12 List of other resources
12.1 Other research and writing guides
12.1.1 Overall dissertation and research guides
Doing a Dissertation in Economics
Appears very useful but somewhat sparse and sometimes not as specific as I would like. From The Economics Network at the University of Bristol. The upside of this: it is supported and approved by an official organised body, with some oversight. The downside: it is supported and approved by an official organised body, with some oversight. This may limit the flexibility and candor.
Core’s Doing Economics
Very relevant basic guide to working with data and doing Econometric analysis. It looks to be very useful, and a good supplement to this web book. Offers detailed examples in Excel (boo!) and in R (yay!)10
Our aim is to introduce students to the art, practice, and excitement of using data to understand economics and policy analysis".
Organised by the CORE project. Same pros and cons as mentioned above.
12.1.2 Guides to writing in Economics
Dudenhefer, Paul. (2013) “A Guide to Writing in Economics.”
(Prepared by Paul Dudenhefer, Writing Tutor, EcoTeach Center and Department of Economics, Duke University, December 2009.)
More nuanced and advanced. Missing examples of ‘key mistakes’.
Cochrane, John H . (2005) “Writing tips for PhD students”
Targeted at PhD’s but still useful to others.
Robert Neugeboren with Mireille Jacobson. Writing Economics.
McCloskey, D. Economical Writing
Very good and widely-cited resource (although it makes some controversial points about style). This book concentrates on the higher points of style; it doesn’t contain most of the basic stuff that “newby” undergraduates need.
12.1.3 General writing guides
Levin, P. Write great essays!
Stott, Snaith, and Rylance, editors. Making your case: a practical guide to essay writing.
Strunk. The Elements of Style: A widely praised classic reference.
As I’m always warning on Twitter, spreadsheets/Excel are not good for managing data and doing statistical/econometric analysis. This is a crutch. “Just say no” (as much as you can)… use Stata, R, etc., instead↩︎