Department of Sociology and Anthropology Style Sheet

(Revised 1992, 1999)

Our Department is concerned that students be aware of certain rules for the preparation of term papers.  By making them aware of certain procedures that should be followed in writing papers, the Department hopes to increase the effectiveness of the presentation of their ideas.  To this end, the faculty members have decided on a set of guidelines that should be followed in writing papers for courses offered by the Department.  These procedures are by no means fixed; alternate forms or options may be noted by individual professors.

This style sheet reviews the procedures for organizing and presenting term papers. It also presents a modified version of the American Sociological Review style format, which has been adopted by the Department.  You can access these sections quickly by clicking on the relevant links here:

Organization of Papers
Presentation of Papers
Formats for Citations and References

 
Organization of Papers

One of the most difficult problems encountered by a student in writing a paper is that of organization.  While all papers may not fit into the organizational format given below, this is the general pattern that should be followed.  Organization is the most important aspect of communication in written assignments.  Typing and spelling errors are annoying, but lack of organization is a serious barrier to understanding.

1.   Every standard term paper or essay should have a beginning, a middle, and an end, which represent the introduction, development of idea(s), and conclusion, respectively.  State clearly what you intend to do in the paper at the beginning.  Then follow through on it in the body of the paper.  Finally, summarize and/or conclude with general statements; do not end on a detail that belongs in the body of the paper.

2.  There should be clear transitions and explicit linkages between detailed examples and the points they are meant to exemplify.  Don't make the reader have to guess what your point is or imagine the relevance of apparently random statements.

3.  One useful tool in the writing of well organized papers is the outline, which can be general or more specific to suit your needs.  A brainstorming sheet for random ideas can serve as raw material for the subsequent construction of an outline.

 
Papers are evaluated according to content and format. As a general rule, be as concise as possible. A paper should contain at least one original idea that is developed in the content of the paper.
 
 

   Presentation of Papers

Before doing final revisions and turning in a paper, be sure you are using a consistent style of writing, citations, and format.  Two excellent books on style, grammar, and formatting (except for citations and references, discussed later) are:

Turabian, Kate L.  1996.  A Manual for Writers of Term Papers Theses, and Dissertations, sixth edition.  Chicago, Illinois:  University of Chicago Press.

Hacker, Diane.  1989.  A Writer's Reference.  New York:  St. Martin's Press.

 
Prepare your paper in the following manner:

1.  Type your paper (including footnotes and bibliography) on standard white paper, using standard 1-inch margins and double-spaced lines. 

2.  Always back up your computer files on extra diskettes or e-mail yourself a copy.  Too many students have lost many hours of work to a disastrous computer glitch by carelessly neglecting to copy their files to alternate forms of back-up.

3.  Revise.  Your paper will be considerably better if you review and revise it for organization, logical structure, clarity of expression, grammar and spelling.  "Overnight wonders" are an oxymoron.

4.  Proofread.  Extensive typographical errors detract from your credibility, distract the reader, and advertise that completed the paper in haste.

5.  Attach a cover page with the paper title, author, course number, date, and honor code (written out in full and signed).

6.  Staple or bind your paper and add a blank sheet at the end of the paper for comments.

7. Submit at least one copy of your paper to the professor and keep another for your own files.

 

 

   Formats for Citations and References
 

The Department uses a modified version of the format guidelines of the American Sociological Review for the following topics:

Citations
Footnotes and endnotes
Bibliographic references
Equations
Tables and figures

 
1.  Citations in the text cite the last name of the author and year of publication. Include page references whenever you think it would help the reader.  Identify subsequent citations of the same source in the same way as the first.  Examples follow:

• If author's name is in the text, follow it with year in parentheses:
  ["...Duncan (1959)."]
   
• If author's name is not in the text, enclose the last name and year in parentheses:
  ["...(Gouldner 1963)."]
   
• Page numbers follow year of publication after a colon:
  ["...Kuhn (1970:71)."]
   
• Give both last names for joint authors:
  ["...(Martin and Bailey 1988)."]
   
• Give all last names the first time a work is cited in the text for more than two authors; for later citations, name the first author and the abbreviation "et al." (Latin for "and others"):
  ["...(Carr, Smith, Jones 1962).  And later...(Carr et al. 1962)."]
   
• Separate a series of references with semicolon:
  ["...(Burgess 1968; Marwell et al. 1971)..."]
   
• For machine-readable data files, cite author (or institution) and date:
  ["...(Institute for Survey Research 1976)."]
   

2.  Footnotes and endnotes are useful for adding details or explanations about points presented in the main text or a table.  Current sociologists and anthropologists no longer use footnotes for references, since they have adopted the embedded author/date format, explained above.  Select the options in your word processor to type the footnote contents at the bottom of the page below a separator line, or as endnotes listed in a separate section before the bibliographic section.  The computer should insert the numbers in the text using superscript Arabic numerals and number them consecutively throughout the text.
["...based on research conducted in Baltimore.²  However,...]
 
Because long footnotes distract the reader, use them only when they are absolutely necessary.  Rather than including detailed or complex material in a footnote, consider (i) indicating that the material is available from another author, or (ii) adding an appendix, in which case insert a reference in the text, such as, "(see Appendix A for complete derivation)."
 

3.  Bibliographic references follow the text and endnotes in a section headed "References" or "Bibliography."  All references used in the text must be listed in this section, and vice versa.  Publication information for each must be complete and correct.

Type the references alphabetically by the last name of the author.  For single-authored works, type the last name, then the first name.   If there is more than one author, reverse only the name of the first author ("Jones, Arthur B., Colin D. Smith, and James Petersen").  List the full name of all authors, avoiding the use of "et al.," which is acceptable only in the citation embedded in the text.  If there are two or more items by the same author, list them in the order of year of publication.  If the author's publications appeared in the same year,  distinguish them by adding letters (Bernstein 1976a, 1976b).

Here are a few examples; more can be found in recent issues of American Sociological Review.

• Books:

Mason, Karen O.  1974.  Women's Labor Force Participation and Fertility.  Research Triangle Park, NC:  National Institutes of Health.

U. S. Bureau of the Census. 1990.  Census of Population and Housing: Summary Social, Economic, and Housing Characteristics:  United States.  Washington, D. C.:  U. S. Government Printing Office.

 
• Articles in periodicals:
   
  Brenner, Suzanne.  1996.  "Reconstructing Self and Society:  Javanese Muslim Women and the Veil."  American Ethnologist 4 (23):673-697.

  Goodman, Leo A.  1947a.  "Exploratory Latent Structure Analysis Using Both Identifiable and Unidentifiable Models."  Biometrika 61:215-31.

  __________. 1947b.  "The Analysis of Qualitative Variables When Some of the Variables are Unobservable.  Part I:  A Modified Latent Structure Approach."  American Journal of Sociology 79:1179-1259.

   
• Articles in edited books:
   
  Adler, Patricia A. and Peter Adler.  1994.  "Backboards and Blackboards:  College Athletes and Role Engulfment."  Pp. 131-145 in Sociological Footprints:  Introductory Readings in Sociology (6th ed.), ed. Leonard Cargan and Jeanne H. Ballantine.  Belmont, California:  Wadsworth.

  Hinsley, Curtis M.  1991.  "The World as Marketplace:  Commodification of the Exotic at the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893."  Pp. 344-365 in Exhibiting Cultures:  The Poetics and Politics of Museum Display, ed. Ivan Karp and Stephan D. Lavine.  Washington, D.C.:  Smithsonian Institution.

   
• Machine-readable data files
  
  American Institute of Public Opinion. 1976.  Gallup Public Opinion Poll #965 [MRDF].  Princeton:  American Institute of Public Opinion [producer].  New Haven:  Roper Public Opinion Research Center, Yale University [distributor].

  Miller, Warren, Arthur Miller, and Gerald Klein. 1975.  The CPS 1974 American National Election Study MRDF].  Ann Arbor:  Center for Political Studies, University of Michigan [producer].  Ann Arbor: Inter-University Consortium [distributor].
   

4.  Equations in the text must be typed.  Important equations should be identified by consecutive Arabic numbers in parentheses at the right.  Expressions should be aligned and compound subscripts and superscripts clearly marked.  Clarify all symbols with notes circled in the margin.
 

5.  Tables and figures should be numbered and adequately labelled.  Number all the tables consecutively throughout the text.  Each table must include a descriptive title and headings for columns and rows.  Gather general footnotes to tables as "Note:" or "Notes:".  Use "a, b, c," etc. for footnotes.  Asterisks * and/or ** indicate significance at the 5 percent and 1 percent levels, respectively.

In a separate sequence, number all figures and/or illustrations consecutively throughout the text.  Each should be accompanied by a descriptive caption.

 
If you have further questions about any style or format issues, do not be shy about asking your professors for further information or guidelines.  They will appreciate your attention to scholarly matters.