Testimonies broadcast our contributions and encourage purchase of our good words. Also referred to as endorsements or recommendations, testimonies may appear on the front and back covers of your book, in the first pages, in reviews, and, of course, on your website. To gather effective testimonies takes time, thought, and some courage. Here are five points to keep in mind.
TAA’s summer webinar series kicks off next week!
On Friday, June 12th, the Textbook & Academic Authors Association (TAA) will kick off their 2020 Summer Webinar Series with…
Welcome new members to TAA: May 2020
With membership in TAA, you are not alone. You become part of a diverse community of textbook and academic authors with similar interests and goals. We are pleased to announce the addition of 17 new TAA members who joined us in May 2020.
TAA announces its 2020 Summer Webinar Series
Two weeks from today, TAA will kick off its 2020 Summer Webinar Series with its first session on Friday, June 12th at 3:00pm ET. Spotlighting six sessions from our cancelled 33rd Annual Conference, we are excited to meet with you virtually to explore topics impacting scholarly writing, share ideas and strategies, and network with peers. Presented on Zoom, these webinars are designed to be interactive events. We hope you will join us!
Most useful textbook and academic posts of the week: May 29, 2020
This week’s collection of articles from around the web have a spirit of hope and resiliency among them. In this time of uncertainty, disruption, and change, we have opportunities to embrace what is new and build what we desire from the state of what is. As researchers and academics, much of our careers are based on new pursuits and exceptional goals.
Whether writing the introductory chapter of a thesis or dissertation, planning for a post-PhD career, or exploring the modern researcher ecosystem, we seek for identity and success. Change is abundant as well in the way we hold conferences, publish and access research, and achieve visibility. All of these topics are found in this week’s collection.
The key, regardless of the state of your career or writing is to believe in yourself, to embrace opportunity, and to move forward. As Cassandra Sanford said, “If this is something that you really want to do, if you believe in it…simply keep forging forward because success will come.” Happy writing!
Effective reading is the source of better writing
According to the University of Richmond Writing Center, “Reading and writing are very closely related. If a writer doesn’t understand the material they are reading, chances are they will not be able to write about it successfully.” This premise was the foundation of our May 15th AcWriChat discussion on Twitter where we discussed effective reading habits of academics.
Event participants, Danielle Apfelbaum, Marc A. Ouellette, and Sonal A. Mehta added personal perspective to the discussion. During the TweetChat event we asked about ways to make reading efforts more effective, strategies to improve notetaking, post-reading processes, and how reading outside your discipline can improve your academic writing. Below is a summary of key insights from the discussion.