Crafting Scholarship in the Behavioral and Social Sciences: Writing, Reviewing, and Editing - Softcover

Milardo, Robert M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1138787841 ISBN 13: 9781138787841

Publisher: Routledge, 2014

Synopsis

Crafting Scholarship helps readers improve their writing and publishing success in academia. Framed within the context of the editorial and peer review process, the book explores writing, editing, and reviewing in academic publishing. As such it provides unique coverage of how successful writers work, how they manage criticism, and more. Examples from successful scholars provide helpful tips in writing articles, grants, books, book chapters, and reviews. Each chapter features tools that facilitate learning including Best Practices and Writer’s Resource boxes to help maximize success, discussion questions and case studies to stimulate critical thinking, and recommended readings to encourage self exploration. A Facebook page provides an opportunity for readers to post writing updates and for instructors to share materials.

Highlights include:

-Insights on working with journal boards, reviewers, and contributors drawn from the author’s 30 years of experience in editing journal articles and writing books.

-Describes writing quantitative and qualitative reports, theory and literature reviews, books and chapters, grants, and book reviews.

-Identifies common problems academics face in writing and publishing along with practical solutions.

-Explores best practices in writing peer reviews, responding to reviewers and editors, and how to calculate and interpret acceptance rates and impact factors.

-Addresses how to write each section of a journal article and select keywords that facilitate digital search engines to help potential readers find an article.

-Includes examples of published work and tips on writing research syntheses using meta-analytic techniques or narrative analyses.

-Examines the practices of successful writers, the pros and cons of collaborations, what publishers look for, and managing criticism.

-Reviews pertinent empirical literature on the core topics of writing, reviewing, and editing.

Intended for graduate or advanced undergraduate courses in professional development, writing in an academic field, or research methods taught in psychology, education, human development and family studies, sociology, communication, and other social sciences, this practical guide also appeals to those interested in pursuing an academic career and new and seasoned researchers.

About this title

Review:

"The underlying theme of this book is that great writing transcends subject, format, and readership.  Writing is central to the daily life of academics and most professionals, yet the practice, experiences, and processes of writing are not often discussed with colleagues.  This book fills that void and nicely complements Andrew Abbott's Digital Paper: A Manual for Research and Writing with Library and Internet Materials (CH, Feb'15, 52-2854).  Milardo (Univ. of Maine) has written a refreshing, inspiring, and readable take on what has typically been a dry, mechanical, and private process...Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-level undergraduates through researchers/faculty; professionals/practitioners." - S. Markgren, Purchase College, SUNY, for CHOICE, July 2015

"Robert Milardo has used his decades of experience as a writer and editor to craft a definitive guide to academic writing and publishing. His guidance is timely, clear, and remarkably helpful." – Harry Reis, University of Rochester, USA

"This will be an extraordinarily useful source for all those involved in the process of academic writing in the social sciences. Robert Milardo’s long experience as author and editor shines through the text." – Oriel Sullivan, University of Oxford, UK

A classic in the making – Bob Milardo’s exceptional book will quickly become required reading for graduate students and new professionals in the social sciences and beyond. How can you not recommend a book that describes the first principle of writing as "butts in seats!?." – Marilyn Coleman, University of Missouri, USA

"Milardo has done a terrific job of translating his extensive experience as author and editor into useful writing tips that will benefit aspiring academics as well as more experienced scholars. The broad coverage of writing practices, ranging from research reports to peer review, make the book truly unique." – Pearl Dykstra, Erasmus University Rotterdam, NL

"Graduate students and new professionals will benefit from the author’s ... decades of experience as an editor. ...The writing style is clear, easy to follow and understand. ... I would use it for a ... seminar on ... Professional Development ... designed for ...doctoral students in the health and human sciences. ... It will make a significant contribution to the field." – David H. Demo, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA

"The major strengths ... are its readability and the practical advice it provides. ...The book ... has significant potential to serve as an extremely useful resource to a broad population of social scientists. ... I would definitely use this book as a supplementary text in a course that includes a focus on writing scientific reports in the social sciences." – Jennifer Rose, Wesleyan University, USA

"I am already considering ... Milardo’s book [as an] addition to the ... books I now purchase [for] new faculty. ... I can imagine a Center for Teaching and Learning or other faculty development unit purchasing copies. ...I would consider the ... book as a required ... text in ... Research Design ... required of all graduate students in the master’s program in psychology. ...The chapters are readable and engaging." – Claudia J. Stanny, University of West Florida, USA

"I especially appreciated the introduction of extracts from interviews with other academics. These provide some interesting insights into the background of academic scholarship. ... The strengths are the author’s experience and knowledge as a journal editor, the sound advice about the peer-review process and getting an article accepted. ... This text would be of interest to doctoral students and ... to early career academics and new lecturers / professionals. ... We can all learn from the author’s expertise as a journal editor." – Deborah Biggerstaff, University of Warwick, UK

"Robert M. Milardo offers a text that highlights key elements of the generation and evaluation of scholarship... Milardo's presentation in Crafting Scholarship in the Behavioral and Social Sciences emphaisizes the major written scholarship-related roles and identities that scholars commonly embody over the course of their lives... I... commend Milardo for not focusing too heavily on 'getting published' as the singular goal. Rather his focus is on establishing better practices. In time, publication will ensue... if one's goal is not just to get published but rather to get great writing published, Milardo's book offers perspectives and suggestions that may help aspiring authors, and even experienced reviewers and editors, rethink and retool their crafts." -Steven E. Gump, Grinnell College, USA, Journal of Scholarly Publishing

About the Author:

Robert M. Milardo is Professor of Family Relations at the University of Maine, USA.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1138787841
• ISBN 13: 9781138787841
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 222