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 58 new TAA members who joined us in June 2021.
Most useful textbook and academic posts of the week: July 2, 2021
Why is textbook and academic authoring significant? According to Malala Yousafzai, “The content of a book holds the power of education and it is with this power that we can shape our future and change lives.” That seems like a pretty compelling significance to our work.
So how do we ensure what we produce is the best we can provide to our readers? In this week’s collection of articles from around the web we find advice on avoiding procrastination, making your case stronger, conducting research online, and the value of OER in teaching.
You are not your dissertation
In tears on the phone, my dissertation client Aurora wailed, “Chapter 2 is destroying me! I’ll be in this article gridlock for the next 10 years! I’m just not dissertation material!”
Aurora’s heartfelt confession was not unusual. In my longtime professional practice coaching struggling dissertation students, many have admitted feeling blocked in their writing, whether it’s Chapter 2, the dread literature review, like Aurora, or another chapter that particularly bedevils them. But Aurora’s assumption that she wasn’t “dissertation material” was particularly upsetting.
2021 TAA Council Award recipients announced
During the 2021 Virtual Textbook & Academic Authoring Conference, four TAA Council Awards were conferred to recipients during the daily networking sessions. TAA President, Laura Frost, and Executive Director, Michael Spinella, announced the awardees.
Comments from the award presentations are included below.
Most useful textbook and academic posts of the week: June 25, 2021
Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows once said, “I think you learn more if you’re laughing at the same time.” Right or wrong, it never hurts to laugh and can add to the experience. In fact, emotions of many kinds are essential elements to our learning and academic writing efforts.
In this week’s collection of articles from around the web, we see examples of emotion as it affects word choice, research strategy, racism and social justice issues, and more.
12 Authors share practical advice with TAA conference attendees
As an exclusive bonus for attendees at TAA’s 2021 Virtual Textbook & Academic Authoring Conference, twelve textbook and academic authors have shared practical advice through a series of “How To” videos on topics relating to scholarly writing, time management, productivity, publishing, online presenting, and more. Each video is a brief 5 to 10-minute segment packed with information to move your writing practice forward.
We’d like to thank the following authors for sharing their expertise.