Additional Recommended
Reading, Viewing, and/or Listening
General
The Elements of Style, by William Strunk, Jr., and E. B. White (1918-2021)
The classic go-to for sentence-level crafting in practical texts; a solid starter reference.
Grammar for a Full Life by Lawrence Weinstein (2020)
A bit of a throwback for those who eschew grammar, but Weinstein’s is a fun and meaningful approach. He tackles key grammatical constructions and talks about how our mechanical choices can help us become the people we want to be—for example, how using active, transitive constructions can make us more powerful and ethical people.
Pedagogue podcast by Shane A. Wood (2019-Present)
While plenty of episodes are worth listening to, we’re especially recommending Episode 6, with Nancy Sommers, who speaks about responding to student writers.
Rethinking Expertise by Harry Collins and Robert Evans (2009)
Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace, by Joseph M. Williams & Joseph Bizup (1981-2016)
Stylish Academic Writing, by Helen Sword (2012)
The book is great. If you want a quick take, here’s an article on it from the Wall Street Journal.
“Why Students Should Write All Subjects,” by Youki Terada (2021)
DIsciplinary Writing
*Obviously, 3 of the 4 books below are science-specific; 1 is history. I ran out of time/memory to add others. I welcome suggestions of books YOU have found helpful in learning to write in your field—if you send them, I’ll add them here, read through them myself, and probably recommend them in the future, so please share anything you’d recommend!
The Best American Science Writing edited by Michio Kaku (2020)
These semi-annual anthologies can be nice to read just as examples of the range of what “science writing” can actually encompass. There’s no writing instruction in these books, but I often recommend/lend out copies to students as examples to consider.
The Craft of Science Writing by Siri Carpenter (2020)
Writing History in the Digital Age by Kristen Nawrotzki and Jack Dougherty
Writing Science in Plain English by Anne E. Greene (2013)
TEACHING WRITING ONLINE
I-WROTE, University of Virginia Writing and Rhetoric Program
An online resource created and launched in the wake of Covid, to support instructors in preparing for teaching writing courses in the online environment.
Aimed primarily at ENWR instructors, but a lot of the material transfers beyond that program.
Teaching Writing Online, University of Virginia Libraries
Pitched to educators at the 9-12 grade level, this collection of helpful resources transfers easily to university-level teaching as we all navigate the online environment for at least a little longer.
Including a nice “10 Tips for Effective Feedback” sheet by our own Marcus Meade!
Other Tools
Analyzes text that you paste in, to give you a quick glimpse of problem areas/patterns, etc. I have tried the desktop app for this one and didn’t find it especially better than the web-based tool, but that could just be me. It’s a nice interface, helpful with limitations.
This tool is a creation of Helen Sword (whose book and article are also linked above). I’ve used the “Take the Test” feature for years with students; the full-on Word add-on is new, and I still need to try it.
Like the Hemingway App—you paste in text and the tool analyzes for patterns. The color-coding is nice, so you can see how much of each issue is happening and where, etc. Take it with a grain of salt; it’s still a computer doing its best; but this can be a helpful interactive for student writers.