Product Description
Writing Clearly: An Editing Guide, 2/E, is designed to help ESL students become independent self-editors by making them aware of the most common language problems in ESL writing and by giving them strategies for reducing these errors. The text uses a progression of activities to guide students through fifteen areas of the language that ESL learners typically find most challenging. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Wrting clearly: An editing guide
It took 15 days to received this book. There are lots of writing, but at least it is not missing any page.
This book is quiet good for review grammar.

hurry
I can't receive this book now. Please help me to check it.I need this book now.

A fast transaction!
The book was exactly received as described.Would do business again! ... Read more

Product Description
Better Writing Through Editing teaches intermediate students how to edit their own writing for correct sentence structure, grammar, punctuation, and expression. Using a systematic approach for studying writing and editing problems, students discover their individual strengths and weaknesses and are encouraged to monitor their own progress.Part 1, Getting Started, begins with a diagnostic self-assessment to determine each students' awareness of typical ESL/EFL editing problems. Students also learn an editing system that they can use to evaluate their own writing.Part 2, Writing Focus, provides practice with a variety of English sentence types and features writing assignments based on a chapter theme and a rhetorical focus.Part 3, Editing Focus, provides clear and simple explanations of typical ESL/EFL editing problems and contains hundreds of practice exercises. The chapters in the Editing Focus section can be done in any order, thus allowing a teacher to customize learning while simultaneously completing the Writing Focus chapters. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Work on Editing
I am an intermediate ESL student, and this book is excellent to help you wheter you want to focus on EDITING your writing; moreover, this book explains rules such as run-on sentences, subject-verb agreement, fragments, verbs, subject-pronoun agreement, adjectives, etc. I recommend it to people who do not have clear how to write their ideas. ... Read more

Product Description
In this companion volume John van Maanen's Tales of the Field, three scholars reveal how the ethnographer turns direct experience and observation into written fieldnotes upon which an ethnography is based.

Drawing on years of teaching and field research experience, the authors develop a series of guidelines, suggestions, and practical advice about how to write useful fieldnotes in a variety of settings, both cultural and institutional.Using actual unfinished, "working" notes as examples, they illustrate options for composing, reviewing, and working fieldnotes into finished texts.They discuss different organizational and descriptive strategies, including evocation of sensory detail, synthesis of complete scenes, the value of partial versus omniscient perspectives, and of first person versus third person accounts.Of particular interest is the author's discussion of notetaking as a mindset.They show how transforming direct observations into vivid descriptions results not simply from good memory but more crucially from learning to envision scenes as written.A good ethnographer, they demonstrate, must learn to remember dialogue and movement like an actor, to see colors and shapes like a painter, and to sense moods and rhythms like a poet.

The authors also emphasize the ethnographer's core interest in presenting the perceptions and meanings which the people studied attach to their own actions.They demonstrate the subtle ways that writers can make the voices of people heard in the texts they produce.Finally, they analyze the "processing" of fieldnotes--the practice of coding notes to identify themes and methods for selecting and weaving together fieldnote excerpts to write a polished ethnography.

This book, however, is more than a "how-to" manual.The authors examine writing fieldnotes as an interactive and interpretive process in which the researcher's own commitments and relationships with those in the field inevitably shape the character and content of those fieldnotes.They explore the conscious and unconscious writing choices that produce fieldnote accounts.And they show how the character and content of these fieldnotes inevitably influence the arguments and analyses the ethnographer can make in the final ethnographic tale.

This book shows that note-taking is a craft that can be taught.Along with Tales of the Field and George Marcus and Michael Fisher's Anthropology as Cultural Criticism, Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes is an essential tool for students and social scientists alike. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

I like writing ethnographic fieldnotes - and I did not know that is what I was doing!!!
This book is a clearly written guide to writing field notes. Even better, it has small samples of the variations of technique being described.

Advising without preaching that there is only one method and never indicates that the author's style is the be-all, end-all of ethnography.

I purchased this on a recommendation of my professor for this quarter's inquiry and observation project. It has helped me improve my note-taking and reflections on the observations as I was performing my research.

Not just for anthropologists
I'm fully prepared for outrage from people in the social sciences, but...The title caught my eye for two reasons.First, I recently read a protracted rant by an anthropologist, and was interested in gaining a better understanding of his context.Second, I am a fan of Kipling's "Kim", and wanted a clearer understanding of an occult (to me) discipline practiced in colonial India of the Victorian era; ethnography.I was impressed by the depth of the writing and the broad utility of the concepts presented, and I achieved my primary goals of a better understanding of cultural anthropology and ethnography.

The structure of the book follows the process of writing an ethnography.Go to the field, listen, interview, and take notes.Several categories of notes are addressed, from the hasty single word memory aids to the detailed write-ups at the end of each reseach day.The multi-stage process from fragmentary notations to a structured final product is carefully described with an excellent balance between the needs of prose, the scholarly and analytical needs, and the ethical considerations towards the groups and individuals being researched.Although not specifically about the field work of observation, casual questioning, and interviews, considerable knowledge can be gleaned from a careful reading of this book.

Critical thinking, in the broadest sense, is encouraged throughout this book as is the precursor to critical thinking, meticulous and unjudgemental observation.The authors continually exort the reader to refrain from framing information within a conventional conceptual construct and to avoid categorization of people and activities.

Stylistic advice is clear and well thought out.Whether to write from first, third, or an omniscient perspective are all given due consideration and appropriate circumstances for each are discussed.Organizaton and themes are also carefully considered.

I whole-heartedly recommend this book for anyone in any discipline that involves observation of people, interviews, documentation of this fieldwork, and production of a report or publication.

E. M. Van Court

Noteworthy Resource
It's interesting that books on fieldwork tend to exclude extended discussions of note-taking as a part of fieldwork.The focus of many guides on fieldwork methods usually is on completing audio or video interviews and on the use of photography in fieldwork.This book fills this gap in research methodology.The writers show good, practical techniques for taking notes during ethnographic and oral history field research.More importantly, they convincingly demonstrate how creating good fieldnotes is essential to completing good ethnographic studies.Each section of the book blends practical ideas with theoretical generalizations in ways that not only show readers how to complete field research, but the discussion also reveals why these techniques are useful.The chapter that provides ways to turn fieldnotes into written ethnographies is an especially helpful discussion of a challenging task.In this particular chapter, and in the book in general, readers can find ideas that can also be applied to the use of other field-generated resources such as structured audio/video interviews and photo sessions.This book is also valuable as a resource for understanding and examining various written ethnographic studies.In this respect, the insights offered by Emerson, Fretz, and Shaw give readers good ideas for evaluating written ethnographies and useful perspectives for understanding the process of completing ethnographically-grounded research and how ethnographic study contributes to the representation of culture.

Perfect for master's level studies
The text is exactly as described and promised.A very practical tool for the bachelor's or master's student.

took too long to ship!
the shipping for this item took forever! book is in nice condition though. ... Read more

Product Description
ONLINE JOURNALISM: REPORTING, WRITING AND EDITING FOR NEW MEDIA is the first truly comprehensive textbook available that can teach students how to report, write, and edit strictly for online media. Unlike other texts that simply "tweak" traditional writing and editing techniques, ONLINE JOURNALISM was created specifically with the Internet in mind. Written in a lively style, this book will appeal to students who want to explore writing opportunities with online media. It is also supplemented by an in-depth Web site that provides links to relevant current stories and sound clips of interviews with professionals. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Helpful tool for student online journalists
I am currently a graduate student in a writing program, and my background is in journalism. While my goal is to write for travel magazines, I certainly need to have a good understanding of web writing, more knowledge about creating and keeping up a web page (especially for a future publication), and some idea of how my writing must look on that page when it's published.

I found this book to be quite useful for online journalism practices, and I appreciated the many real world applications that the author used. The author, Dr. Richard Craig, has much experience in journalism himself, and he enforces the common practices of good writing that all journalism students should keep in mind. He is very thorough, but go on and stick with him until the end of this book.

Dr. Craig's book may be outdated in a matter of years or less, but overall, this is still a very helpful and timely textbook. Read it, even if you don't have to for a class!

Extremely Informative but a Little Over the Top
Online Journalism: Reporting, Writing and Editing for New Media is an informative book that explains the difference in writing for traditional media/press and the Web.The book does a great job of explaining why writing is so different on the Web and it illustrates the types of things that one must do in order to get a job in this new and growing profession.Although the comparisons are very effective in showing this difference in the beginning chapters, it become very monotonous to explain these differences throughout the book.A few of the chapters become long and over analytical because of such comparisons - specifically the chapters on interviewing and searching for information.I think it would have been more effective to have one chapter that gives a background on traditional media and then move on instead of badgering the point that the two are different.However, that is not to say that I didn't learn a lot from this book about writing, because I did.

It is obvious by the way that the author writes that he has an extensive background in this field and really cares about sharing this information with others.This helps the book in many ways to get the important point across. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (9)

Not a remarkable book; very dry reading.
If you've never read _anything_ about writing for the Web, this book may be okay for you.

But if you've read other books such as "Don't Make Me Think", you may find Yahoo's style guide extremely repetitious, tedious, and lacking in any innovative product.

Okay, I'm writing for a global audience. I should use simple language. I should not use gender-biased language, etc. etc.. I'm sorry, but this has all been said before. The main problem is that following this book recommendations will results in simple, understandable copy which is also extremely dry and devoid of "magic".

On the bright side, the book contains plenty of before and after examples, and may be used as an authoritative reference to show your boss on why you insist doing something in a certain way.

Also, I wouldn't get this for the Kindle: The book contains some tables which do not translate to the Kindl's screen very well, cannot be zoomed in, and are tiny and difficult to make out.

A Masterpiece
This style guide goes above and beyond other guides. It addresses grammar, style, and formatting, and covers online content writing and editing,including specific areas, such as user-interface, email, and mobile content. The book includes very helpful examples that show before/after and not appropriate/appropriate situations, as well as numerous Tips. This book should be required reading and a reference work for every writer, editor, and all IT specialists on all levels.

---Thomas Sklarsky, Chief Scientific and Technical Editor

How To Create Your Own Web Style Guide with This Book
The title is almost misleading - the book is about how you can and why you should create your own web style guide. Yes, it is by Yahoo and the examples are Yahoo, but the focus is not how to follow their guide, but how to develop your own voice with consistency.

The layout is sometimes cluttered, but the content is so fabulous that you can overlook it.

The book is full of current, topical information. The search engine optimization tips are comprehensive and easy to understand. There are chapters on writing user interface text, e-newsletters and streamlining text for mobile devices.

This book is an excellent reference for anyone writing or approving copy for websites.

Great guide for web writers
This is a great, handy but comprehensive guide for Web writers. It doesn't replace the dictionary and isn't as handy as their online guide, but it has more info and is good to have around.

Great book a must read for web writers, developers and designers
If you are responsible for creating websites you owe it to yourself to read this book, and keep it very close to your computer. I have pulled my copy off the shelf several times already. This book filled a great niche. Other books covered the basics of writing etc., but none that covered it from a web perspective (the few that did exist - were sorely out of date). ... Read more

Product Description
The essential guide for all writers. With over 700 examples of original and edited sentences, this book provides information about editing techniques, grammar, and usage for every writer from the student to the published author. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

Line by Line: How to Edit Your Own Writing
This is a great book.It provides great tips on how to edit your own writing work.

Good Editing Guide For Writers
Line By Line: How To Edit Your Own Writing demystifies line editing and enables authors to polish their own manuscripts. Author Claire Kehrwald Cook walks writers through the process step-by step from how to read and evaluate a sentence, to how to condense sentences to succinctly and clearly convey meaning. Along the way she tackles all the usual suspects: weak verbs, prepositional phrases, modifiers, structure, ambiguous words, parallelism and correlative conjunctions, punctuation, and subject-verb disagreement.

Most helpful are the extensive glossary of `questionable word usage' and the numerous examples that help guide readers during editing. Used alongside a good book on grammar (such as Mignon Fogarty's Grammar Girl's Quick & Dirty Tips For Better Writing) and a professional developmental editor, Line By Line is a valuable resource for any writer wanting to craft a well-written manuscript.

Line by Line: How to Edit Your Own Writing
Very good book. It's a very comprehensive guide that every serious writer should have in their library; indispensable.

Author could have followed her own advise.
The long sentences and choppy -yes, I used choppy!- examples in this book are hard to understand.The examples the author offers as "fixes" to wrong sentence structure are hardly fixes.I finished the book out of principle, but after page 30 I hardly paid any attention to the content. reading "Line by Line:..." was painfully confusing. My advise? buy "Grammatically Correct" by Anne Stilman.Unlike Ms. Kehrwald Cook, Ms. Stilman does follow her own advise in writing.

Line by Line by Claire Kehrwald Cook
As a new writer, I was looking for all the help I could muster so I searched the web.I also belong to a writing workshop and a fellow writer recommended this book to me. It has been assisting me with editing and rewriting my novel
"Nereid's World, soon to be for sale on Amazon. Oh...first I must complete the book and 'Line by Line is a big help...Remember 90% of good writing is rewriting. ... Line by Line is a good buy.

Vincent J. Arcuri ... Read more

Product Description
This introduction to writing, editing, and printing will help students and scientists cope with a process that many dread - the process that starts with a decision to write something for publication. Although Geowriting has been prepared especially for authors and editors working in the earth and environmental sciences, the publication provides useful information for any writer or editor. This how-to manual will encourage you to write, edit, and package your ideas for publication. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Any Information is Good Information
Not as detailed as I would have liked.But over all a good writing outline for Geoscientists. ... Read more

Product Description
Sharp Writing is a compact guide with all the information you need to increase your grasp of language and boost your writing skills using Kaplan's easy-to-follow Building Block Method. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Basic and Practical
Kaplan's "Sharp Writing" is a practical overview of grammar and usage, but is quite basic.If you are looking for a book that will provide you with more "Style" advice than grammar, I would recommend Style: Toward Clarity and Grace (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing).I would recommend the Kaplan book for anyone looking for quick refresher or short reference work.

The first section of the book provides an overview and refresher on the different grammatical categories, strucure/usage, puncution, tone, etc.The chapters in the first section cover very basic items such as "what is a noun" or "what is a verb" to a bit more complex topics such as "intransitive verbs," phrase/clause interaction, the passive voice (and its uses), and appositives.Each chapter uses the "Building Block Method" wherein Kaplan provides you with a basic quiz at the beginning, then information, and then a further quiz at the end of each chapter.This does help the reader to understand where their knowledge is lacking and pay more attention to those areas as they go through the book.

The second section is titled "Sharper Writing Stages" and shifts the focus of the book from grammar to strategies on actually writing your paper/book/etc.Kaplan provides a standard overview of common topics such as: brainstorming, outlining, journaling, researching, and paper structure (intro, body, conclusion).There is also a moderately detailed refresher on sentence structure, word choice, quotation usage, and revising your paper through editing (I particular found the editing symbol chart helpful).As with section 1, there are practice questions and quizes, but I found those less helpful in this section as the materical was not as rule based.

The third section is titled "Sharper Writing Formats" and focuses on putting the previous sections into practice in such ways as business writing, letter writing, etc.The section provides overviews of topics such as resumes, business emails, academic writing and personal letters, and provides formats and tips for each.

Ultimately the book is similar to what most people will probably cover in 11th or 12th grade English or possibly English 101 or 102 at University.However, if you are like me, you probably do not remember everything you learned in these courses and this book serves as a helpful reference and quick refresher.

Kindle Note: I chose to read this book on Kindle for PC instead of my Kindle because there are a lot of diagrams and questions that were easier to view and use in a larger format than my Kindle screen. ... Read more

Product Description
Exhaustively illustrated and broad in scope, Editing Technical Writing is a comprehensive textbook and reference for students of technical editing and communication, as well as a training manual for working professionals in business and government who must revise documents to communicate technical information clearly and effectively. It examines the editor's broad role in the collaborative writing of a document, from scheduling, staffing, and budgeting publication work through editing text and graphics to coordinating proofreading and production work. Chapters on editing text and graphics are supplemented by others on degrees of edit, style guides, editing specific types of documents such as proposals, proofreading, schedules and budgets, grammar, and punctuation. Extensive examples, materials to edit and exercises with answer keys and explanations clarify editorial goals and procedures and provide students with realistic editing experience. Discussions of concepts such as legibility, readability and effective design contribute to the students' base in communication theory.Also, editing guidelines and graphics from a variety of professional documents introduce students to the range of materials and techniques available to the technical editor and make Editing Technical Writing a valuable reference as well as text. A bibliography identifies valuable resources for editing students and editors. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Editing for tech editors
Unfortunately I could have written this book. It did not present any new thoughts for this technical editor.

Sound fundamentals but somewhat dated details
Editing well is an art that, ironically enough, is hard to demystify in print. Adding insight on editing technical material requires a solid foundation in technical disciplines as well as respect for the written word and its consumers.

Samson's book provides a well-organized overview of the technical editing profession, inside and out. The "inside" portion of this book is generally excellent, as he reviews things as specific as proofreading marks and as nuanced as English grammar. Personally, I found his chapter on editing technical graphics extremely useful.

However, the "outside" portion of the book -- the part that deals with how editors fit into the workflow in industry and publishing -- is sadly out of date, which is not surprising given that the book was published nearly 15 years ago. Samson describes lengthy schedules, time for extensive re-edits, and large teams replete with semi-legendary staffers like dedicated typists. Perhaps my own software industry experience colors my perspective, which is that today's technical documentation is more likely to be written in a fast-paced, iterative environment and produced and published entirely online. In such a setting, editing, ANY editing, is a luxury.

This book contains useful exercises, and its general rigor and lucidity would make it a good supplemental text for a technical editing course. Just don't go into your first technical editing or writing job expecting anything like the work environment Samson outlines.

Best for Technical Writing
I took a course with Donald Samson at Radford University, and this bookwas out textbook for the course.Every aspect of technical writing, fromgrammar to style.This book, however, is not merely a list of gramaticaland stylistic rules; it describes in detail the duties and responsibilitiesof technical writers.In short, there is not a better guide for aspiringtechnical writers out there.Great for a textbook or for someone learningon his or her own. ... Read more

Product Description
Don't let the revision process intimidate you any longer. Discover how to successfully transform your first draft into a polished final draft readers won't be able to forget.

In Write Great Fiction: Revision & Self-Editing, James Scott Bell draws on his experience as a novelist and instructor to provide specific revision tips geared toward the first read-through, as well as targeted self-editing instruction focusing on the individual elements of a novel like plot, structure, characters, theme, voice, style, setting, and endings. You'll learn how to:

• Write a cleaner first draft right out of the gate using Bell's plotting principles
• Get the most out of revision and self-editing techniques by honing your skills with detailed exercises
• Systematically revise a completed draft using the ultimate revision checklist that talks you through the core story elements

Customer Reviews (32)

Useful advice for a new writer
Revision and Self-Editing has proven to be a very useful guide for me, a new and unpublished writer. With its section on revision (i.e. re-thinking and re-writing) and the section on the steps and tricks of the trade in writing, I have more than gotten my money's worth. Recommended with pleasure.

Charly Writer
What a great book for the new and established writer!
It does not get any better than this.
CW

Essential Handbook for Revision, Not to be Missed
I have read several reviews of this book on Amazon. The reviewers seem to either love it or hate it, to put it simply.

Those that object to it complain that most of the book doesn't deal with revision, and it's true that the revision section starts on page 191, about 70% of the way through the book!In fact, the first 190 pages read like a primer on fiction writing, covering such subjects as characters; plot and structure; point of view; scenes; dialogue; beginnings, middles & ends; show vs. tell; voice & style; setting & description, exposition, and theme.

Why these chapters?Because Mr. Bell's philosophy of self-editing requires a solid, active working-knowledge of fiction technique.Frankly, how can you self-edit well unless you know what you are doing, what makes for good fiction?"Active" in the above sentence means that the writer's working-knowledge is fresh in her memory.Personally, I'm glad Bell included these "fiction-primer" chapters. To me they are handy mental preparation for the edit.

By the way the exercises found at the end of each of the first twelve chapters are excellent. I will soon be doing each of them in sequence and expect some real growth in skill as a result.

Revision, indeed, does start on page 191 and goes through page 255, and Bell's "The Ultimate revision Checklist" there (chapter 16) is alone well worth the price of the book. It is absolutely brilliant.

I'm so glad I didn't listen to the nay-sayers and allow myself to be discouraged from buying this book, which I now treasure!

There are several authors of fiction how-to-write books that I read and re-read.Some of them are Nancy Kress, Orson Scott Card, William Noble, Jack M. Bickham, Donald Maass, and James N. Frey.James Scott Bell's books are mandatory additions to that elite group.

Highly recommended.

Revision & Self Editing
As an author I wrote my first book by instinct. If only I'd possessed James Scott Bell's Books on Revision & Self-Editing. And of course, Plot & Structure. Amazing the way he puts his finger on every single thing I wanted to know and then some. I've used every trick he suggests to make my next titles winners. A must for any author. Thanks James!

If you have his Plot and Structure, don't bother with this one
I bought this book hoping for a detailed how-to on revising my manuscript which is, currently, kind of a mess. This book provided little help. There are only two new chapters--the rest of the content is virtually identical to his other book, Plot and Structure. While there is good stuff in there, I would say, if you have one book, don't waste your money buying the other. ... Read more

Product Description
Learning how to write for just one type of interactive media, such as web sites or games, is not enough! To be truly successful as an interactive writer or designer, you need to understand how to create content for all types of new media.

Writing for Multimedia and the Web is the most comprehensive guide available for interactive writing. It covers web sites, computer games, e-learning courses, training programs, immersive exhibits, and much more. Earlier editions have garnered rave reviews as a writing handbook for multimedia and web professionals, as well as a classroom text for interactive writing and design.

New Sections and Completely Updated Chapters:
*Writing a corporate web site: T. Rowe Price
*Creating blogs and podcasts
*Web writing tips from usability experts
*Optimizing text for web search engines
*Defining the user with use cases and user scenarios
*Dealing with web editors
*Software for organizing and writing interactive media content
*Script formats for all types of multimedia and web projects
*Writing careers

*The case studies explain real-life lessons and professional savvy through the experiences of interactive writing pros
*The first-time glossary provides a quick-and-easy way to learn essential web writer lingo
*Gain access to pro's personal views though reading first-person interviews with successful interactive designers and writers ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

OK for students, not for the real world
I bought this book thinking it would be a practical tool for writing dynamic, engaging web copy... but it wasn't. It was too theoretical and had a boring textbook feel to it. I wanted to learn how users interact with the web and web text, but this book only told me broad generalizations that anyone who uses the web frequently already knows. Even though it's updated ("third edition") much of felt way out of date.

As Advertised.Great Purchase.
Book was in condition, as advertised.Great condition and was promptly shipped and delivered.

Great Content
I'm using this text for one of my Communication courses and it has great explanations and insight into mutlimedia and interactive media.

A broad overview, college-level textbook
As a broad overview of writing for web sites and interactive media products, this book covers all of the key topics (although briefly) for a student who wants to work in this field.The examples are extensive and well chosen, and often geared to the interests of young adults. But the book doesn't provide exercises or projects for learning specific skills. Readers will want to supplement this book withother resources that present detailed information on specific skills and techniques.

A Complete Guide for Writing for the Web
Timothy Garrand speaks with authority about the many challenges of designing and writing interactive media for the web and other multimedia programs. Writing for Multimedia and the Web serves as a practical guide for writers in the throes of this demanding work. Good writing skills are not enough, as Garrand both shows and tells. His book is packed with writing tips, case studies, and examples of the formats and genres a multimedia writer might tackle, including:
* Storyboards, flowcharts, and other design documents that can be effective to help clients, marketing, and production teams understand a project
* Instructional, video, game and story scripts
* Web sites and kiosks for corporations, marketing, e-learning and museums
* Blogs, podcasts, portals and more...
The best part of Garrand's book is that he follows his own advice, with clear titles and subtitles, lots of indexing, chunked information, and clear-cut paths for quickly finding topics. It's amazing how easily you can scan through the nearly 500 pages of text and the jam-packed CD to get to what you need to know. Additional resources are available for those brave enough to attempt teaching this topic. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (16)

Writing for All Scientists
Howard S. Becker, the author of "Writing for Social Scientists: How to Start and Finish Your Thesis, Book, or Article", is a social scientist. Of course, no respectable scientist, social or non-social, would dare generalizing to other fields of knowledge the findings laboriously made in his own field. So, Becker conservatively addresses his book just to "social scientists". Writing is, however, an essential aptitude for any scientist. In fact, it is no less crucial to the survival of the scientist, as a scientist, than his or her own aptitudes to read or think logically. So, what Becker writes in his book is just as important to social scientists as it is to any other kind of scientist. Quite paradoxically, most scientists initiate and develop their scientific careers without devoting a single minute of their time to specifically learning how to write. Anyone would agree that it is impossible to play good tennis without proper training, and whoever wished to become a professional tennis player by just playing along would very likely be regarded as downright naive. This is, however, what most scientists do when it comes to writing. Becker's book does not fall in the category of the so called "how-to" books. It is, rather, a personal reflection written in a very entertaining and conversational style by an academic who addresses his fellow academics, not from the top of a pulpit, but from the cultural standpoint of the beliefs, traditions, aspirations and rites of their common academic life. It covers, in this way, a remarkably diverse collection of central aspects of scientific writing, such as the crucial role of editing and rewriting (and rewriting, and rewriting), the fear of scorn, the encounters with writer's block, or the urge to produce pompous and obscure texts. As the book progresses, the readers notice that they are being faced with the main fallacies of traditional scientific writing and that they are being helped to build their own opinion on how these fallacies can be properly handled. One such fallacy resides in the belief that there is only one right way of putting things down on paper. In fact, most less experienced writers tend to believe that to write well is to get the text right the first time. So, they stumble in the beginning of their text, unsuccessfully trying to work out the best beginning (and believing that, if they don't, they will not be able to proceed). Often, they also stumble when trying in vain to get the best plan for their text. Indeed, they seem to ignore that a significant part of our knowledge is built through experimentation, and that experimentation begins inside our own minds, as we tentatively combine ideas and try to make sense out of them.

Great Author, Great Work
Howard Becker is indispensable to any student of the social sciences. This book, which provides insight into how to work efficiently as a scholar in the discipline, is an excellent resource. Read it while you're writing so you don't lose sight of the goal of finishing your work.

Excellent
Dears

I am grateful buy book in Amazon. My order arrive in the predict day , in state perfect. All the information I need for choice the book was available before in the site. Good work, Amazon person.

Óthon Pereira
from Brazil
Writing for Social Scientists: How to Start and Finish Your Thesis, Book, or Article: Second Edition (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing)

Good, but the second edition has few changes
I bought the first edition of this book about 20 years ago and found it very helpful.I long ago misplaced my copy and so was happy to order the new second edition.On reading the book again, I found Becker's advice to be as good as I remembered, but I was disappointed that he had made so few changes in the "second edition."Essentially, the first edition has been reprinted verbatim--even typos weren't corrected--with a relatively few pages of additional material added to the last two chapters.Chapter 9 now contains Becker's general thoughts on recent software that he considers useful to writers.This discussion would have been more helpful if he had been willing to mention specific programs.I guess he decided not to either to avoid giving free advertising or to avoid dating the discussion.The last chapter gives some interesting, if brief, observations on the place of writing in modern academic life.

In short, if you already have the first edition, there's not much point in buying the second edition.If, on the other hand, you haven't encountered this book before and you would like some useful tips on academic writing, it's well worth the price.

Becker on Writing
This was the best $10 I've ever invested.The book is wonderful; clear and concise.It's made a big difference with my papers through understanding that writing is a process that mostly begins with angst, that there are a few quick tricks that can make any paper much better and that big words in scientific papers don't make the paper scientific (or readable).BUY THE BOOK!!! ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (58)

excellent manual!
Clear and concise - easy to read and follow - easily worth the purchase price

great book that came in poor conditions
This is a great reference book. I'm sad that it came in very poor conditions from amazon. As i needed it for a class, i couldn't spent more time without it returning it. But i would be carefull whenever you see items like this marked as "NEW" as them sometimes come with a slight sign of misuse or travel damage (i.e. a corner bended mark).

Provides a good framework
One of the challenges of writing higher academic work is that feeling of 'being thrown in the deep end'.

This is a really good 'life preserver' if you have that feeling !

Valuable, helpful for the researchers
I've got this book for my report and thesis.
My school requires the Turabian format.
This book is very useful for those who writes his report or thesis
in Turabian format.

I have got this book very cheaply.
Though it is a used book, it's almost new book.

Very Confusing...
This book was very, very confusing. I was specifically trying to use it to determine proper style for reports using footnotes without an end bibliography. This book was completely useless. Nowhere to be found is a handy page that shows you how to do so! I found what I thought was the answer, only to find that those were only correct for a bibliography page, not end notes. This book is worthless. Just google Turabian Style Guide. It's much, much easier. ... Read more

Product Description
Hundreds of books have been written on the art of writing. Here at last is a book by two professional editors to teach writers the techniques of the editing trade that turn promising manuscripts into published novels and short stories.

In this completely revised and updated second edition, Renni Browne and Dave King teach you, the writer, how to apply the editing techniques they have developed to your own work. Chapters on dialogue, exposition, point of view, interior monologue, and other techniques take you through the same processes an expert editor would go through to perfect your manuscript. Each point is illustrated with examples, many drawn from the hundreds of books Browne and King have edited.Amazon.com Review
There's not much of the old-style editing going on atpublishing houses today.Renni Browne, veteran of William Morrow andother publishers, founded the Editorial Department in 1980 to teachfiction writers the techniques professional editors (many of whom havegone independent) use to prepare a manuscript for publication. Inthis book, she and senior editor Dave King share their accumulated expertise in aseries of brilliantly compact lessons. One page from their simply and markedly improved version of a scene fromThe Great Gatsby alone would make a compelling advertisement for their techniques. Very highly recommended. --MTB ... Read more

Customer Reviews (154)

Packed full of help for new writers!
I got a lot of insight into how to fine tune my manuscript for my first work of fiction from "Self Editing for Fiction Writers." The main lesson for me was R.U.E. (Resist the urge to explain). They explained many concepts in very clear terms, included exercises and examples to illustrate the individual points. This book gives a perspective into what editors look for in our a manuscript that determines if it will be tossed aside or given a closer look. From stressing showing rather than telling, point of view, dialogue, interior monologue, avoiding repitition and voice to actual passages from books, I felt it covered a lot. The only part that did not work for me was that the content of the passages which were mostly from works of literature I would not read and were boring but as a text, the book itself was not boring and I finished it in one weekend. It has helped me make tremendous progress with my manuscript in the same length of time. I had my pen out and I have written all over the book like I do with text books. I would definitely recommend it.

Good for serious fiction writers
Don't buy this book until you've written and rewritten your novel. It's only for seroius fiction writers.

In my top ten list of best books for writers
It seems every writing seminar or convention I go to, everyone is recommending this book. I have to confess I took a copy out at the library about a year ago and just could not get that excited about it. But, darn if writers I truly respect did not keep praising it. So I took another look a month ago and the time was right. I ordered my own copy immediately. I have to admit I did not do the writing exercises because I am working on an MFA and my own writing takes up all my time. But I highlighted and wrote comments all over the book and I refer to it regularly when I hit a glitch in a story. I have even stopped having my characters "sigh" dialogue. (Though I will argue to my dying day that it is indeed possible to "sigh" words. I do it all the time!) I'm also careful to avoid "said Mary" because editors want to see "Mary said." Might seem like nit-picking to some, but it only makes sense to do what you can to look less like a novice when submitting a manuscript. Read this book before you submit anything!

Must-read for a fiction writer
This book covered some important topics I had overlooked and induced me to run through the novel I'm working on just to fix the things it talked about.Lots of good examples taken from existing published literature and the writing workshops the authors conduct.

Indispensable.
Writing fiction isn't hard, but writing good fiction is. Having a writing coach or teacher is the best way to go, but sometimes that's not possible. Self-editing is the best book on the market for those learning the craft. Read it as you as write. And then read it again. And again. The Show, Don't Tell aspect is critical to good fiction and probably one of the most difficult to apply on your own, but the chapter is easy to understand with great examples at the end of the book. Besides learning the nuances of good fiction, the book helps you understand the proper usage of beats, adverbs, dialog and such. It's well worth the effort. ... Read more

Product Description
Incorporating the useful suggestions of attorneys who relied on the previous edition, the new Third Edition of Thinking Like a Writer gives you the specialized knowledge and techniques to draft clear and compelling legal documents no matter how complicated the issues involved. Hailed as the best book ever written on legal writing by practicing attorney and former Marine Corps Staff Judge Advocate Theodore Hess, Thinking Like a Writer includes exercises, examples, and highlighted drafting do s and don ts to help you to: Craft introductions that activate readers minds from the start. Develop a writing persona that s credible, professional, and engaging. Write strong, streamlined sentences that bring subjects into clear focus. Create logically-linked paragraphs that carry readers forward smoothly. Break up information stylistically and graphically to enhance comprehension. Use syntax, verbs, and varied sentence lengths to keep readers attention. Instill writing with added grace, energy, character, and imagination. Communicate directly with different audiences, including clients, associates, senior lawyers, and judges. Identify drafting problems, understand their causes, and find the right editorial solutions.Thinking Like a Writer shows you how to blend reason and emotion, detail and simplicity, and concrete language and metaphors to ensure that your legal writing does full justice to your legal thinking. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

By far the best legal writing book out there.
Probably the best book on legal writing that I've read. It's big but worth it. Don't waste your time buying books by B.G's (you know who i'm talking about if you're in the legal community). This one is all you need as a student, and even as a professional if you need a comprehensive refresher. It's worth the price.

Excellent advice in a digestible format
I bought this book on the advice of a young practicing attorney and it is truly a book that makes legal writing easier. It breaks down the essentials that one should keep in mind when doing any kind of writing and creates a framework for legal organization and relevance. The language used is clear and precise and I prefer the familiar tone of voice the authors use instead of the strict and formal voice employed by many other legal writing references.

The BEST book for Legal Writing!!
THINKING LIKE A WRITER, 3RD EDITION is the #1 resource for lawyers and law students who need help with their legal writing skills. This comprehensive textbook includes numerous illustrative examples and effective tips to help you improve your legal writing, including letters, emails, memoranda, briefs and judicial opinions.

This ground-breaking book is designed to revolutionize the way you think about legal writing, as it takes you step-by-step through legal drafting and editing. Sections include: Creating Organizational Clarity (creating an aesthetically pleasing document), Writing for Impact (engaging the reader), Creating "Micro" Clarity (focuses on paragraph and sentence structure), The Nuances of Excellence (style, the art of persuasion), and Bringing It All Together (Editing - principles, techniques and application).

I strongly recommend this book for law firm training programs seeking to improve lawyers' writing skills, as well as incoming law students and recent graduates who want to enter the profession at the top of their writing game! ... Read more

Product Description
Getting paid to write is every aspiring scribe's dream, but Writing for Quick Cash gives writers the tools and resources to make it reality. From researching potential clients to negotiating maximum pay rates, writers will learn every conceivable strategy for generating a steady flow of rewarding assignments that pay real money. Oberlin shows experienced and novice writers how to:

* Survey opportunities in business and technical writing, online content, periodicals, book projects, greeting cards, newsletters, and much more* Market ideas and services to publishers, corporations, and others* Work with clients and editors smoothly and professionally* Create an efficient home office set-up for maximum productivity* Write like a journalist -- without taking journalism classes* Make the most of the latest and best writing software* Augment income through teaching, speaking, and editing jobs

Filled with sage advice and savvy strategy, Writing for Quick Cash reveals a wealth of opportunities for full-timers and moonlighters alike. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

How to fit writing into a busy life.
Writing for Quick Cash explores how to write smaller articles, magazine filler material, greeting cards and the like in smaller bits of time. The author helps you find out about these markets, how to target your material and how to submit your writing. This writing may be done while you're busy with life or another job and may get you publishing credit or a little extra cash. "Quick" here is relative to the notoriously slow publishing process, not quick by normal standards.

Writing for Quick Cash: Turn Your Way With Words into Real Money
What is the key to actually making money with your writing? According to Writing for Quick Cash, the answer is perseverance, planning, and putting pen to paper.

So many individuals want to become writers. They know that they have something to say but aren't really sure what to do next. They write an article, a short story, a poem, or a book and send it off to every magazine or publisher they can find. After months of no replies or worse yet a desk full of rejection letters, they get discouraged and give up on their dream. Others never even get a word written on paper before they get discouraged and give up.

Writing for Quick Cash states that there is another alternative. Want to be writers need to continually practice their skills so that their writing improves. They need to build up their clips so that they can move onto bigger projects. Most importantly though, they have to learn to match their writing to suit what a particular editor wants to read.

Not disappointed
This book serves as an excellent guide if you are a freelancer looking for outlets for your work. Chapters cover everything from writing tips to query submissions to suggestions on areas to focus your writing for "quick" cash. By quick, I got the sense the author compares writing shorter pieces to perhaps writing a book. A book, she states, not only takes longer to produce, but requires significant publishing and marketing efforts to be financially successful. Writing short pieces and tarketing specific markets has the potential to bring in steady cash -- though the author points out that you will probably not get especially rich from this.

Each chapter ends with informative "Starting-out Steps." These tips should get your juices flowing with creative ideas about the topic covered in that chapter. The subtitle of the book, "Turn Your Way With Words Into Real Money," provides key insight into the premise of the book: 1. It assumes there is some writing skill (or way with words); and 2. It also assumes some degree of "newness" to the area of publishing your work for money.

Though I found the book informative, I would have liked a few of the sections expanded on, like the section on writing fillers. Overall, I would recommend the book if you have good writing skills and little experience writing for cash. It is definitely a good reference guide that offers innovative ideas for selling your work.

Writing for Quick Cash: excellent overview of the freelance market
When I purchased Writing for Quick Cash, I was looking for ideas to expand my writing opportunities, for new markets for shorter work.I found Loriann Oberlin's book extremely helpful in that regard.She has a quick, bright writing style that is easy to read, and includes sidebars and examples to illustrate her text in a very concise way.Whether you are looking to enter the writing market for fillers, greeting cards or newspaper articles, or beginning to research the non-fiction book world, Writing for Quick Cash will be a great way to start your journey.Highly recommended.

Great Resource Book For Writers
I bought this book to take with a corresponding course.I must say both were exceptional.As a writer for a local paper, I am constantly looking for other outlets for my writings.This book opened my eyes to a lot of opportunities.I would recommend this book for the beginer to the experience writer.

One review mentioned that it really isn't "quick".As someone who is semi familar with the writing business, you must understand that Quick is not the next day.The book gives clear steps on how to get your writing career off with a jump start.


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Customer Reviews (1)

a must have
This book has been a huge contributing factor in my success as a teacher and the success of my students.I highly recommend this practical and easy to follow book for all teachers interested in helping their students learn to write and read. ... Read more

Product Description
The Fastest, Easiest Way to Learn: Schaum's Quick Guides

These concise, quick reference guides are perfect for business people, writers, and students at all levels. Written by top experts, they offer readers the easiest, most efficient strategies to master or learn a new skill. All Schaum's Quick Guides include do's and don'ts for avoiding common errors, handy checklists, and practice exercises for building skills quickly. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Quick and Superb Guide to Writing Great Essays
Schaum's Quick Guide to Writing Great Essays is a superb reference for learning how to research and write essays.I have assigned this book for the past 5 years, and each year my undergraduates tell me it is the best resource of the class.The book teaches them how to identify a topic, develop a topic question, write a clearly identified thesis statement, and prove their argument through careful use of evidence.

This book also describes how to outline the paper and begin writing, and thus should be required for any class trying to teach students how to construct a research paper.The authors take students through each step of the essay, explaining how to write an introduction, thesis paragraph, the body of the paper, and the conclusion.The authors also teach students how to improve their writing style through carefully constructed paragraphs, sentences and smooth transitions.

The book is clearly and logically organized with many specific examples to help students follow the authors' points.This guide has my highest recommendation for anyone who wants to become a better writer of research papers and essays.

Too Brief--Essay Types NOT Covered
I am STILL seeking a general how-to essay book that covers all the rhetorical essay pattern types, even after buying Schaum's Quick Guide to Writing Great Essays, because this book does not fulfil the promise of it's title, or misleading descriptive information. I received this book yesterday, skimmed through it immediately, and am greatly disappointed.

Schaum's Quick Guide to Writing Great Essays is only OK as a basic reference guide for grammar, sentence and paragraph structure, with one generic outline. None of its chapters cover the types of essays, such as Compare & Contrast, Persuasive, Descriptive, and so on. This book does not give examples of well written essays, either. Instead, it gives extremely brief example sentences, and occasional paragraph samples only.

One will NOT learn how to write a specific type of essay, which one would expect to from the book title, description, marketing and cover information. I feel incredibly cheated, since returning it for a refund will cost almost half the price of Schaum's Quick Guide to Writing Great Essays. I would recommend "Elements of Style", "Essays and Themes", or "How to Write Better Essays" instead, as better reference and how-to books on writing essays, with examples, rhetorical essay types and every day applications of essay writing.

Lastly, the book claims to contain exercises for practicing the concepts within, yet there wasn't a single exercise to be found on examination of the actual book. If you already know how to write great essays, and understand the various structure types for essay outlining, then MAYBE this book would be OK as a reference or reminder of a simple concept one has forgotten and needs to look up. Unfortunately, it's claim as a guide to writing great essays is completely false. Save your money. ... Read more

Product Description

John T. Crow

Unleashing Your Language Wizards:  A Brain-Based Approach to Writing and Editing, First Edition

Unleashing Your Language Wizards breaks new ground by presenting a research-based, active-learning approach to teaching lasting sentence management skills that taps into students’ natural learning abilities. To guide teachers in grades 3-12 to effective teach editing and writing, this book introduces the basic principles, specific examples, and sample activities--all of which teach the most important language concepts from a variety of different angles and approaches--to help students conquer their written language issues. It focuses on three areas of knowledge–referred to as Wizards–that all students must possess to communicate effectively:  Grammar Wizards, Sentence Wizards, and Rhetorical Wizards.

"[The book] positively shines, as it helps to frame issues that are so important to address in the grammar/writing classroom but that are difficult to explain without clear pathways laid out...the more ways to get students physically engaged and mentally engaged in grammar learning, the better—the activities here seem designed well to engage students and provide them with good practice in the concepts...the author lays [everything] out in a methodical way that gets to the heart of [learning grammar]." - Jennifer Powers, Green Mountain College

"The content and process to teaching grammar explicitly from a brain-based approach is without exception, timely, in light of the recent recognition of the type of students who make up the achievement gap in the Untied States...This is excellent information to consider pedagogically. [The book] will generate much discussion on how teachers can make...[grammar] strategies more interesting and engaging...for English learners."  - Catherine Elise Barrett, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

John T. Crow is a professional development consultant focused on applied linguistics and ESL. His thirty years classroom experience give him a unique perspective on teaching language and composition that he shares with educators across the country.

Customer Reviews (1)

Student-friendly instruction
Dr. Crow has listened to students and teachers and created student-friendly ways to make grammar instruction stick. In today's classrooms we must reach all students, not just the ones who are naturally inclined toward language. The instructional "ah-has" in this book will empower all students to unlock the mysteries of grammar. I have used it successfully with fourth graders. I believe the idea of Language Wizards can impact teachers and students from primary grades through college. ... Read more

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