Tough love for dissertation drafts

As a dissertation editor and coach, I have much empathy for beleaguered doctoral graduate students wrestling with their tomes. Many candidates seem to get little support from their chairs in guidance, writing, or cheering on. However, a student recently brought to my attention an impressive exception.

At this university, the doctoral students were advised to maintain associations and seek dissertation feedback from their cohort members with regular group meetings. In addition, this chair, unlike many others, held bimonthly meetings (probably uncompensated) with his struggling dissertation students.

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Member Spotlight: Daniel G. Bachrach

TAA Member Daniel G Bachrach is Professor of Management and Robert C. and Rosa P. Morrow Faculty Excellence Fellow at The University of Alabama Culverhouse College of Business and is an academic author in the management discipline with additional academic writing in the areas of transactive memory systems and team performance.

His latest publication is Exploring Management, 7e and he is currently working on a revision of a textbook, Management (Schermerhorn and Bachrach), 15e, published by Wiley, which is coming out in 2022..

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Most useful textbook and academic posts of the week: January 28, 2022

What are your writing goals? What do you hope to accomplish and how will you get there? Sylvia Plath kept hers simple when she said, “Let me live, love, and say it well in good sentences.”

In this week’s collection of articles from around the web, we see strategies for keeping up with information, facing changes to the academic publishing industry, sharing or marketing our work, and managing our inner critics.

Whatever your writing goals, work towards those that let you live, love, and say what you need to – in good sentences. Happy writing!

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Tips for anxious writers: Gentle persistence

The first key to developing a healthy writing practice despite writing anxiety is gentle persistence. Every writer needs to maintain a consistent practice over time, which takes persistence and self-discipline. But persistence and self-discipline must be applied judiciously. As discussed in the series introduction, “try harder” and “be more disciplined” are not particularly good advice for someone struggling with writing anxiety because trying harder can lead to destructive practices. If you are suffering and you “try harder” to “be more disciplined,” you are likely to reinforce the negative experiences that contribute to writing anxiety. In a healthy practice, persistence is carefully balanced to approach your limits without pushing past them. You need the persistence to push against your limits and face challenges, and you need the gentle sensitivity to step back and care for yourself.

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Member Spotlight: Pamela Gordon

TAA Member Pamela Gordon is lecturer at Norwalk Community College teaching classes in art appreciation and humanities and a textbook author in the art discipline. Her latest publication is Art Matters: A Contemporary Approach to Art Appreciation (Oxford University Press, 2020).

She is currently working on the second edition of Art Matters.

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Most useful textbook and academic posts of the week: January 21, 2022

Three weeks into 2022, most textbook and academic authors have begun a new semester of teaching, learning, and (of course) writing. As the new calendar year often comes with good intentions, plans for improvement, and resolutions to do and accomplish more than the year before, our collection of articles this week shares some tips and strategies for approaching your future efforts of writing, marketing, and producing your content for readers.

As you work on your writing this week, remember the words of Philip Pullman, “Read like a butterfly, write like a bee.” Happy Writing!

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