Some articles continue to inspire us long after we put them down. And sometimes we find ourselves revisiting them again and again like an old friend.  What articles stick with you, and why? Was it the author’s voice? The story they had to tell? The way they told it? Are they the articles that safely followed all the rules and conventions? Or do they somehow stand apart?

The articles below, published in SAGE journals, are put forth as favorites by scholars in a wide range of social sciences and reflect the diversity of the subjective reading experience. If you have an article you would like to nominate, send a link to it and a short explanation of why you like it so much.”

Chamblis, Daniel F. (1989) The mundanity of excellence: An ethnographic report on stratification and Olympic swimmers. Sociological Theory 7 (1): 70-86 

“Chambliss tells a good story in accessible language. The message stuck with me long after I read it. He inspired me to do ethnography.”

Lyall, Jason (2009) Does indiscriminate violence incite insurgent attacks? Evidence from Chechnya. Journal of Conflict Resolution 53(3): 331-362 

“This may be the near perfect quantitative research article.  I might be blinded by the data and method, but I think he has a way of writing and presentation as well that merits this attention.”

Seyfert, Robert (2012) Beyond personal feelings and collective emotions: Toward a theory of social affect. Theory, Culture, and Society 29 (6): 27-46 

 “When exploring a new field or theoretical concept a thorough overview of existing positions can help identifying follow-up readings. This is one such overview article that explains different theoretical approaches to affect.”

Sylvester, Christine (2007) Anatomy of a footnote. Security Dialogue 38 (4): 547-558 

“The title was intriguing and short, and the article just pulls you in when you start reading. Very well written, and she’s got a good point about the significance of a footnote.”

Articles given awards by journals

For a glimpse into the journal’s point of view, the Journal of Peace Research, bestows annual awards for best articles, and articles that have used the best visualization strategies. Here are links to the winners of those awards:

Article of the year: http://jpr.sagepub.com/site/ArticleoftheYearAwards/index.xhtml

Best visualization: http://jpr.sagepub.com/site/Visualization_Awards/Visualization_Award_Index.xhtml