Writing Empirical Research Reports: A Basic Guide for Students of the Social and Behavioral Sciences

Rating:
Summary: Being Forced to Take the Bait
Review: I'll let you in on a perfect get-rich scheme. Enter the college textbook market.

Mr. Pyrczak is certainly not responsible for the completely ridiculous nature of that market, but his book is a perfect example of the problem. College textbook publishers have perfected the art of manufacturing flimsy, inconsequential, and ultimately un-educational books, selling them at horrifically inflated prices, and encouraging professors to require students to buy them. This particular book is somehow required at my graduate program with extremely little merit. This appallingly weak volume doesn't nearly justify its twenty-plus dollar price tag and can be considered far beneath the abilities of the advanced students who are required to use it. Look no further than the introduction for proof. Pyrczak first admits that the book is not meant to be a style manual or a discussion of the mechanics of word usage. That explains how skinny the book is, but it certainly doesn't explain the price. Then there is the admission that the entire book is based on generalizations which may or may not be useful for particular academic situations. The next admission is that experienced writers will often feel free to violate any of the guidelines covered herein. See pages v-vi for all of the above in plain view, and then wonder why the book even exists.

Speaking of experienced writers, I and others like me didn't get to the academic levels at which this book is required without having known these "guidelines" for years and years. Thus, this volume is far beneath its intended audience - that is, those who are required to purchase it. For example, I am not impressed by middle school-level pointers like "The importance of a topic should be explicitly stated in the introduction," nor do I need an entire chapter on how to create a title. This book should be sold to teens who are writing for the first time, and for about one-third the price. As for me, I've been reeled in and clubbed over the head, like the type of big dumb fish that the publishers assumed me to be. [~doomsdayer520~]