What is unique about writings in the social sciences? Discuss this question in light of the reading, and, also, respond to this question based on your experience reading texts related to the social sciences.
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I believe that what is unique about writing in the social sciences is that in this discipline your answering to a bigger question in which your opinion is not the only thing that matter, what matter is how you came to have this opinion. In the social sciences not only you need to write what you believe, but provide research or evidence of why you believe this. Also, a good writer in the social sciences is able to combine his/her own argument and research with the opinion of others. In the social sciences, you first need to review what orders have said about your topic (Literature review), and then, your analysis should provide information about your own research and opinion.
As the reading so greatly stated, writing in the social sciences is unique since you are writing for “more than just your opinions.” As also stated in the reading, writing in the social sciences is basically pitting your own ideas and information against prior research or established conventions of thought, which consequentially demands you to start off your writing with “what the others have said”. With that said, there is a large emphasis on answering the question of “so what?” or “how does this contribute to the discussion?” or “what are the possible implications of this new idea/information?”.
Writings in the social sciences are unique because it is beyond just your opinion. Social science is the study of people and their behaviors. For example, what people do and why they do what they do. Therefore, writings in social science require us to know how we came up with our opinion, be able to back it up, and include other’s opinions on the topic.
Every person’s thoughts are unique in some way, with the social sciences it is easier to understand what is so unique about them. Responding to writings of the social sciences causes a relationship to occur between the reader and writer that doesn’t occur in other works of writing like fiction. In the social sciences there is some concrete knowledge but not all. When a reader reads and analyzes a writing of the social sciences they will be accepting or taking in what the writer has said and then formulating their own conclusion. Writings of the social sciences are meant to teach and persuade readers about how the writer came across their conclusion. It is a story that has no end as the writer passes on their knowledge, and the reader takes this knowledge and adds their own ideas. Not everyone comes to the same conclusion in the social sciences because there is too much to explore in truth, there are too many differences in the way that people think that cause people to interpret things differently. Writings of the social sciences create a path for the reader to take but then eventually bridges off as the reader develops their own conclusions.
Writings in the social sciences are special in that they are often largely speculative. While a group of sociologists could be provided with the same set of facts, based off their world views and personal biases, they could all come to different conclusions. While this may prove to be detrimental in some situations, it also goes to show the complexity of the human being. Social sciences don’t necessarily advance like many other sciences do. While it is possible to have massive breakthroughs that continue throughout history, social sciences are affected by many factors that happen to change throughout the years. As a result of this, it’s possible for a ground-breaking discovery to be considered practically irrelevant in merely a few years.