Academic writers often have high writing anxiety, so you’re not alone if you feel anxious when you write, said Margarita Huerta, assistant professor of educational and clinical studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. They also tend to have low self-efficacy, she said, which can lead to less confidence in their capability to write.
The top 10 reasons we don’t reach our goals (And how you can banish them!)
It’s October, so it’s a good time to get a little witchy. Imagine we are under a clear and starry sky at night. Let’s add a cauldron into the picture. Come circle around it with me. Together we are going to cook up the foulest stew you have ever tasted. The ingredients will be all the reasons why people don’t reach their goals. We will throw them in one by one. Watch, as we do, how the brew starts to bubble and smoke.
The most useful textbook & academic writing posts of the week: October 16, 2015
I have had an awful cold since Monday. When I’m this sick I can barely function as a human—or at…
Join us 10/15 for the TAA Webinar, ‘Expressing Yourself Clearly in (Academic) English’
Is English not your first language? When you submit an article to a peer-reviewed journal do the reviewers advise having the article professionally edited? Does the information you’re imparting get lost among the words or tangled in syntax? Join us Thursday, October 15 from 2-3 p.m. ET for the TAA Webinar, “Expressing Yourself Clearly in (Academic) English”, where Jane Mackay, owner/editor of Janemac Editing, and freelance writer and editor Amanda R. Smith, will share tips for polishing your prose and expressing yourself clearly, teach you how to recognize typical problems, and give you techniques for fixing them. Register
The most useful textbook & academic writing posts of the week: October 9, 2015
I think everyone needs to print this quote and tape it someplace clearly visible on his or her desk, computer, or writing space. Look at it every time you sit down to write. Quiet the voices of negativity and just write. You are capable of writing well, of writing that is worthy of others to read, you just have to believe it and shut down the voices that tell you otherwise! One of my favorite quotes, and one that fits perfectly here, was said by Muhammad Ali, “To be a great champion you must believe you are the best. If you’re not, pretend you are.” Believing in your abilities to write is half the hurdle. Once you believe that, getting words onto the page will become easier. Happy writing!
GUEST POST: 4 Ways to work-life balance in 4 minutes
Perhaps you’ve heard the term “work-life balance” so often that it makes you want to punch someone in the face — but you don’t have time to do that because as you read this, it’s not even 8 am, you’re late for a deadline, you have a class to teach, your daughter’s soccer coach wants to talk to you later today, you have 24 unread emails, and you forgot (again!) to pack a healthy snack for your daughter to eat before practice.