Reading about Writing: 5 Book Recommendations for Early-Career Researchers

Are you in need of academic writing help, or would you like to offer excellent academic writing services to those who need it? You are in the right place; keep reading. The ability to offer good academic writing services does not rub off on you because you are a student. Instead, it is a practical skill that you should consciously develop. Developing this skill by engaging in writing practice on your own might be difficult. Writing practice, reading, thinking, and getting feedback from your tutors and colleges are essential ingredients for developing your academic writing skills.

Lauren Bradshaw, an academic writing expert, has this to say about academic writing, "Reading is an important tool for getting out of the pitch of writer's block. It inspires you and helps you see things from the point of view of others". Therefore, reading books is essential to early career researchers and anyone who requires academic writing help. This article recommends some of the best books that will be of great help to those who offer academic writing services and early career researchers.

5 BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS FOR EARLY-CAREER RESEARCHERS

Let's take a quick look at each of the books!

1. Stylish Academic Writing; a book written by Helen Sword.

What first comes to mind when people hear the term Academic writing is extremely boring text, unnecessarily long, and difficult to understand sentences. This, however, should not necessarily be the case. In this book, Helen Sword extensively discussed how to make your writing stand out. She argued that academic writing can still be synonymous with good writing. She explained the importance of captivating titles, smart sentencing, and adding a creative touch to your writing.

Helen stated in the preface that "Elegant ideas deserve elegant expression". The book contains practical, imaginative, and skillful pointers to show you how to make books a pleasure both to read and write. Each chapter of the book takes up specific style elements, including chapter-opening, headings, and structures, and closes with techniques that can be transferred and easily mastered by any writer. Though this kind of writing deviates from disciplinary convention and might not be the smartest thing for an early career researcher, it is better to read this book earlier than later when you still have the opportunity to decide the course of your future writing.

This book was published in 2012 by Harvard University Press.

2. How to use Storytelling in your academic writing; a book written by Timothy G. Pollock

Good habits and writing skills are key ingredients to scholarly success. How to use Storytelling in your academic writing by Timothy G. Pollack explains the various tools and techniques of Storytelling that can be used in fiction and non-fiction writing to help academic writers enhance the presentation, flow, and clarity of their writing. He also described the structure, tools, and techniques of Storytelling and showed readers how to utilize them in writing the different sections of an article. The ability to see each article as a story and employing storytelling techniques will help you as a scholar effectively share your insights and ideas and ultimately increase the impact of your research. This book is of great value to academics at all levels and one you should get your hands on if you are interested in your work being read and remembered by many.

This book was published by Edward Elgar Publishing and released in February 2021

3. The Craft of Research (Fourth Edition, Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing); a book was written by Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, Joseph M. Williams, Joseph Bizup, and William T. Fitzgerald

The Craft of Research is a comprehensive book or guide that talks about research generally and not just writing. It is particularly useful when thinking of how to consider your readers, ask questions, find answers, find sources, build an argument and make claims ready before you write anything down. The book discusses various styles and ethics of writing and also provides its readers with a lot of resources at the end of the book.

This book was published in 2016 by the University of Chicago Press.

4. Writing with Power; a book written By Peter Elbow.

This book is a classical handbook for anyone interested in writing. It is also for those who consider academic writing a real hurdle and are not confident with their skills. It discusses essential activities and techniques such as free-writing to boost one are writing process. An interesting quote by Peter from this book is this, "Put your body into it as you write. Clench your fist, bang your hand on the desk, stamp your feet, and make faces. When you connect wholeheartedly with what you are trying to say, you may well find yourself crying or giggling or shaking."

Though a very old book, it contains information that is still very relevant today. Peter Elbow uses a cookbook approach where he provides various recipes of writing to his readers. His recipes include dealing with an audience, getting words on paper, getting feedback on a piece of paper, and approaching the mystery of power present in writing.

This book was first published in 1981 by the Oxford University Press.

5. How to Fix Your Academic Writing Trouble; a book written by Inger Mewburn, Katherine Firth, and Shaun Lehmann

This book is written in such an amazing way that it is useful not just for students but their supervisors also. Its focus is majorly on the supervisor or reviewer's feedback. It explains feedback such as, "your writing does not flow". The book also explained how you could cut down your words. The authors of this book did a thing with this book by helping you fix whatever academic writing trouble you might have and, at the same time, sharing their own experiences and many examples.

This book was published in 2018 by the Open University Press.