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 16 new TAA members who joined us in November 2021.
Six reminders to help you and your students get to the writing
It’s no secret that writing is hard, whatever our experience, stage, or state. Academics aren’t the only ones who abhor writing. It’s likely that anyone who ever had to write anything abhors writing. With academic writing, as any other kind, it’s usually hard to get started. Even if we’ve had an initial flush of enthusiasm and are amazed at having produced the first few pages, it’s too easy to sink into a frozen torpor.
Yet writing represents some of the most important aspects of our professional work. And too often we avoid, procrastinate, and rationalize why, instead of writing, we must polish the car or clean out the refrigerator.
3 Critical parts to build a lively writing practice
Are you excited about your writing? Do you write daily? Do you feel as though your ideas are clearly written and understood by your readers?
In her presentation on avoiding writing pitfalls, Micki Caskey stressed the importance of building a lively writing practice and shared three critical parts for doing so.
Member Spotlight: Charles (Chuck) B. Corbin
TAA Member Charles (Chuck) B Corbin is a Professor Emeritus, Arizona State University, College of Health Solutions and a textbook author writing in the disciplines of education, physical fitness, and health. His most recent publication is Concepts of Fitness and Wellness: A Comprehensive Lifestyle Approach.
Share a recent accomplishment.
In 2022 Corbin’s Concepts of Fitness and Wellness (McGraw-Hill) was published. With this 13th edition of the book, Chuck Corbin’s name was added to the title.
Most useful textbook and academic posts of the week: November 19, 2021
As we enter the back half of November, the end of semesters and the holiday season looms in the quickly approaching future. How will this affect your writing routine? Do you have a routine that keeps you moving in the direction of your goals? What will make that routine stronger?
In this week’s collection of articles from around the web, we explore ideas of requesting extensions in academia, redrafting strategies, research methods, and why an index is important. We also look at larger publishing topics of technology, research data sharing, and preventing bias. Finally, our list wouldn’t be complete without the best Black Friday deals for writers with that annual shopping event officially a week away!
Mike Murdock says, “The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine.” Hopefully the ideas and resources in the articles below give you resources to make that daily routine stronger and more capable of meeting your writing goals. Happy writing!
3 Options for authors to promote accessibility in their textbooks
Who is reading your textbook? What limitations might those readers have when it comes to consuming and comprehending your material? When focused on inclusion and accessibility, whose responsibility is it that the content be universally accessible?
The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines outline multiple means of engagement, representation, and action & expression as a foundation for discussion. TAA Council President, Kevin Patton shares three sets of options for textbook design focused on creating multiple means of representation.