Last Updated: September 2021
Below are some resources on writing that I collect and update periodically. Many of these are built from the authors’ years of teaching and writing and some have been in circulation for some time. Students: take from them what you can and want, but don’t let them hem you in. Authors and readers: please send any updates or additional resources that you’ve found useful.
Brinks, Dan. “Presenting and Offering Feedback on Colleagues’ Papers.”
Collier, David. “Notes on Writing and Editing”
Gerring, John with Joshua Yesnowitz and Stephen Bird. “General Advice on Social Science Writing”
Lakoff, George. “What Orwell Didn't Know: Propaganda and the New Face of American Politics” A response to an essay by Orwell.
Loehle, Craig. 1990. “A Guide to Increased Creativity in Research--Inspiration or Perspiration?” Bioscience 40 (2).
Luskin, Robert C. “Robert’s Rules: Suggestions for Writing”
Mciver, John. Editing 101.
Nisbett, Richard E. “The Anticreativity Letters: Advice From a Senior Tempter to a Junior Tempter.”
Orwell, George. "Politics and the English Language." See also a response to this by George Lakoff, cited above.
Pangle, Lorraine. “Checklist for Paper Writing”
Sparrow, Bartholomew. “Notes on Style.”
Starbuck, Bill. “Fussy Professor Starbuck's Cookbook of Handy-Dandy Prescriptions for Ambitious Academic Authors or, Why I Hate Passive Verbs and Love My Word Processor”
Stauffer, Devin. “Writing Guidelines”
Stimson, Jim. Professional Writing in Political Science: A Highly opinionated Essay
Weingast, Barry. “Structuring your Papers (Caltech rules)”
Wolfinger, Raymond. 1993. “Tips for Writing Papers.” PS and Politics.
Guides for Specific Assignments and Genres
Greene, Ken. “How to Get ‘Em: A Few Guidelines for Government Graduate Students”
Greene, Ken. “Some guidelines for writing a book review”
Jarmul, David. “How to write an op-ed article.”
Mankiw, Greg. “How to Write Well in Economics”
Mcloskey, Donald. “Economical Writing”
Pangle, Lorraine. “How to Write a Good Interpretive Essay in Political Philosophy”
Przeworski, Adam and Frank Solomon. “On the Art of Writing Proposals: Some Candid Suggestions for Applicants to Social Science Research Council Competitions”
Schiess, Wayne. 2003. Writing for the Legal Audience. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press. [links to author's blog, Legalwriting]
Schmitter, Philippe. The Ideal Research Proposal.
Varian, Hal R. 1997. “How to Build an Economic Model in Your Spare Time.” In Passion and Craft: Economists at Work, edited by Michael Szenberg. Michigan: University of Michigan Press.
Volokh, Eugene. 2007. Academic Legal Writing: Law Review Articles, Student Notes, Seminar Papers, and Getting on Law Review (Third ed.). New York: Foundation Press.
Goldsmith, Jack. 2016. Successful Student Online Legal Writing. Lawfare.
Sides, John. 2011. The Political Scientist as a Blogger. Political Science and Politics.
Monkey Cage guidelines.
Inspiration outside Academia
Vonnegut, Kurt. "Despite Tough Guys, Life is not the only School for Real Novelists."
Vonnegut, Kurt. "How to Write with Style."
Orwell, George. "Why I Write." (pdf includes the equally worthy selections, "Why I Write" by Joan Didion and "The Making of a Writer" by Eudora Welty)
Didion, Joan. "Why I Write"
Dillard, Annie. "Write Until You Drop."
Didion, Joan. "On Keeping a Notebook."
Some Print Resources
Farnsworth, Ward. 2010. Farnsworth's Classical English Rhetoric. Boston: Godine.
O’Conner, Patricia. 2003. Woe Is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English. New York: Penguin.
Strunk, William, Jr. and White, E.B. 2009. The Elements of Style, 5th ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Trimble, John. 2000. Writing with Style: Conversations on the Art of Writing, 2nd edition. New York: Prentice Hall. Chapter 1, “Thinking Well.”
Watson, Don. 2006. Death Sentences: How Cliches, Weasel Words and Management-Speak are Strangling Public Language. New York: Gotham.