Writing for Anthropology and Sociology
Faculty in this discipline use writing to assess what you are learning and how well they—the faculty—are communicating the content of the course. Writing in ANSO is seen as a way to help professors get to know you as an individual and original thinker and to determine how well you are internalizing the concepts being taught and making them your own. Your professor wants to see that you can apply the sociological/anthropological perspective and the concepts being taught in the course to your chosen topic.
Good writing in anthropology and sociology will have clarity of purpose and simplicity of language. As one professor in the department assures students, “simplicity of prose is not equated with simplicity of thought.” In other words, rather than trying to dazzle your professor with jargon-filled or flowery language, aim to write clear, simple sentences that communicate your ideas, argument, and research. Specificity is another hallmark of good writing in this discipline. Rather than writing in generalities or abstract statements, faculty are looking for particularities and specific, real-world examples that illustrate the concept you’re discussing. This will help you build a single, coherent picture about the topic, rather than a series of disconnected or disparate thoughts. Tip: The passive voice is not just a style problem; it also contributes to a lack of clarity, clouding your ideas. Scour for it when you revise.
Your professor wants to get a sense of what this piece of writing will do and that you have a handle on what you’re planning to discuss very early in the paper. This does not need to come in a rote form of “First I will discuss A and then B,” but rather that you provide a clear indication of the direction you’re taking in your own style and voice. This clarity of purpose should come somewhere in the first few paragraphs, certainly on the first page of the paper. While you should provide a clear sense of the argument early on, it doesn’t have to give the whole story away. You can build the paper towards that conclusion. That said, your professor does not want to be surprised when they get to your conclusion, so build to it carefully. The anthropology and sociology department at Williams does not have a standard, expected structure for the papers submitted, and is known to lean toward the humanistic side of things, broadly. This means we are more flexible about the structure of a paper, but not about the need for the writing to be clear.
Please do! As one member of the department says, “we have given up the idea that there is capital O “observer.” We know there is a person behind the text. We expect that person to analyze the text, but the person writing the paper is a human who should use the first person. Plus, the first person allows students to write actively. Tip: As one sociology major explains, some faculty in the department hope you take their invitation to understand yourself and your perceptions of the world. “If I am offering my observations about the wealth economy, my background as someone from a single-mother household might be important.” It's always best to ask if personal information is appropriate to include in your paper, as different faculty have different expectations, but this points to another reason to use the first person when writing for ANSO.
One of the most common comments faculty in this department make is: “I wish the last paragraph had been the first paragraph.” We all do that as we write first drafts because we’re processing our thoughts through writing. It is only in revision that we can see that the conclusion we arrive at very often needs to be stated up front. In other words, don’t bury the lead.
Use the citation style your professor indicates they prefer. The Chicago Manual of Style "author/date" system is most common in this field.