Book Author Academy: Effectively Organizing and Writing for - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Book Author Academy: Effectively Organizing and Writing for Academic Books May 2015 Jeffrey Robens, PhD Senior Research Consultant Education Group Leader

Your goal should not only to be published, but also to be widely read/cited 成为一个有效的沟通者 Be an effective communicator  Importance of publishing books  Good book structure and flow  Logically organized chapters  Increasing readability

Section 1 Importance of books

Academic Publishing Customer Service Importance of Why publish books? books To communicate your research to a global audience Journal articles are not the only publications for researchers

Academic Publishing Customer Service Importance of Journals vs . books books Books Journals • Secondary literature • Primary literature • Broad scope • Narrow scope • Not as in-depth • In-depth • Published in 12 – 36 • Published in 6 – 12 months months

Academic Publishing Customer Service Importance of Why publish books? books Establishes your Express thoughts & opinions reputation Can influence Develop relationship research program with publishers

Academic Publishing Customer Service Importance of Purpose of books books Discuss specific topic for your field “This book develops new knowledge concerning the factors that help to explain three important aspects of access to financial and retirement planning advisors…”

Academic Publishing Customer Service Importance of Purpose of books books Introduce topic to others outside field Information and communication technology – “Hanna…draws practical lessons for policymakers, reformers, innovators, community leaders…”

Academic Publishing Customer Service Importance of Purpose of books books Introductory text about topic “This textbook provides an introduction to the concept of sustainability in the context of transportation planning, management, and decision- making…”

Choosing the Academic Publishing Customer Service Importance of right authors books Established Influence & respect (authority) researcher Unbiased, no Availability & conflicts of interest dependability

Academic Publishing Customer Service Importance of Successful book proposal books Choose the right topic! • Relevant & interesting topic for the field • Addresses important & focused question • Not previously published • Synthesizes what has been done • Suggests what is next, forward thinking

Section 2 Book organization

Reading Strategies Book organization Essential elements Front Forward, preface, table of contents matter Text body Parts, chapters, figures, references Back Glossary, index, appendix matter

Reading Strategies Style guides Book organization www.springer.com/authors/book+authors?SGWID=0-154102-0-0-0

Section 2.1 Front matter

Reading Strategies Book organization Front matter – Forward Book recommendation Written by subject Focus on topic authority importance Why book is Author’s name important/useful appears at the end

Reading Strategies Front matter – Preface Book organization Not an introduction! Why the book was Who is the written intended audience How book is Can include short organized acknowledgements

Reading Strategies Front matter – Preface Book organization “Guide to Intelligent Data Analysis” Why book was written Who is the intended audience Acknowledgements

Front matter – Reading Strategies Book organization Table of Contents What is included in the book List of chapters and Concise descriptive back matter titles Can group chapters Include page numbers into parts

Table of Contents – Reading Strategies Book organization Monographs “Managing Elevated Risk” Chapter title First two subheadings References not numbered

Table of Contents – Reading Strategies Book organization Contributed volumes “Migration, Gender and Social Justice” Part title Chapter title Authors Note : Subheadings not listed! Continuous chapter numbers

Table of Contents – Reading Strategies Book organization Common mistakes 1 Front matter should not be included in the table of contents Introduction should be Chapter 1 and begin with page 1 Subheadings should be numbered and listed This should be Chapter 2

Table of Contents – Reading Strategies Book organization Common mistakes 1 References should be listed at the end of each chapter, not the end of the book

Table of Contents – Reading Strategies Book organization Common mistakes 2 No listed subheadings (monograph) or authors (contributed volume) No page numbers No listed back matter

Table of Contents – Reading Strategies Book organization Common mistakes 3 Text not properly formatted (font color and underlining) No page numbers Subheadings should be listed 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, etc. Always follow author guidelines when preparing your manuscript!

Section 2.2 Text body

Text body – Reading Strategies Book organization Parts and chapters Two ways to organize your text: • Chapters only • Chapters organized into Parts 1. Chapter Part I Title Part I Title 1. Chapter 2. Chapter 1. Chapter 2. Chapter 3. Chapter 2. Chapter 4. Chapter Part 2 Title Part 2 Title 5. Chapter 3. Chapter 1. Chapter Continuously numbered chapters

Text body – Book and Reading Strategies Book organization chapter organization Book Chapter Introduction Sections Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Conclusions

Section 2.3 Back matter

Reading Strategies Book organization Back matter – Glossary List of important terms and their definitions Some terms have Help readers understand different meanings book content across fields • Specialized experts Terms are appropriate for • Experts from other fields target audience • Beginners in you field

Reading Strategies Book organization Back matter – Index Important terms and where to find them Selected terms should be Try to predict what distributed among the readers will want to find chapters Try to identify 1 – 2 terms Use indexing function in per page Microsoft Word

Reading Strategies Book organization Back matter – Index “The Phenomenology of Embodied Subjectivity”

Reading Strategies Book organization Permissions Can you use text, figures, or tables from Yes! published work in your book manuscript? But you will need to: • Obtain permission from the original publisher • Cite the source This includes your own published works!

Section 3 Improving readability

Coverage and Manuscript Improving Effective titles Staffing Plan readability structure Important points Avoid Short Questions Descriptive Technical jargon Factual Cultural jargon Poor title “Building Walls and Dissolving Borders: The Challenges of Alterity, Community and Securitizing Space” Good title “Recent Landform Evolution: The Carpatho-Balkan- Dinaric Region”

Coverage and Manuscript Improving Effective titles Staffing Plan readability structure Main title: main topic “Recent Landform Evolution” Sub-title: specific aspect of topic “The Carpatho-Balkan- Dinaric Region” “The Influence of Trade Agreements” “The Impact of Climate Change”

Coverage and Manuscript Improving Abstracts Staffing Plan readability structure At beginning of With its growing economic power, China is playing an important role in the global economy. However, the each chapter prosperity of the cities — such as those in the greater Pearl River delta (GPRD) — face new challenges such as social inequity and environmental deterioration. In this chapter, we Concise (150 – 250 examined the GPRD’s urban development, including urban formation, industry relocation, economic development, social words) summary inequity, and biodiversity conservation. We also explored the role of urban leadership in balancing urbanization with the urgency for economic development and sustainability of the Should not contain environment. We then applied the holistic framework of references/jargon activity theory within the area of sustainability to determine an inclusive structure for effective environmental leadership. Used in indexing Modified from : An KJ. Environmental leadership development based on activity theory for sustainable urban development in the greater Pearl River delta, China. chapters In T. Mino & K. Hanaki (Eds.), Environmental Leadership Capacity Building in Higher Education (pp. 93 – 107). New York: Springer.

Logically organizing Coverage and Manuscript Improving Staffing Plan readability structure ideas in each chapter Title/abstract • Background information • Why topic is important Introduction • What needs to be addressed • Discuss topic in short sections with descriptive headings Main sections • Synthesize what is known • Interpret what this means • Summarize key advances Conclusions • Suggest future directions References

Coverage and Manuscript Improving Reference mistakes Staffing Plan readability structure Always translate Chinese names ? Carefully follow publisher style guides

Coverage and Manuscript Improving Reference formatting Staffing Plan readability structure