Tweed Editing's Blog

Tips, Strategies, and Updates for Academic Writers

What TWEED Is Tweeting: 2011-04-07

by | Apr 7, 2011 |

  • Junior faculty, take a look at TWEED’s Dissertation-to-Book Guides: http://t.co/lVbvtYs #
  • The new ACLS Public Fellows program places recent PhDs in government and nonprofit staff positions (+ stipend, health) – http://t.co/f7wlPQq #
  • Academics share their tips for fighting writer’s block: http://t.co/5EEZWLS #
  • An MD-PhD makes a typographical poster out of his dissertation on cardiac arrhythmia: http://t.co/F6HSr5a #
  • I’m currently working with a historian, a cultural theorist, and a religionist. It’s exciting to be involved in projects that’ll make waves. #
  • If you’re having difficulty formatting an unusual source’s citation, check your bookshelves. Might any volumes have cited something similar? #

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Signposting Rachel Toor’s “Think of Yourself as a Writer”

by | Mar 9, 2011 | ,

Think of Yourself as a Writer

On March 7, The Chronicle of Higher Education published an advice piece by Rachel Toor, assistant professor of creative writing at Eastern Washington University. In “Think of Yourself as a Writer,” Toor draws from her experience in scholarly publishing to urge that academics consider their readers. Imagine that!

The first part of the article sets the stage of her time at Oxford University Press, populated by professionals with various, and often competing, concerns: for ideas, for style, for basic readability.

Toward the end of the piece, Toor has delivered several concrete and powerful tips for writers. At the risk of compromising the integrity the article as a whole, I’m pulling out the action items that she shares. To co-opt her term, I’m signposting them for you. These points are too important, too insightful to miss.

Avoid:

  • many and long quotations, which are easy to spot because they’re usually extracted (blocked)
  • lots of obscure words, especially at the very beginning of a manuscript or section
  • extra-long sentences
  • overuse of semicolons
  • glib discussion of sophisticated ideas

Do:

  • Get an aerial view of your document by scrolling through it at a view setting of 50 percent. Do you have a good mix of short, medium, and long paragraphs? Are you quoting too many sources at length?
  • Make your argument clear as close to the beginning of the manuscript as possible. Editors focus on the first 50 pages—at most.
  • Plant sentences and paragraphs encapsulating your ideas so that editors can extract them for use in presenting your work to the press.
  • Push your ideas past the obvious.
  • Notice your attempts at being snappy, punny, quippy, and informal. Do they actually succeed in conveying your complex ideas?
  • Focus on your book’s argument, not its topic.

Do go to The Chronicle and read the whole article. Toor’s piece is chock-full of broader, but no less potent, advice. Her observations about the state of academic writing as a wider phenomenon will help you understand the importance of the suggestions I’ve summarized.

So think of yourself as a researcher, a teacher, and a writer. That’s Toor’s message, and I can’t echo it loudly enough.

To keep up with TWEED, sign up for Annotations, my e-newsletter. And check out the TWEED Facebook page.

New Service: The CV Diagnostic

by | Mar 7, 2011 |

Today I’m announcing a new service because I want to give academics the tools to make winning first impressions. The CV Diagnostic provides a detailed snapshot of your most important document, one that deserves to be looked over by a pair of trained eyes before you next send it out into the world.

If finely tuned, your curriculum vitae communicates who you are as a scholar and reflects the priorities of your audience. Whether you need to present yourself to a search committee at a teaching-focused liberal arts college or to a selection panel for a research fellowship, you want a robust CV that showcases your academic priorities and is free of missteps.

Or maybe you just need a solid CV framework so that, as your career progresses, you can easily add new accomplishments. The CV Diagnostic will help you organize information in a way that can grow and evolve as your career does.

Here’s what the CV Diagnostic gives you:

  • feedback on the crucial dimensions of your CV—organization, phrasing, consistency, clarity, coverage, and style
  • section-by-section constructive critique
  • concrete steps to make your presentation more successful
  • principles of effective CV construction

My aim is to make this service affordable and something that scholars at all stages can take advantage of. (Yes, it’s OK to end a sentence with a preposition, especially on a blog!)

For a low flat fee, I spend hours looking over your CV, deciphering its logic, assessing its ability to convey your academic life—that’s what curriculum vitae means, after all—and putting together a detailed report for you. You receive a packet with several pages of succinct, personalized feedback that you can put into action. I am always available for clarifications after you look over the report, too.

You’ll notice that the CV Diagnostic is not direct editing. I won’t be making changes to your CV itself. I do offer those services, but the diagnostic can stand alone. Its purpose is to show you where your CV succeeds and where it could be made stronger. When you receive my report, you will see exactly what you can do to shape up your treasured CV.

This is a unique service. Impersonal, untrained academic-editing mills offer basic CV writing and editing at much higher price points—but crafting your CV is not something that anyone else can do without your close involvement. TWEED’s CV Diagnostic respects your ownership of the CV and realizes that updating is not a one-time process. You’ll be adding to this document throughout your academic career. That’s why you need to be in the driver’s seat.

So, if you are ready to tune up your CV and you want a clear roadmap for doing so, sign up for the CV Diagnostic. All you have to do is send me an email indicating your interest and any questions you may have at the outset. Attach your CV right away if you wish, and we’ll get started.

NOTE: After over two years at an introductory price, this service is now regularly priced—and the flat fee is still deliberately within reach for early-career scholars and graduate students. Email me with the page length of your CV for a quote. (updated 6/25/13)

Scholarly Resolution Certificate

by | Jan 1, 2011 | ,

Scholarly Resolution

Happy new year! Envisioning a productive 2011 is ever so much easier when a bit of pomp and circumstance is involved. Award yourself this certificate upon making a resolution. Then post it, scrapbook it, bedazzle it—whatever will keep the goal at the forefront of your mind until you complete it.

Print and complete the Scholarly Resolution form, which will help you brainstorm on a number of levels.

  • Get in touch with your reasons for adopting the goal.
  • Break it down into smaller steps, each with a target date.
  • Identify resources that will help you accomplish the goal.
  • Decide on a reward to give yourself upon completion.

I’m actually going to go fill out a few copies of the certificate myself. It and other resources for academic writers are available in the TWEED Library. Happy resolving!

(Have you signed up for Annotations, TWEED’s email periodical? It’s an easy way to be reminded of the tools I make available to scholarly writers. Please subscribe!)

An Ever-Expanding Compendium of Academic Verbs

by | Nov 29, 2010 | ,

TWEED's Academic VerbsA few months ago, my friend and writing connoisseur Shayda had the idea to list verbs that scholars and students use when writing about other scholarship. Too often, we become stuck in ruts of “he states” and “she argues.” The world is full of vibrant verbs that are more interesting and more directive than the old standbys. To that end, Shayda gave me permission to take the idea and run with it. The result is this verb collection.

TWEED’s Ever-Expanding Compendium of Academic Verbs refreshes your memory of handy verbs long forgotten and includes some choices with which you may not be acquainted. Currently, the compendium features almost 250 verbs.

Visit the verbs page for a fuller introduction to the compendium, and be sure to download the full PDF. You can keep copies at your desk, in your briefcase, and on your hard drive for quick reference. Share it with colleagues, and be sure to add your own favorite academic verbs in the comments section.

Thanks to Shayda for impetus to generate this list! Be sure to visit her blog, Vocabulary of the Body.

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