Writing Skills
an illustrated bibliography
David Acres, Passing Exams Without Anxiety, Oxford: How to Books, 5th edn, 2000, ISBN: 1857032691.
Study skills tips for examinations up to undergraduate level. Includes advice on writing under pressure. Checklists, time charts, diagrams, lists, and mind maps. The main emphasis is on relieving stress and anxiety. Cheap and cheerful, and now in its fifth edition - which is a fairly safe recommendation.
Full review HERE
Daniel Anderson, Bret Benjamin, Bill Paredes-Holt, Connections: a guide to on-line writing, Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1998, pp.331, ISBN: 0205268471.
How to write effectively using the Internet - a classroom manual for students. Covers email, newsgroups, MUDs, MOOs and their variants, and how to produce your own web pages. Researching explained in quite some detail. Includes a bibliography of Net resources; MLA guidelines for citing Internet references; notes on copyright and fair use; a list of HTML tags; and a glossary.
Review HERE
Naomi S. Baron, Alphabet to Email, London/New York: Routledge, 2000, pp.316, ISBN: 0415186854.
Scholarly study of the relationship between technology and the written language. Particularly strong on Renaissance period. Covers political, legal, and commercial history of book production and its effect on authorship and ownership of text. Includes the sociology of reading habits, the history of dictionaries, the English Language and its development, spelling reform, and the history of writing.
Full review HERE
Judith Bell, Doing Your Research Project: A Guide for First-Time Researchers in Education and Social Science, Buckingham: Open University Press (2nd edn) 1993, pp.176, ISBN: 0335190944.
Best-selling UK guide which covers planning and record-keeping, interviewing, reviewing 'the literature' of your topic, designing questionnaires, interpreting evidence, and presenting the findings. Each chapter has a summary checklist and its own suggestions for further reading. There's also a full bibliography and index. Highly recommended.
Full review HERE
Stylewriter is a software program which offers help with writing skills such as summarising, editing, and proof-reading your work. It also offers a selection of writing styles to choose from - academic writing, journalism, formal prose, and so on. Mistakes and suggestions for improvement are highlighted and implemented with a click of the button.
Hy Bender, Essential Software for Writers: a complete guide for everyone who writes with a PC, Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books, 1993, pp.486, ISBN: 0898796679.
Compendium of programs and resources for all kinds of writing - from scriptwriting and journalism to business, medicine, and engineering. It also covers software for writers in the fields of film, music, theatre, lawyers [document comparison and
editing] linguists [translation software] and academic [bibliographies and text
searching]. Out of print - but marvellous. Full review HERE
Lorraine Blaxter et al, How to Research, Buckingham: Open University Press, (second edition) 2001, pp.286, ISBN 0335209033
Comprehensive guidance on the techniques and methods of research - from deciding on a topic to submitting the final draft. Particularly suitable for social scientists and students of education, business studies, and health and social care.Review HERE
Rita S. Brause, Writing your Doctoral Dissertation: Invisible Rules for Success, London and New York: Falmer Press, 2000, pp.163, ISBN 0750707445
New US guide to writing at post-graduate level which is strong on planning, and offers tips from former students. Analyses practical examples to show the important structural elements of a dissertation, and explains the stages in the doctoral process - including making an application and learning the language of institutions.
Full review HERE
Judith Butcher, Copy-Editing: The Cambridge Handbook for Editors, Authors and Publishers, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, (3rd edn) 1992, pp.471, ISBN: 0521400740.
Classic UK guide and major source of reference to editing and text-presentation, which covers every possible bibliographic detail. Latest edition also deals with copyright, specialist subjects such as music and mathematics, and preparing work in electronic form. It's also an elegantly designed, well printed book - and now available in paperback.
Review
Christopher Callahan, A Journalist's Guide to the Internet: the net as a reporting tool, Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1999, pp.126, ISBN 0205282156.
Guide to using the Net for research and fact-checking - strong on search techniques and evaluation of results. Expressed in clear, plain prose with as little jargon as possible. Each chapter includes stories from journalists on how they have used the Internet. Plenty on newsgroups, mailing lists, web sites, and organisations for those who want to pursue a career interest.
Full review HERE
William Condon and Wayne Butler, Writing the Information SuperHighway, Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1997, pp.318, ISBN: 020519575X.
Instruction guide for students and teachers - concentrates on word-processing, email conventions, collaborative writing, and putting your results onto the Web.
Step-by-step instructions on developing ideas and converting observations into arguments, with examples. Appendix of on-line resources, glossary, and full index.
Review HERE
Phyllis Creme and Mary R.Lea, Writing at University: a guide for students, Buckingham: Open University Press, 1997, pp.152, ISBN: 033519642X.
Popular UK guide to understanding questions, planning assignments, reading and note-taking, and developing arguments. Covers writer's block, editing, grammar and punctuation, practice writing, brainstorming, and close analysis of the question, its key terms and any instructions. Good examples and neat tips.
Full review HERE
John W. Davies, Communication for Engineering Students, London: Longman, 1996, pp.167, ISBN: 0582256488.
Straightforward advice on clear writing, grammar, presenting technical information, and even writing job applications. Covers sentences, grammar and style, technical information, lab reports, projects, and even spoken presentations and interview techniques. Brief exercises with answers in each chapter.
Review HERE
Jane Dorner, The Internet : A Writer's Guide, London: A & C Black, 2000, pp.200, ISBN: 071365192X.
New opportunities and digital techniques for writers - from email to electronic publishing. Explores both the new opportunities for writers created by the Internet, and the practicalities of publishing on your own web site. Contains impressive list of online resources. Associated web site updated monthly.
Full review HERE
Harold Evans, Essential English for Journalists, Editors and
Writers, London: Random House, 2000, pp.296, ISBN 0712664475.
Reprint and update of a classic guide. Evans explains skills for journalists, but his suggestions for clear writing and efficient communication are useful for any kind of writing. Contains extensive tutorials on composition, structure, and good style.
Good advice on sentence construction, editing for clarity, choice of vocabulary, avoiding obscurity and abstraction, plus eliminating vagueness and cliche.
Full review HERE
Rudolph Flesch and A.H. Lass, The Classic Guide to Better Writing, New York: Harper Perennial, 1966, pp.288, ISBN: 0062730487.
Best-selling US guide with emphasis on how to generate, plan, and structure your ideas. Also covers basic grammar, good style, and common mistakes. Covers the construction of paragraphs; linking ideas and statements; audience and tone; clauses, phrases, and sentence construction; brevity, clarity, and avoiding ambiguity.
Full review HERE
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