Crafting compelling and purposeful titles: A five step process

Although the old adage states “you can’t tell a book by its cover”, in academic writing it is crucial that the title of an article or book “tell” the essence of the work. The title is the first critical decision point for a reader. Its goal is to invite the reader to peruse the abstract, read the article, and, hopefully, cite your work.

The title does a lot of work for your manuscript, and there are many good reasons to pay attention to crafting short, content-rich, and engaging titles. First, for you, the author, spending time crafting a title forces you to distill your detailed, multi-page manuscript into 10 to 15 words, a daunting task.

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Busy TAA People: Richard Mullins

TAA member, Richard J. Mullins is “finally a published textbook author” having published Organic Chemistry: A Learner-Centered Approach with Pearson Education. First printed in March 2021, the book will be used by students this fall, says Mullins, Professor and Chair, Department of Chemistry, Xavier University.

According to Mullins:

“Whereas other organic chemistry books are written to be encyclopedic references about organic chemistry, this book was written to teach students how to learn organic chemistry without sacrificing the necessary rigor.

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Mentoring appointments available at the 2021 Virtual Conference

Early registration is now open for TAA’s 2021 Virtual Textbook & Academic Authoring Conference! Our annual conference event is always an incredible opportunity to network with authors from a variety of disciplines and to learn about the latest trends, best practices, and industry changes.

In addition, conference-goers have the opportunity to sign up for 15-minute sessions with experienced members who are serving as mentors in a dozen areas of interest. Mentor registration is now open. A preview of the topics and associated mentors is below.

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Inclusion means including everyone

As authors who have recommitted ourselves to the ideas of diversity, equity, and inclusion in our professional lives, one of the many struggles we face is making access to our content inclusive. However inclusive of race, gender, age, and other aspects of humanity our writing is, it is important to also ask ourselves whether all potential readers are able to access it.

As an author, I have often left accessibility issues completely in the hands the professionals among our publishing team. However, I realize more and more that, in many ways, that sort of inclusion starts with me.

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Most useful textbook and academic posts of the week: April 16, 2021

As we enter the back half of April, many of us in academia are finding students nearing the end of their academic term looking at their grades and considering what it will take to pass the class and avoid failure. Many of us, also as writers, may be facing deadlines or revisiting our goals and expectations for our writing during the same time and feeling this same sense of success or failure in our own efforts.

The spirit of academia, of learning, and of writing is one of process more than events.

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Permission granted! But not the kind you think.

Permission conjures up the image of asking a publisher to use a table or a photo from their publication in your next journal article. This post is not about those types of permission, but rather about the permission you give yourself.

We have all read too many articles (including mine) about how things have changed over the past year. Time challenges. Financial challenges. Changing and increasing demands in the classroom. Emotional rollercoasters. Pressure. The ground under us appears to be constantly shifting.

You need to take this all into account and be good with giving yourself permission.

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