34 Summary

After outlining the basics of academic writing, we highlighted the importance of genre in social science writing. There are a lot of different audiences out there, and it is your job to figure out which you can and want to write for. Afterwards, we provided a brief overview of key writing advice for different genres in the social sciences: quantitative, qualitative, and theoretical. This overview was followed by a list of helpful writing tips for each genre and a checklist to keep these tips in mind as you are revising.

None of these sections approach a comprehensive treatment of academic writing. They are written as snapshots of good academic writing practices and intend to guide you towards further academic writing books specific to your genre. We hope, for that reason, that you consider looking into the suggested readings. They are organized by genre and are excellent academic writing handbooks for each.