Documenting Sources in Government & Politics and Sociology

Various formats are used for documenting sources in the social sciences. Ask if your instructor prefers a particular style. The traditional note and bibliography form prescribed by Turabian in A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations or the Chicago Manual of Style usually is acceptable.

Documenting Special Sources: Broadcasts, Interviews and Legal Citations

For a paper on current events, you may wish to refer to a television or radio news show or documentary. Other assignments may require citing court cases or interviewing knowledgeable persons. Always ask your instructor what specific information to include in such references. Remember that the purpose of documentation is to give your reader enough information to locate the original source.

In general, a reference to a TV show might look like this:

	    
1 Gary Sick, former member of President Carter's National Security Council, 
    interviewed by Ted Koppel on Nightline, ABC, May 7, 1991.
	    
        

If your information comes from a personal interview, cite it as follows:

	    
2 Toney Anaya, former Governor of New Mexico, telephone interview, May 15, 1991.
	    
	    

What if the interview was confidential and you are obliged to protect the name of the person you interviewed? For example, this might affect a SOCY student who interviews battered women for a paper on domestic violence. You have several choices here. You might insert a statement like this in the text of your paper:

All interviews were conducted during January of 1993 and were confidential. Subjects have been assigned pseudonyms to protect their identities.

When you refer to such an interview later in the text, you might handle it like this:

"I lived with fear every day," said "Suzie." She suffered for years from nightmares and stomach troubles she now attributes to her abusive husband.

However, if you have only a few confidential sources, you might, using the traditional footnote/endnote form, refer to those interviews in this fashion:

		 
1 Personal interview with a member of the Naval Investigative Service, August 6, 1991.
         
		 

Students in GVPT courses may need to quote from a statute (a law) or a judicial ruling. The following explanations of legal citations come from Government by the People, Brief Edition, by James MacGregor Burns, J. W. Peltason, and Thomas E. Cronin. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1994.

To find current laws on a topic, it is best to refer to the United States Code, which contains the public laws of the United States that are currently in force. The official edition of the United States Code is published every six years. Supplements are issued annually between editions. The laws are arranged according to fifty titles; each title is divided into sections, and each section is broken down into paragraphs that are consecutively numbered for each title. The fifty titles cover such subjects as Congress, Title 2; Armed Forces, Title 10; Bankruptcy, Title 11; Labor, Title 29; and so on. The Code is cited by title and paragraph. The citation of the Taft-Hartley Act, for example, is 29 U.S.C. 141 ff (Burns, Peltason, and Cronin 399-400).

The decisions of the Supreme Court are published by the government in numbered volumes known as the United States Reports. Cases are cited by volume and page number: Regents of the University of California vs. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265 (1979) means that this case can be found in the 438th volume of the United States Reports, on page 265, and that the opinion was handed down in 1979 (Burns, Peltason, and Cronin 446).

Writing Essay Exams in the Social Sciences

Make sure you understand the question before you start writing. If necessary, write your interpretation of the question so that the instructor knows how you have understood it.

Quickly jot down some notes on the main points that you want to discuss.

Have a thesis. Don't write blindly. The best answers describe, explain, and justify your point.

Write your answer using social science terms. Use the vocabulary you learned in class.

Give a balanced presentation of controversial issues unless you are specifically instructed to do otherwise. Be wary of framing your answer in absolute terms. Few things in the social sciences are absolute and unvarying. Generalizations have their exceptions!

Illustrate your points with examples. Choose your examples carefully and don't get carried away. Be sure to return to the major point of the essay.

Cite from sources you have read. This demonstrates that you did the reading and gives greater credibility to your arguments.

Take time to reread your answers. Ask yourself these questions:

• Are my points clear?
• Is the essay well-organized?
• Did I use specialized vocabulary correctly?
• Have I illustrated my points with carefully-chosen examples?
• DID I ANSWER THE QUESTION?

If you have terrible handwriting, please print. And leave some room in the margins of the paper. Your teachers are more likely to write comments if you leave some place to put them.

Choose a topic that interests you and relates to the class. It is easier to find information on topics that have been widely discussed in the mass media. (Instructors often require a minimum number of sources for a paper. For example, at least five sources would be typical for this sort of assignment.) Your paper should include a description, analysis, and evaluation of a current social or political issue.

Most social and political problems are quite confusing. Your task is to accurately simplify a complicated topic. A typical “social problem” paper would be 5-10 pages (typed, double-spaced) plus notes and bibliography.

Suggested Paper Outline

• Define the Problem
  Many social problems are invisible until someone, usually a social group or political leader, defines a situation as a “problem.” But people rarely see the problem the same way. In this section of your paper, try to describe the problem objectively. You can rely on authorities in your description but should try to get some data to help define the problem as well.
• Explain the Causes of the Problem
  What is the major cause of the problem? If everyone agrees, report on their consensus. However, analysts often disagree on the causes of social and political problems. In that case, describe the most commonly offered explanations.
• Describe the Alternative Solutions to the Problem
  Because analysts often differ on the nature of the problem, they usually differ also on the best way to overcome the problem. What “solutions” have been proposed to “solve” the problem? Who offers those proposals? What policies or programs would be necessary, according to the advocates of each solution?
• Evaluate the Proposed Solutions
  In your judgment, which solutions would be effective, and why? In your judgment, which solutions are most politically feasible; that is, most likely to be adopted as public policy?
• Offer your own Interpretation
  At this point, you have some expertise on the topic. So what do you think? Is something missing from the debate? Do the “experts” make sense? Does the issue deserve more or less attention from the public? This advice bears repeating: offer your own interpretation!

Writing a Book Review

A book report simply summarizes a book, chapter by chapter. University instructors rarely assign book reports. Instead, they assign book reviews. A book review provides both a description and an assessment of the book. Newsweek and Time as well as professional journals often include brief reviews. You might read a few before writing your own. A comprehensive book review covers the following topics:

1. A little bit of information about the author’s background and qualifications for writing the book. This information is not always available, but you should try to find out something about the author.

2. A description of the book’s purpose. What is the topic? What questions is the book trying to answer?

3. A summary of the book’s thesis. Reference books do not have theses, but most other academic books will. What are the author's main points?

4. A description of the information and evidence the author uses to back up the thesis. Are the author’s arguments based on anecdotes and hearsay, observation, interviews, or statistical data?

5. An evaluation of the information and evidence in the book. Does the evidence seem trustworthy? If not, why not?

6. An assessment of the author’s interpretation of the evidence. Does the author seem biased? If so, in what way? Could someone interpret the evidence differently? If so, explain how.

7. A judgment of the book’s importance. Does it cover a new topic? If not, does the author offer new insights on an old topic or simply rehash old ideas?

8. A description of the book’s likely audience. Who might find it interesting? Is it aimed at a general audience or is it more appropriate for specialists?

9. Comments on the author’s style of presentation. Is the book clear and easy to read, or is it confusing? Does the argument “flow” smoothly? Does the book include notes, an index, and a bibliography? If not, should it have? If you noticed errors, poor printing, or some problem with the mechanical preparation of the book, you could mention those, too.

10. Your overall assessment of the book. Did you like it, dislike it, learn from it? How could it have been improved?

A Guide to Successful Interviewing

Some assignments in the social sciences require interviewing people. The following tips may help:

Be Prepared

Know the topic and be ready with appropriate questions. Do not waste people’s time getting them to introduce you to a subject when you could be getting more detailed information or their unique viewpoints.

Be Considerate

Under most circumstances, you should schedule interviews in advance and tell people how much of their time you would like.

Explain who you are and the purpose of the interview. (For example, “I’m writing a report on the future of the US military in Asia. I'd like your views on the role of the Navy in the Pacific.”)

Be prompt and courteous, even if you’re interviewing Attila the Hun.

Be prepared to take accurate notes. Tape recorders make some people squeamish. If your subjects are vulnerable—their comments could cause them public embarrassment or worse—you may want to promise CONFIDENTIALITY. This means that you will not reveal their names and will, if necessary, disguise their identities in your writing. If you make this promise, keep it.

After you ask questions, give people a chance to add any comments they consider important. These final words are sometimes the most interesting.

Offer to send them a completed copy of your paper or report.

Follow up with a note thanking them for sharing their thoughts.

Be Objective

If you're interviewing someone whose personality or ideas you loathe or love, try to put aside your personal feelings. Listen to what is said. Make your judgment after the interview is over.