Successful Academic Writing: A Complete Guide for Social and Behavioral Scientists

by Anneliese A. Singh PhD, Lauren Lukkarila PhD

Overview

Using rich examples and engaging pedagogical tools, this book equips students to master the challenges of academic writing in graduate school and beyond. The authors delve into nitty-gritty aspects of structure, style, and language, and offer a window onto the thought processes and strategies that strong writers rely on. Essential topics include how to: identify the audience for a particular piece of writing; craft a voice appropriate for a discipline-specific community of practice; compose the sections of a qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-methods research article; select the right peer-reviewed journal for submitting an article; and navigate the publication process. Readers are also guided to build vital self-coaching skills in order to stay motivated and complete projects successfully.
 
User-Friendly Features
*Exercises (with answers) analyzing a variety of texts.
*Annotated excerpts from peer-reviewed journal articles.
*Practice opportunities that help readers apply the ideas to their own writing projects.
*Personal reflections and advice on common writing hurdles.
*End-of-chapter Awareness and Action Reminders with clear steps to take.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781462529421
Publisher:	Guilford Publications, Inc.
Publication date:	05/09/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	260
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Anneliese A. Singh, PhD, LPC, is an award-winning social justice scholar, author, speaker, and community organizer who speaks on a wide variety of racial healing; racial justice; diversity, equity and inclusion; and LGBTQ+ topics. She is the inaugural Chief Diversity Officer at Tulane University, where she is Professor in the School of Social Work and has a joint appointment in the Department of Psychology. Dr. Singh has taught widely on qualitative research methods and academic writing in the behavioral and social sciences. Her research, practice, advocacy, and more than 100 publications explore the resilience and liberation experiences of trans people, people of color, survivors of trauma, and South Asian immigrants, as well as social justice and empowerment training. Dr. Singh founded the Georgia Safe Schools Coalition and the Trans Resilience Project to translate her LGBTQ+ research findings into school and community-based change efforts. She has given TEDx talks on gender liberation and is a frequent workshop presenter. Dr. Singh’s pronouns are she/her/hers and they/them/theirs.

Lauren Lukkarila, PhD, is Assistant Director of the Georgia Tech Language Institute, where she is also a lecturer and coordinates the curriculum of the Intensive English program, as well as many of the other academic-, professional-, and general-skills short programs. Dr. Lukkarila’s research foci include feminist approaches to English as a second language (ESL) pedagogy, critical pedagogy in ESL, academic reading-writing connections, identity and academic writing, critical thinking pedagogy, and academic writing pedagogy. She has been teaching pre- and postmatriculated ESL writers how to succeed at U.S. university academic writing for over a decade. She is a frequent guest lecturer on graduate academic writing and has been honored for her curriculum innovation with international students.

Table of Contents

I. Becoming an Academic Writer
1. What Is Academic Writing?
2. Preparing for Writing Success in Your Discipline
3. Developing Your Own Writing Identity
II. Developing Academic Writing Skills
4. Understanding Academic Writer–Reader Roles and Writing Structures
5. The Use of Tone and Style in Your Academic Writing
6. Coaching Yourself to Completion
III. Specific Types of Academic Writing
7. Grounding Your Voice in the Literature
8. The Writing Formula for Empirical Academic Writing
9. Publish, Don’t Perish
Appendix. Answer Key
References
Index
About the Authors
 

Editorial Reviews

"A true gem of a book that addresses critical aspects of academic writing that I have not seen elsewhere. In an easy-to-access, conversational style, the authors delve into the logic, content, and structure of writing for an academic or professional audience. Excellent pedagogical tools encourage readers to analyze various writing styles in order to craft their own academic voices. I highly recommend this book for both class and professional use, and will use it in my doctoral classes."—Susan P. Robbins, PhD, LCSW, Graduate College of Social Work, University of Houston

"If you are looking for a complete text to inspire and instruct graduate students in academic writing, look no further. The strengths of the book include its clarity and the practice exercises embedded in each chapter, which give students a chance to apply what they have read and check their mastery. The text boxes and the end-of-chapter Awareness and Action Reminders are also especially useful."—Peggy Meszaros, PhD, Department of Human Development, Virginia Tech

"As a journal editor, I thank the authors for this book. We receive way too many manuscripts that are improperly formatted, not in the journal's scope, et cetera. I am so glad to see all of the advice about doing the boring but important work of making a manuscript review-ready. This book will be helpful for our students who are truly struggling to find their way, both as writers and as future faculty. It offers a less intimidating way for them to learn the ropes and get basic advice, and it will help them know what questions to ask their advisors."—Vanessa P. Dennen, PhD, College of Education, Florida State University; Editor-in-Chief, The Internet and Higher Education

"Many graduate students struggle with writing, and their mentors are not always particularly good at articulating how they might improve. I would use this book in my research methods class. I love the section on 'writer-responsible' writing, which gets at what I am always trying to convey to students in a concise and elegant way. The peer-reviewed journal exemplars are a great addition, and the ways each one illustrates specific concepts are well explained."—Ann Marie Ryan, PhD, Department of Psychology, Michigan State University

From the Publisher

"This book would be an excellent textbook or reference for graduate students. In particular, I would recommend using the book for an introductory class in the graduate program. Also, if I was advising undergraduate honors students, I would use some of the chapters with them.

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