TAA and SAGE Methodspace are co-hosting a series of Tweetchats for the exchange of ideas and resources about academic writing and publishing. Join SAGE Methodspace’s Janet Salmons and TAA’s Eric Schmieder on Twitter Friday, December 1 at 11 a.m. ET using the hashtag #AcWriChat to discuss submitting proposals. [Read more…]
Search Results for: Salmons
#AcWriChat TweetChat on Submitting Proposals with TAA & Janet Salmons 12/1 at 11 am ET
November 17, 2017 By Leave a Comment
Reflections on academic writing: Three insights
January 17, 2019 By Leave a Comment
What do I need to write now? What will I write next? Who is expecting what from me, when? What related tasks do I need to complete, such as finalizing figures or posting to social media? How many commitments can I fit into each busy day? These are some of the questions that usually percolate through my mind. In this December Abstract post I committed to take some time for reflection. Here is the story, and lessons learned.
It seemed essential to step away from my home office workspace. I did so by taking a two-week road trip through the American Southwest. Instead of looking at a computer monitor, a panorama of mountains and desert unfolded before me. [Read more…]
TAA 2019 Spring webinar series for textbook and academic writers
December 12, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Whether you are interested in understanding your royalty agreements, managing your time, curbing procrastination, using visual elements to enhance your manuscript, managing multiple projects, collaboration and branding, TAA’s 2019 Spring webinar series for textbook and academic authors has you covered. Join us as various industry experts share their expertise on academic and textbook writing topics. Sign-up early to reserve your spot! Not a TAA member? Learn more about member benefits and join today.
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Reflect and reboot
December 11, 2018 By Leave a Comment
In my part of the world, the days are short and bright, and the nights are long and dark. Without the screen of leaves, without colors from leaves and flowers, the brilliant blue sky draws my attention. Along with these seasonal changes, we can’t help but notice that we’re on the last page of the calendar. This is a time for reflection.
Let’s face it, in the pre-smartphone days we had small reflective moments now fractured by sound bites and fragments of news or photos of elementary school friends’ new babies. How can we pull away long enough to reconsider the proverbial big picture? [Read more…]
The most useful textbook & academic posts of the week: November 16, 2018
November 16, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Halfway through AcWriMo 2018, this week’s collection of articles from around the web explores topics of where to write, new options for sharing research efforts beyond the published results, and topics of etiquette and legal requirements in the modern communication age.
The collection begins with an article highlighting some of our discussion points from the 11/9 #AcWriChat TweetChat event hosted by TAA, written by Janet Salmons on the SAGE MethodSpace blog. We follow with thoughtful consideration of research theory, different methods for disseminating research efforts beyond words on a printed page or digital replicate, and new places for sharing our research, including public forums, podcasts, and new open access platforms. Our collection closes with topics of communication etiquette and the information needed for informed consent.
We hope that you are finding success in your writing as we enter the back half of AcWriMo 2018. Happy writing! [Read more…]
From solo to global: AcWriMo
November 15, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Writing is usually a solitary activity. Staring at our monitors or notebooks, we wonder: is this brilliant or nuts? Is this straightforward and clear, or so simplistic that the reader will yawn? Have we written something that will entice the reader to follow our train of thought, or will they jump off with the next distraction? The way novelist Helen Garner described her work as a writer resonates with me:
the absolute inability, while you are working, to judge whether or not what you are doing has any value at all– thus the blind faith and grim stubbornness required in order to keep going; the episodes of elation, the occasional sense of hitting your stride, or of being in tune with the force that creates–the feeling that now you’ve got it, now you can’t put a foot wrong… [Read more…]
#AcWriChat: A year in review
October 30, 2018 By Leave a Comment
To celebrate Academic Writing Month (#AcWriMo) 2017, TAA teamed up with member Janet Salmons from SAGE MethodSpace to begin a series of TweetChats on academic writing topics using the Twitter hashtag #AcWriChat. Throughout the year, TAA has continued to moderate TweetChat events every other Friday at 11am ET.
Beginning Friday, November 2nd, plan to join us for a weekly #AcWriChat event during #AcWriMo 2018 focusing on the 5 W’s of Academic Writing. But for now, as we reach the anniversary of our first #AcWriChat event, we want to take a look back at the year in review. Below is a summary of the questions discussed during our first twenty-six #AcWriChat TweetChats. [Read more…]
11/6 TAA Webinar: Make “Collaboration” More Than a Buzzword
October 29, 2018 By Leave a Comment
How do we decide what kind of interactive process will allow us to achieve outcomes more significant than what we could do on our own? What steps will improve collaborations when some or all of our interaction occurs online? These are questions Dr. Janet Salmons, author of the forthcoming book, Learning to Collaborate, Collaborating to Learn, will explore in her TAA webinar, “Make ‘Collaboration’ More Than a Buzzword,” on Tuesday, November 6 from 3-4 p.m. ET. Register today! [Read more…]
Academic writers tackle social issues
October 11, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Whether the discussion is about changes to our global climate or our cultural climate, the dominance of uninformed opinions can aggravate those of us who want to see the need for evidence derived from empirical research.
Academic writing for social good supports efforts for change to improve the well-being of people in our communities or around the world. While we might hope that all academic writing has potential to benefit society, the kinds of writing we are considering here have an intentional purpose. In a TAA webinar offered last year, Lynn Wilson and I discussed four ways that scholars and researchers can frame their writing. (View the recording here.) Let’s look at each one. [Read more…]
Communicate visually to engage readers!
September 13, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Kress and others observe that a shift we are witnessing from words to pictures is interrelated with a shift from print to digital. This shift means movement from an emphasis on written communication to an emphasis on images and media. At the same time, it represents a move from the printed publication to the screen.
As academic writers, we need to rethink our attachment to the words, and look for new ways to communicate visually in books, articles, and ancillary resources. We also need to update our promotional and social media materials to attract attention in an information-overload environment.
One way is to use diagrams, visual maps, or illustrations to concisely communicate important ideas and key relationships. Another way is to show ways the ideas or problems are demonstrated in real situations. [Read more…]
