Collaborating across differences: Cover letters to facilitate writing feedback

The first three articles in this series, “Building relationships with co-author agreements,” “Reflect on writing habits in co-author processes,” and “Keep writing communication simple with the 5 Ps,” covered strategies for building trust and shared understanding among co-authors. In this final installment on collaborating across differences, we explore feedback techniques for co-authors that reinforce trust and understanding among writers to support positive writing productivity.

Of the techniques we cover in our collaborative writing workshops for faculty and graduate student co-authors, the feedback cover letter is one of the most valued by participants.Its popularity is due to its simplicity as well as the letter’s facilitation of clear communication across a feedback exchange that can often feel awkward, befuddling, or even risky for submitting and reviewing authors alike.

11/9 TAA Webinar – Textbook Authoring Inspirations, Insights, and Innovations

Join us Wednesday, November 9 from 1-2 p.m. ET for the TAA Webinar, Textbook Authoring Inspirations, Insights, and Innovations. Award-winning nutrition textbook author Jamie Pope will share her journey to published textbook author and beyond and share insights into the textbook writing process, including:

  • How writing a textbook differs from writing trade book
  • Why you might want to consider writing a textbook
  • What background and experience you need to get the attention of a publisher
  • How to decide whether to write an introductory or upper-level textbook
  • How to negotiate an author-friendly contract

Register for AcWriMo 2022 Webinar: How Academic Writing Coaches Get Unstuck

Ever wonder what a writing coach does when they get stuck in their manuscript? Join Boyd, Mazak and Wang as they describe the biggest challenges they’ve faced when writing books and what they do to move past them. They’ll describe some of the key ways that scholars get tripped up when writing and share examples from their recent experiences with their own books. They’ll also discuss the strategies they recommend to junior and senior faculty members and what happens when they take their own advice.

To friends and organizations, you deserve to say no…thanks

Do you feel you can’t refuse the requests or plans of friends or volunteer groups? Do you secretly resent or rage at them? That they’re eroding or wasting your time, the time you want to or need to use for other activities, like your current article, book chapter, or dissertation?

We all have such feelings. To assert ourselves for ourselves takes commitment and practice, especially without making enemies of cherished friends we’ve had for a long time or groups and activities we believe in.

Busy TAA People: Julie Reeder

Julie ReederTAA member Julie Reeder coauthored an article published in the SAGE journal Autism (2022). The article, entitled, “Mobile and online consumer tools to screen for autism do not promote equity”, found that autism screening tools are available, but they are not easily found. Barriers include inaccessibility to parents with limited literacy or limited English proficiency, and frequent encounters with games, advertisements, and user fees.