Most useful textbook and academic posts of the week: May 20, 2022

Ray Bradbury once said, “Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old-fashioned virtues of hard, constant labor, he’ll eventually make some kind of career for himself as writer.”

The type of career you make for yourself as an academic author is made up of many factors. In our collection of articles from around the web this week, we find posts addressing several of those affecting today’s academic writers including: finding your motivation, establishing an ideal writing space, managing your time, building community, and the future of conferences.

No matter where you are in your career as an academic author, know that you are not a failure as long as you keep working toward your goals. Happy writing!

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Feed your research agenda with Feedly

With the amount of information published daily, it can seem nearly impossible to “stay current” in your field of study and find the time to write, teach, or conduct research. Periodic Internet searches, Google alerts, and scholarly databases make the process a bit easier, but the massive result sets on a single search phrase can be overwhelming.

What if there were a way to stay current on the topics you’re most interested in, from sources you trust and others you hadn’t yet heard of, without the time and effort of endless searching?

The good news is, there is! It’s the Artificial-Intelligence(AI)-driven tool, Feedly.

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Most useful textbook and academic posts of the week: May 13, 2022

Write. Revise. Repeat. A cycle of productivity for all academic authors, but when does it end? When is the project complete? And, what happens next?

In this week’s collection of articles from around the web, we find advice about making decisions about your writing, what to do after the draft, and how much revising is required. We also have resources on mid-career scholarship and collaboration efforts. Finally, we have some industry news on Creative Commons licensing and the book supply chain.

There’s also the philosophy of Saul Bellow who said, “You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write.” So, I suppose that’s one way to increase productivity and avoid the need to revise. Happy writing!

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Most useful textbook and academic posts of the week: May 6, 2022

Academic writing is a process with many parts. Whether writing a journal article, a dissertation, or a book, it is an investment of time, a research process, and involves various challenges and opportunities from idea to publication. To be successful, we must find the right content, audience, and resources to bring the project to completion.

One way to move a project along is to maintain a focused approach. Perhaps try the one Elmore Leonard uses who said, “I try to leave out the parts that people skip.” You also may find value in the articles we’ve collected on meeting deadlines, improving your writing, facing rejection, defending yourself against predatory publishers, and more.

Wherever you are in your current writing project, face the challenges, embrace the opportunities, and leave out the parts that people skip. Happy writing!

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Most useful textbook and academic posts of the week: April 29, 2022

There are so many aspects to academic writing, and a lot of it is centered on self doubt and, of course, an attitude of discovery and learning. Octavia E. Butler reminds us aspiring authors, however, that “You don’t start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it’s good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That’s why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence.”

This week’s collection of articles includes practices, tips, tricks, and secrets for building an effective writing practice. Further, it includes advice on building relationships, finding your publishing avenues, and tackling discussion and debate.

As you continue developing your craft as an academic author, stay persistent, learn from others who have been there, and before you know it you will be writing “good stuff” yourself. Happy writing!

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