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Writing Skills bibliography David Acres, Passing Exams Without Anxiety, Oxford: How to Books, 5th edn, 2000, ISBN: 1857032691. Study skills tips for examinations up to undergraduate level. Includes advice on writing under pressure.

Writing Skills bibliography Robert Allen, Punctuation, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002, pp.128 , ISBN 0198604394. Beginner’s guide, covering all the basics. Shows how common marks of punctuation should be used.

Writing Skills bibliography Robert Allen, Spelling, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002, pp.128, ISBN 0198603835. Cheap and cheerful beginner’s guide, covering all the basics. Explains why spelling is complex in English, and offers lists of ‘difficult’ words.

Writing Skills bibliography Gerald J. Alred et al, The Professional Writer, New York: St Martin’s Press, 1992.

Writing Skills bibliography Daniel Anderson, Bret Benjamin, Bill Paredes-Holt, Connections: a guide to on-line writing, Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1998, pp.331, ISBN: 0205268471. How to write effectively using the Internet – a classroom manual for students, with advice on everything from email to writing your own web pages.

go Jonathan Anderson and Millicent Poole, Thesis and Assignment Writing, London: John Wiley, 1994.

go Naomi S. Baron, Alphabet to Email: How Written English Evolved and Where It’s Heading, London/New York: Routledge, 2000, pp.316, ISBN: 0415186854. Scholarly study of the relationship between technology and the written language. Particularly strong on Renaissance period. Covers authorship, copyright, punctuation, and typewriters.

go Robert Barrass, Students Must Write: A Guide to Better Writing in Coursework and Examinations, London: Routledge, second edition 1995, pp.194, ISBN 0415132223. Academic writing skills guide which covers notes, coursework essays, and writing in exams. Also features presenting information via maps, charts, diagrams, and graphs.

go Robert Barrass, Writing at Work: A guide to better writing in administration, business and management, London: Routledge, 2002, pp.201, ISBN 0415267536. Writing skills guide for business users – covers planning and editing letters and reports, plus efficiency in communication – including interviews.

go Alison Baverstock, Publicity, Newsletters, and Press Releases, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002, pp.96, ISBN 0198603843. How to generate publicity and promotional materials through effective writing. Covers email, letters, press releases, newsletters, and company reports.

go Judith Bell, Doing Your Research Project: A Guide for First-Time Researchers in Education and Social Science, Buckingham: Open University Press (2nd edn) 1993, pp.176, ISBN: 0335190944. Best-selling UK guide which covers planning and record-keeping, interviewing, reviewing ‘the literature’, questionnaires, and producing the final report. [Highly recommended]

go Howard S. Becker, Tricks of the Trade: how to think about our research while you’re doing it, University of Chicago Press, 1998.

go Hy Bender, Essential Software for Writers: a complete guide for everyone who writes with a PC, Cincinnati, OH: Writer’s Digest Books, 1993, pp.486, ISBN: 0898796679. Compendium of programs and resources for all kinds of writing – from scriptwriting and journalism to business, medicine, and engineering. [Marvellous book – Out of print, but worth finding]

go Ralph Berry, The Research Project: how to write it, Routledge, third edition, 1994.

go Jo Billingham, Editing and Revising Text, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002, pp.144 , ISBN 0198604130. Beginner’s guide which covers all aspects of re-writing and improving text – from choice of individual words, through sentence construction, to creating good structure.

goLorraine Blaxter et al, How to Research, Buckingham: Open University Press, (second edition) 2001, pp.286, ISBN 0335209033. Comprehensive manual of research skills – from choosing a topic to writing up the results. Aimed at students in social sciences, as well as in related subjects such as education, business studies, and health and social care.

go Rita S. Brause, Writing your Doctoral Dissertation: Invisible Rules for Success, London and New York: Falmer Press, 2000, pp.163, ISBN 0750707445. New US guide to writing at post-graduate level which uses practical examples, is strong on planning, and offers tips from former students. Popular.

go Charles T. Brusaw et al, Handbook of Technical Writing, Fifth Edition, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997.

go Judith Butcher, Copy-Editing: The Cambridge Handbook for Editors, Authors and Publishers, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, (3rd edn) 1992, pp.471, ISBN: 0521400740. Classic UK guide and major source of reference to editing and text-presentation, which covers every possible bibliographic detail. [Highly recommended]

go Christopher Callahan, A Journalist’s Guide to the Internet: the net as a reporting tool, Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1999, pp.126, ISBN 0205282156. Guide to using the Net for research and fact-checking – strong on search techniques and evaluation of results.

go C.V. Carey, Mind the Stop: A brief guide to punctuation and a note on proof-correction, first published Cambridge University Press, 1939.

go The Chicago Manual of Style, Chicago/London: University of Chicago Press, 14th edn, 1993, ISBN: 0226103897

go John Clancy and Brigid Ballard, How to Write Essays: A practical guide for students, Longman Cheshire, 1983.

go Collins Electronic Dictionary & Thesaurus V1.5 on disk and CD-ROM, Harper-Collins: 1995.

go William Condon and Wayne Butler, Writing the Information SuperHighway, Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1997, pp.318, ISBN: 020519575X. Instruction guide for students and teachers – concentrates on word-processing, email conventions, collaborative writing, and putting your results onto the Web.

go Claire Kehrwald Cook, Line by Line: How to improve your own writing, Houghton Mifflin, 1986, pp219, ISBN 0395393914

go Phyllis Creme and Mary R.Lea, Writing at University: a guide for students, Buckingham: Open University Press, 1997, pp.152, ISBN: 033519642X. Popular UK guide to understanding questions, planning assignments, reading and note-taking, and developing arguments.

go Martin Cutts, Oxford Guide to Plain English, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004, pp.202, ISBN: 0198610114. Pocket-book guide to writing simple, clear English. How to avoid jargon and cliche. Before and after examples of editing for clarity and good style. How to present information visually to make its meaning clear. Recommended.

go John W. Davies, Communication for Engineering Students, London: Longman, 1996, pp.167, ISBN: 0582256488. Straightforward advice on clear writing, grammar, presenting technical information, and even writing job applications.

go Christian W. Dawson, The Essence of Computing Projects – A Student’s Guide, London: Prentice Hall, 2000, pp.176, ISBN 013021972X. Covers what’s required in writing a project – surveying the literature, report writing skills, documenting software, time management, project management, and presentation skills.

go Cory Doctorow et al, Essential Blogging, Sebastopol (CA): O’Reilly, 2002, pp.244, ISBN 0596003889. Blogs (it’s a contraction of Web Logs) are a form of personal diary kept as Web pages. They can record anything from the trivial details of your own life to online political manifestos.

go Jane Dorner, Writing for the Internet, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002, pp.128, ISBN 0198662858. Introductory guide to writing efficiently for the computer screen. How to design and produce effective web pages, and how to create a persuasive site.

go Jane Dorner, The Internet : A Writer’s Guide, London: A & C Black, 2000, pp.200, ISBN: 071365192X. New opportunities and digital techniques for writers – from email to electronic publishing – with impressive list of online resources. [Popular title.]

go Jane Dorner, Creative Web Writing, London: A & C Black, 2002, pp.166, ISBN 0713658541. Creative and experimental writing using new media technology – plus lists of Web resources for aspiring authors, as well as the latest on e-books and e-publishers.

go The Economist Style Guide, London: Economist Books, 2001, pp.172, ISBN: 1861973462. Print version of Economist in-house style guide which they issue to all their journalists. It’s designed to promote precision and clarity in writing – and the advice it offers is expressed in a witty and succinct manner.

go Harold Evans, Essential English for Journalists, Editors and Writers, London: Random House, 2000, pp.296, ISBN 0712664475. Reprint and update of a classic guide. Evans concentrates on skills for journalists, but his suggestions for clear writing and efficient communication are useful for any kind of writing. Contains extensive tutorials on composition, structure, and good style.

go Joan van Emden and Jennifer Easteal, Technical Writing and Speaking, McGraw-Hill, 1996.

go Rudolph Flesch and A.H. Lass, The Classic Guide to Better Writing, New York: Harper Perennial, 1966, pp.288, ISBN: 0062730487. Best-selling US guide with emphasis on how to generate, plan, and structure your ideas. Also covers basic grammar, good style, and common mistakes.

go H. Ramsey Fowler and Jane E Aaron, The Little, Brown Handbook, New York: Longman, (7th edn) 1998, pp.882, ISBN: 0321037979. Encyclopaedic US guide to all aspects of writing – includes vocabulary, punctuation, grammar, style, document design, MLA conventions, editing, bibliography, and the Internet. [Recommended]

go Gary Gach, writers.net: Every Writer’s Essential Guide to Online resources and Opportunities, Rocklin, CA: Prima Publishing, 1997, pp.374, ISBN 0761506411. Excellent compendium of Net resources – includes information for academic and technical writing, journalism, data research, plus writing for the screen and theatre. [Recommended]

go Albertine Gaur, Literacy and the Politics of Writing, Bristol: Intellect, 2000, pp.188, ISBN 1904705065. Thoughtful scholarly study of the history of writing and literacy. Covers language as a political system, and spans a period from the origins of writing to a critique of the UK’s current National Literacy Strategy.

go Steve Good and Bill Jensen, The Student’s Only Survival Guide to Essay Writing, Orca Book Publishers, 1995.

go Norman Graves and Ved Varma, Working for a Doctorate: a guide for the humanities and social sciences, Routledge, 1997.

go Tony Greenfield (ed), Research Methods: guidance for postgraduates, Arnold, 1996.

go Constance Hale (ed), Wired Style: Principles of English Usage in the Digital Age, San Francisco: HardWired, 1996, pp.172, ISBN 1888869011. Cheerful guide to writing and editing which looks at the problems thrown up by the new language of the digital age. [Stylish]

go Liz Hamp-Lyons and Ben Heasley, Study Writing: a course in written English for academic and professional purposes, Cambridge University Press, 1987.

go Irene Hammerich and Claire Harrison, Developing Online Content: the Principles of Writing and Editing for the Web, New York: John Wiley, 2002, pp.384, ISBN 0471146110. This is aimed at intermediate to advanced users working on web projects – but it will be of interest to anybody who wants to extend their writing skills into the digital realm.

go Andrew Harnack and Eugene Kleppinger, Online! A Reference Guide to Using Internet Sources, New York: St Martin’s Press, 1997, pp.162, ISBN: 0312150237. How to represent digital sources in academic writing. The focus is on bibliographic citation, but it also includes handy Net tips and how to create your own web pages. [Very good value-for-money.]

go James Hartley, Designing Instructional Text, London: Kogan Page, (3rd edn) 1994, pp.183, ISBN: 074941037X. Guide to the presentation of instructions – from paper size, through clear writing, to the use of diagrams and illustrations. [Recommended]

go Hart’s Rules for Compositors and Readers at the University Press Oxford, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999, pp.182, ISBN 019212983X. Classic guide to the finer points of editing and print preparation, spelling and typography. A masterpiece of compression, now in its thirty-ninth edition.

go Wynford Hicks, Subediting for Journalists, London: Routledge, 2002, pp.180, ISBN 0415240859. Professional advice on subediting for the popular press. Main focus on the need for accuracy, clarity, and even legality. Also covers the process of digital print production.

go Wynford Hicks, Writing for Journalists, London: Routledge, 2002, pp.159, ISBN 0415184452. Practical advice on writing for the popular press. Main focus on news reporting, but also includes feature writing, reviews, and even obituaries.

go Catherine Hilton and Margaret Hyder, Getting to Grips with Punctuation and Grammar, Letts, 1998.

go P.M.Howe, Answering Examination Questions, Collins, 1983.

go Roy Johnson, Writing Essays: guidance notes for students, Manchester: Clifton Press, (6th edn) 1996, pp.104, ISBN: 0951984403. Covers every aspect of essay-writing technique – from understanding questions to presenting finished work. Includes sample essays. [Best-seller]

go Roy Johnson, Improve your Writing Skills, Manchester: Clifton Press, 1995, pp.137, ISBN: 0951984454. Written in non-technical language, with quick solutions to common problems. Emphasis on planning, editing, structure, and clarity.

go Yateendra Joshi, Communicating in Style, New Delhi: The Energy and Resources Institute, 2003, pp.250, ISBN 8179930165. Style guide on the finer details of presenting text and data – of particular interest to technical writers and those dealing with business documentation.

go Ronald T. Kellogg, The Psychology of Writing, New York: Oxford University Press, 1994, pp.253, ISBN: 0195081390. Detailed academic study of the writing process, from gestation to production, with examples drawn largely from creative writing. [Thorough]

go John Kirkman, Full Marks: Advice on punctuation for scientific and technical writing, Wiltshire: Ramsbury, (3rd edn) 1999, pp.115, ISBN: 0952176246. Practical advice on all common punctuation issues, with lots of practical examples – and not just for scientists and technicians. [Good value]

go Gunther Kress, Literacy in the New Media Age, London: Routledge, 2003, pp.186, ISBN 041525356X. Theoretical study of literacy which argues that multimedia and the screen are starting to challenge the page as the natural medium of writing – and that this in turn is affecting the way we write.

go Leslie Lamport, LaTeX: a document preparation system, Addison-Wesley, 1996

go Mary R. Lea and Barry Stierer (eds), Student Writing in Higher Education: New Contexts, Buckingham: Open University Press, 2000, pp.205, ISBN: 0335204074. Academic research papers looking at student’s writing skills in UK universities as they come under pressure to modernise.

go Judith Leigh, Organizing and Participating in Meetings, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002, pp.128, ISBN 019866284X.

go Betsy Lerner, The Forest for the Trees: An Editor’s Advice to Writers, New York: Riverhead Books/Penguin Putnam, 2000, pp.285, ISBN 157322152X. Realistic guidance for would-be writers from an experienced editor.

go Janice R. Matthews et al, Successful Scientific Writing: a step-by-step guide for the biological and medical sciences, Cambridge University Press, 1996.

go MHRA Style Book: Notes for authors, editors, and writers of theses, Modern Humanities Research Association, 5th edn, 1996, pp.100, ISBN: 0947623612. Detailed guidance notes for the presentation of academic writing prior to publication – includes glossary and proof-correction.

go Paul Mills, Writing in Action, London: Routledge, 1996, pp.224, ISBN: 0415119898. Guidance notes for creative writing – covers prose, poetry, and drama, as well as essays and ‘persuasive writing’.

go Chris Mounsey, Essays and Dissertations, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002, pp.128, ISBN 0198605056. Introductory guide to essay-writing skills, plus research and examinations – but not quite so much on dissertations as the title suggests.

go Andrew Northedge, The Good Study Guide, Buckingham: The Open University, 1990, pp.248, ISBN: 0749200448. Best-selling study skills guide which includes examples of note-taking and the preparation of coursework essays, reports, and projects. [Good value]

go Paul Oliver, Writing Essays and Reports, Hodder and Stoughton, 1996.

go Walter J. Ong, Orality and Literacy, London: Routledge, 2002, pp.204, ISBN 0415281294. Classic theoretical study of the relationship between spoken and written culture. Ong argues that writing is a quantum leap forward in cultural and intellectual complexity. Highly recommended.

go Elizabeth Orna with Graham Stevens, Managing Information for Research, Buckingham: Open University Press, 1995, pp.191, ISBN: 0335193978. Excellent advice on organising, storing, and structuring information for writing research projects, reports, and dissertations. Includes layout and use of word-processors. [Recommended]

go Oxford Guide to Style, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002, pp.623, ISBN: 0198691750. Comprehensive reference to editing and text-presentation, which covers every possible bibliographic detail. Includes referencing digital sources and print preparation. [Highly recommended]

go Oxford Style Manual, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003, pp.1052, ISBN 0198605641. This ultimate style guide combines Oxford’s Guide to Style with their equally popular Writer’s Dictionary. Two for cheaper than the price of one. Highly recommended.

go Oxford Writers’ Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990, pp.448, ISBN: 0192826697. Specialist dictionary for writers, journalists, and text-editors which deals with problematic and foreign words, offering correct spellings and usage. [Recommended]

go Richard Palmer, Write in Style: a guide to good English, London: Routledge, 2nd edn, 2002, pp.255,ISBN 0415252636. Amusing and irreverant advice on the basics of good English. Covers good and bad sentences; how to deal with punctuation; how to strike the right tone; and the rules of spelling and grammar. Every point illustrated with vivid examples – gaffes from the popular press and good style from skillful authors.

go Mike Palmquist and Donald E. Zimmerman, Writing with a Computer, Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1999, pp.269, ISBN 0205274870. How to use word-processors to increase the effectiveness of your writing, plus time-saving tips on the use of templates, short-cuts, and outliners.

go David Parker, Tackling Coursework: assignments, projects, reports and presentations, DP Publications, 1994.

go M. Peelo, Helping Students with Study Problems, Open University Press, 1995

go Estelle M. Phillips and D.S. Pugh, How to get a Ph.D: a handbook for students and their supervisors, Buckinghamshire: Open University Press, third edn, 2000, pp.235, ISBN: 033520550X. Advice on how to get into the system, what to expect, and how to plan your workload, as well as dealing with your supervisor.

go B.A. Phythian, Teach Yourself Correct English, Hodder and Stoughton, 1990, pp.277, ISBN: 0340429968.

go David B. Pirie, How to Write Critical Essays: a guide for students of literature, London: Routledge, 1985, pp.139, ISBN 0415045339. Guidance manual on all aspects of essay writing – from interpreting the question, through making notes, to planning and submitting the finished work.

go Jonathan and Lisa Price, Hot Text: Web Writing that Works, Indianapolis (IN): New Riders, 2002, pp.507, ISBN 0735711518. Guide to digital writing techniques – packed with good examples of how to produce efficient writing for the Web. Intermediate to advanced level. Covers all forms of digital communication – from email newsletters to Web reports and eCommerce site material. [Highly recommended]

go Gary Provost, 101 Ways to Improve your Writing, Mentor Books, 1985, ISBN 0451627210

go Phil Race, How to win as a final-year student: essays, exams and employment, Buckingham, UK: Open University Press, 2000, pp.181, ISBN 0335205119. Writing skills and strategies for students in their last year. It covers the problems of writing longer essays, reports, and dissertations, passing exams, and preparing for future employment.

go Andrew Robinson, The Story of Writing, London: Thames & Hudson, 1995, pp.224, ISBN 0500016658. Illustrated study of the graphical presentation of language, focussing on the decipherment of hieroglyphs and other code-cracking.

go Kjell Erik Rudestam and Rae R. Newton, Surviving your Dissertation: a comprehensive guide to content and process, Sage Publications, 1992.

go Rosemary Sassoon, Handwriting of the Twentieth Century, London: Routledge, 1999, pp.208, ISBN 0415178827. How handwriting was taught and learned – from 1900 to 2000. This shows the gradual move from copperplate script to the modern italic in general use today. Beautifully illustrated.

go Heidi Schultz, The Elements of Electronic Communication, Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2000, pp.132, ISBN: 0205286461. Brief introduction to emailing protocols, newsgroups, and communication via the Web, with emphasis on writing for clarity in an electronic medium.

go Karen Scott, The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2001/2, London: Alison & Busby, 2001, pp.287, ISBN 0749004975. Reference guide to electronic publishing, with focus on e-zines and e-books. Extensive listings, plus advice on submitting work, payments, and contracts.

go John Seely, The Oxford Guide to Writing and Speaking, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000, pp.304, ISBN 0192801090. Brisk guide to various forms of writing and verbal presentations – from academic work, via faxes and email, to research and dissertations. Plenty of examples and self-assessment exercises.

go John Seely, Words, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002, pp.128, ISBN 0198662823. Using dictionaries, history of English language, and words which are commonly misused. Practical guidance if you wish to perform more successfully in the workplace or in studying. Tells you how to improve your vocabulary.

go John Seely, Writing Reports, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002, pp.128, ISBN 0198662831. Beginner’s guide to report-writing skills – covers planning, structure, and presentation, how to research a topic, how to interview people, and how to record the results.

go John Seely, Oxford A—Z of Grammar and Punctuation, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004, pp.148, ISBN 0198608977. Beginner’s pocket guide to basic grammar and punctuation in English. Plus how to punctuate lists; how to avoid the split infinitive; how to show speech in writing; and other practical everyday writing issues.

go John Seely, <>Oxford Guide to Effective Writing and Speaking, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005, pp.310. ISBN 0192806130. Covers how to structure a business letter and how to strike the right tone; how to format and follow the protocols of emailing; how to write a persuasive curriculum vitae, structure a job application, and prepare for the interview; how to prepare and deliver a PowerPoint presentation; how to organise and write a report; and how to prepare a press release when dealing with the media. Expanded version of Oxford Guide to Writing and Speaking.

go Mike Sharples, <>How We Write: Writing as Creative Design, London: Routledge, 1999, pp.224, ISBN 0415185874. Excellent study of the various processes of writing – from the origination of ideas, through their expression in words, to the physical production of text. Especially insightful on revision and the way in which the meaning of a text can change. Combines the approaches of psychology and literary theory.

go Catherine Soanes and Shiela Ferguson, Oxford A—Z of Spelling, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004, pp.140, ISBN 0198608950. Pocket-book guide to the basic rules of spelling in English – along with all the many irregular cases. It deals with difficult plurals and the apostrophe, Also acts as a reference book, since half of it is devoted to words which are commonly mis-spelled in English.

go Biz Stone, Blogging: Genius Strategies for Instant Web Content, Indianapolis (IN): New Riders, 2002, pp.309, ISBN 0735712999. Enthusiastic guide to writing web log pages [blogs] – the latest popular form of free journal writing.

go William Strunk and E.B. White, The Elements of Style, Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1979, pp.92, ISBN: 0205191584. Old favourite ‘bare bones’ guidance manual which cuts out everything except the essential answers to most common writing problems. [Very popular]

go John Swales & Christine B. Feak, Academic Writing for Graduate Students: Essential tasks and skills, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1994,
pp.264, ISBN 0472082639.

goJudith Tarutz, Technical Editing: The Practical Guide for Editors and Writers, Hewlett-Packard Press, 1992, pp.454, ISBN: 0201563568

go Gordon Taylor, The Student’s Writing Guide for the arts and social sciences, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989, pp.250, ISBN: 0521369053.

go Michael Temple, A Pocket Guide to Written English, Michael Joseph, 1990.

go L. Trask, The Penguin Guide to Punctuation, London: Penguin Books, 1997, pp.162

go Lynne Truss, Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, London: Profile Books, 2003, pp.209, ISBN: 1861976127. Amusing and best-selling guide to punctuation written in a lively style, and free from grammatical rules.

go Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, (6th edn) 1987, pp.300, ISBN: 0226816273. Modern US classic guidance manual for academic writing – covers everything from abbreviations via bibliography and referencing, to page layout. [Highly recommended.]

go Kate L. Turabian, Student’s Guide for Writing College Papers (3rd rev edn) Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1977, pp.256, ISBN 0226816230

go Christopher Turk and John Kirkman, Effective Writing: improving scientific, technical and business communication, E & FN Spon, second edition, 1989.

go Richard Marggraf Turley, Writing Essays: a guide for students in English and the Humanities, London: Routledge, 2000, pp.145, ISBN 0415230136. Practical advice and worked examples for undergraduate students – written in a friendly tone and often quite funny. [Recommended]

go Victor J. Vitanza, Writing for the World Wide Web, Allyn and Bacon, 1998, pp.235, ISBN: 0205266932. Guide for students who wish to convert their written work into web pages – includes examples of HTML code and instructions for uploading the results.

go WAN2TLK? ltle bk of txt msgs, London: Michael O’Mara Books, 2000, pp.95, ISBN: 185479678X. An interesting and best-selling oddity. A micro-dictionary which explains the abbreviated language of text-messaging used on mobile phones.

go Keith Waterhouse, Waterhouse on Newspaper Style, London: Penguin, 1993, pp.250, ISBN: 0140118195. Amusing tour through the abuse of language by UK newspaper journalists – exposing bad writing as a way of promoting clarity and precision. [Very popular]

go Gordon Wells, Writers’ Questions and Answers, London: Allison & Busby, 2001, pp.143, ISBN 0749005319. Practical advice to writers who wish to publish their work commercially. Good on contracts, copyright, payments, and how to submit your work.

go Joseph Williams, Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace, New York: Addison Wesley, 6th edn, 1999, pp.309, ISBN: 0321024087. Advice for improving your writing – puts its emphasis on editing for clarity, creating structure, and keeping the audience in mind. [Recommended]

go Ian Winship and Alison McNab, The Student’s Guide to the Internet, Library Association, 1996.

go Peter Woods, Successful Writing for Qualitative Researchers, London: Routledge, 1999, pp.158, ISBN: 0415188474. Guide to academic writing at post-graduate level – from the preparation of a project through to the completion (and possible publication) of the finished work.

go William Zinsser, On Writing Well, New York: Harper Perennial, 1990, pp.308, ISBN: 0062735233. Reassuring guidance from an experienced journalist on writing more effectively, particularly good on editing and re-writing. [Best-seller]

© Roy Johnson 2009

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Writing Successful Academic Books

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writing, planning, and commercial skills

What exactly is a successful academic book? One which sells a lot of copies, or one which helps to promote your career? Most people would trade the first success for the long-term benefits of the second. Anthony Haynes starts his guide to scholarly authorship by considering the possible justifications for writing: financial, self-esteem, altruism, and even the desire to learn. But these are all rendered almost redundant by the current climate in the academic world. There is now an overwhelming requirement to publish – unless you want to end up in one of those mind-numbing departments of ‘Maintaining Academic Standards’ or ‘Human Resources and Professional Development’. Writing Successful Academic Books shows you how to avoid such a fate.

Writing Successful Academic BooksHe goes to some length explaining genre – a subject to which any aspiring writer ought to pay attention. For an academic book proposal to be acceptable, it needs to fit into a known category. There’s also a very upbeat account of the current state of digital publishing. His argument is that academic authors have everything to gain from online journals, eBooks, and Print on Demand. He doesn’t touch on Stevan Harnad’s argument for bypassing publishers by self-archiving research directly – but that’s understandable, given that his topic is print publishing.

Possibly the most difficult step on the publication ladder for would-be academic authors is the first rung – that is, successfully pitching a book proposal to an acquisitions editor in the publishing house. He suggests a very rigorous process of preparation for this step – and offers both a template and even more usefull the sample proposal for the book itself he pitched to Cambridge University Press. You can see quite clearly from the quality of the outline why it was successful.

Next comes the contract, which many first-time writers ignore – possibly because they are so relieved to have had their work accepted. His advice is quite clear. You should read the contract carefully, make sure you understand all its content, and even be prepared to ask for changes – some of which he offers as suggestions.

The best part of the book deals with the actual business of writing – that is, the creative activity which will produce the finished work. He’s quite right to emphasise the idea of process rathert thanproduct. Successful writing is not a one-stage activity: it requires preparation, planning, reflection, and a number of drafting stages to produce the text, then edit it and eliminate any flaws. He discusses a variety of strategies for generating the basic text, then shows how it can be edited by reduction, addition, and re-arranged before checking for mistakes.

After these issues of structure and production, he then goes on to consider some of the stylistic niceties of efficient writing – such as tone, choice of lexicon, and the relative elegance with which paragraphs can be started and ended. Much of this sort of thing is covered in other writing guides.

The section of Haynes’ book I found most interesting was how to get a publishable book out of a body of research, or ‘How to turn a dissertation into a monograph’. He outlines three approaches: i) start afresh on something new; ii) make minor revisions and prune the text; and iii) create a new proposal using re-purposed work. He recognises that pressures of acquiring tenure rules out the first, does not recommend the second, and then demonstrates how to make the third successful.

The latter part of the book is taken up with practical matters such as time management and how to deal with editors, proofreaders, indexers, and people who will design and market your book.

I once submitted my doctoral thesis for publication and was dismayed when it was not immediately snapped up. Of course, I can now see why not. I had not done any of the preparatory work of transforming it into a commercial product which is recommended here. If I had read this book then, I wouldn’t have made that mistake. And if you’re in that position now, you can avoid making it by following his advice.

Writing Successful Academic Books   Buy the book at Amazon UK

Writing Successful Academic Books   Buy the book at Amazon US

© Roy Johnson 2010

Anthony Haynes, Writing Successful Academic Books, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010, pp.175, ISBN: 0521730740

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Writing your doctoral dissertation

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guide to advanced academic study and writing skills

Do people at doctoral dissertation level need writing guides? Well yes, they do, because a composition of this scope usually presents difficulties most of us have never come across before. After all, we don’t produce 50,000 word research projects just for fun, do we? Rita Brause starts by explaining the differences between a dissertation and a long term paper [UK=coursework essay]. These are important distinctions which are often learned by most students only at the expense of much anguish and re-writing.

Doctoral Dissertation She also stresses just how much anybody will learn during the process of writing a dissertation, which is the sort of insight unlikely to be available to someone approaching this experience for the first time. She analyses practical examples to show the important structural elements of a dissertation, and then goes on to explain the stages in the doctoral process – including making an application, learning the language of institutions, and fulfilling all their technical requirements. These elements need to be taken into account even before the writing begins, and she justifies the attention she gives to them quite convincingly on the grounds that many students who fail to complete their research do so because they had no idea what to expect when they started out.

It is the US system she is describing, which contains the element of working to a committee that is not found in the UK system, but when it comes to the business of writing, all the issues of preparation, organisation, and intellectual stamina are identical.

The heart of the book comes three-quarters way through, where she describes in detail the process of locating and defining a topic, as well as the type of questions you should ask in order to ‘refine’ a topic or turn an observation into a proposal. These are the stages which in my experience of post-graduate teaching cause students most problems. A research proposal which has not been clearly defined is like an intellectual quagmire. No matter how much new material is generated, the student will be sucked ever deeper into the morass by competing priorities and a lack of focus.

There are three short bibliographies on dissertations, the academic world, and research methodology; but what I think might appeal most of all to the intended audience of this writing guide is an interesting collection of tips (some quite daunting) from former doctoral candidates. There’s often nothing quite so convincing as the reports of first-hand experience.

© Roy Johnson 2005

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Rita S. Brause, Writing your Doctoral Dissertation: Invisible Rules for Success, London: Falmer Press, 2000, pp.163, ISBN: 0750707445

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Written style in essays

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1. For most essays your written style should be plain, clear, and straightforward. You should avoid sloppiness and a casual manner. Don’t try to be ‘impressive’, flowery, or emotive. Remember that an essay is an academic exercise, not a piece of ‘creative writing’.

2. Keep in mind that speech and writing are two different forms of communication. Avoid the use of a chatty or conversational tone when writing essays.

3. Avoid the use of contractions such as ‘isn’t’, ‘can’t’, ‘don’t’ which occur in speech but should not be used in formal writing. These terms should be written out in full as ‘is not’, ‘can not’, and ‘do not’.

4. Avoid the use of common abbreviations such as ‘etc.’, ‘e.g.’, ‘&’, ‘i.e.’. If you need to use these expressions, write out the terms in full, as ‘for example’, ‘and’, ‘that is’. [There is a good argument for never using ‘et cetera’: it can easily suggest that you are being lazy.]

5. Avoid using unnecessary jargon (technical terms), clich&eacute (‘leave no stone unturned’), vogue words (‘situation’ or ‘ongoing’), and slang (‘far-out’).

6. Avoid using metaphors you are used to seeing in print or figures of speech which are currently popular. For instance: ‘the bottom line’, ‘a ballpark figure’. (This is one of George Orwell’s rules for avoiding a tired style.)

7. Remember that the common word order (the syntax) of a simple sentence written in English is as follows. If in doubt, adopt this pattern.

subject – verb – object

The cat eats the goldfish
We are the best team

8. Avoid starting sentences with words such as ‘Again’, ‘Although’, ‘But’, ‘And’, ‘Also’, and ‘With’. These words are conjunctions, which belong in the ‘middle’ of a sentence, not at its beginning.

9. Good style is usually connected with the need for precise punctuation and clearly expressed ideas. The following example shows a sloppily written argument transformed by just the removal of two commas and the addition of a full stop. This creates two shorter but clear sentences instead of one which is very confused.

bad
Smoking became as socially acceptable as drinking, in all classes of society, mostly associated with men until the second world war when women began to smoke openly, in public shocking older members of their sex.

better
Smoking became as socially acceptable as drinking in all classes of society. It was mainly associated with men until the Second World War when women began to smoke openly in public, shocking older members of their sex.

10. Try to avoid the awkward ‘he or she’, the ugly ‘he/she’, and the crass ‘s/he’. These formulations are sometimes used to solve the problems of gender references.

awkward
Candidates should note that any employer is obliged to follow Equal Opportunities policies when he/she is interviewing applicants.

11. The simple solution to this problem is to use the plural form:

better
Candidates should note that all employers are obliged to follow Equal Opportunities policies when they are interviewing applicants.

12. An essay which is written in a sparkling and attractive style will obviously be more interesting to read than one which plods along in a dull manner. However, you should be very cautious about creative or decorative flourishes in academic writing. Jokes, bold metaphors, and even figures of speech can easily seem mannered. If in doubt, stick to clear, plain language.

© Roy Johnson 2003

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