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The similarities and differences between academic and textbook writing

What are similarities and differences between academic and textbook writing? Find out in the 2023 TAA Conference session, “Academic vs. Textbook Writing – Similarities and Differences”, presented by Kenneth L. Campbell, Professor of History at Monmouth University.

As an author of both textbooks and academic works, Campbell will explore the similarities and differences between these two types of writing. On the one hand, good writing is good writing, and it seems like many of the same principles should apply to both academic and textbook writing—and he believes they do. On the other hand, specific disciplines might require a certain style or format of writing for specialists in a field that vary from those one might employ when writing a textbook or for a general audience.

Through his experience with his own discipline of history, he will provide some insights from which authors from any discipline might benefit, but this session will primarily be aimed at those seeking to make the transition from academic to textbook writing.

Kenneth L. Campbell is a Professor of History at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey, where he has taught a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses in British, Irish, and European history. He is a past recipient of Monmouth University’s Distinguished Teacher Award. He has written a number of books, including The Beatles and the 1960s: Reception, Revolution, and Social Change (2022) and History of Britain and Ireland: Prehistory to the Present (2023).


Network. Gain Knowledge. Leave Inspired! Register for the 35th Annual TAA Conference on Textbook & Academic Authoring, which will be held online June 9-10, 2023. The first 25 registrants will receive three free eBooks:

Little Brown Guide to Getting Your Journal Article PublishedBecoming the Writer You Already AreJournal Keeping How to Use Reflective Writing for Learning, Teaching, Professional Insight and Positive Change