimes havo to ook backward: say to myel, "Wel, may not have ‘written sbout prisons before, but I did write about juvenile delinquents, and people stem to think that ‘was accaplale" I's a Testa small tof comfort Ot Took fatto the future: Teall trusted fiende and tell them sbout my work I ran on and on, they make ‘pproplately comforting noses, and thon I fol a it ‘Songer Sometimes I fool strong enough to besin ‘writing There's something that 1 think many oft live: talking about work is lee of sk Usa wen, fot i In pat thas because no one remembers the os thet you speak But is also as if wo have en Informal aprement not to hold one anther responsible for anything we sey. So T can throw out somo safe comments, ther reinforcement, fester sbott my: fell and mayb tke that Stik. But there is catch owe too. Because whl we say dose’ count ti sy toTthink ofthese conversations ar inconsequential bul Buti think tht thon the Iistener's positive feedback {snot credible, because I conclude sh is rsponding to my act, my socologie's facade, rater than to 829 ‘esningll ideas however can learn 1 take talk erlouly, people's teponses can help me get he Brat ‘words down onthe page Tn tome way, wailing ge aslo tho more you doit ‘caus the more you do tthe more you lar that's feally notes reky as you fee. You havea history on ‘which t draw fr eof confidence, you have a bellav {hlerepctation among wider amber of people whom you can eal on tho phona, and bast of al. you have emonetrted to yoursel that taking the ssk can be wort You tok the risk, produced something and ‘ola! Poo! tht you are who you claim tobe. Though Tnust ls admit that not as eae a Tem making it sound, My waiting history gives me some confidence but Took at my past work with mixed emotions. It Tooke award and fl of eros, and tall myself hat [ust do beter My expectations chango constantly, tnd {continually redefine what Lconader tobe good ‘work, This means that evry time Tat down to write 1 Find myself wondering whether can relly do this tll a all So waiting is tl a risky activity But what Isso to bo learaing a8 {spend more ime iting ie that the risk ze worth taking Yes, produce tn appelling amount of rap, bu most ofthe ime Lean tel es rap before anyone elso guts a chance to look at And occasionally T produce something that fis, fomething Lilian Hellman might have written, some: {hing that captures exactly what | want to ay. Usally its jst a sentence to, bat the numberof those ‘sentences grow fst Keo plugngaway. This small hoard of goo sul sls hap me taka sks, Whon [fool seit [simply cannot walle sometimes go back and teread sections of something I've writen that ike. t Feminds ie that there are two sides to risk. You can Tose but you ca alo win. [tnd to think only long tnd that makes me fenfl. Rereading some good stuf ‘an sometimes get me started whom ler statgors fall, And Tim also sesing thatthe nagative side of fskaking i as bad as for. can hide the worst of the waiting Ido. Noone besides me need ever see — fand T throw i ou at quleky aa I can. What U show ‘ters ar thing that think have some ment and oven ‘the ocesional paragraph thet rolls besutifully oftheplaten In other words, Ihave some degree of control ‘ver the sks involved in wating and letting otbers too ‘what Ihave done. I am not completely at anyone's ‘ete, not even the mercy of my own imposible demands for perfecsion am allowed to throw things say ‘80, Bt it's the complenty of risk its dual nature, that elows me to dream of being stacked by a friend tnd of wtng lke Lilin Hellmen, bot inthe same ight. AS write more and more {bapa to understand that's not aloe nothing I Tactaliy write something doven, 1m labo to win a bit and lose abit Fora long lime fworkod under the burden of hiking that wa an allor-nthing proposition. What got writen had to ‘be priceless Iteraty pears or unmitgnted garbage. Not so. I's ust bunch of sul, more orlss sorted ito an ‘gument. Some of good, some of en 1 have nothing to add to this analysis, Pamela Richards has explored in detall the organization of peers and superiors ehoractersic ofthe world of the ‘Youngaacademic and shown vividly hw acts one's malingnes to take the chances that trying fo be @ professional intallectual confront you with. Having fro personal sores inthe Book gives you a feel for hat is peculiar 1o tho person and what is gener in the suction ond process. T don't know how typical these feelings are of other fields. F think they act most academics and intellectuals.