Useful Writing References for SPH Students
Annotated by Lucy Honig, Writing Specialist, Department of International Health
For your bookshelf….
Becker, H.S. 1986. Writing for Social Scientists: How to Start and Finish Your Thesis, Book or Article. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. $10 paperback. A very readable, practical, humorous and helpful book about the writing process, aimed at graduate students. Becker understands your pain, and he consoles and cajoles you into getting a handle on a process that necessarily takes time and effort but doesn't have to cause you suffering. Because public health straddles so many fields, I find this book much more appropriate for SPH students than guides to writing scientific or clinical papers
O'Conner. P.T. 1999. Words Fail Me: What Everyone who Writes Should Know About Writing. $12, in most bookstores. Aimed at a general audience of people who have to write anything, this book is very funny and very useful in its approach to process, product, style and fundamentals. Read it through once, then make forays back for specifics as you're writing.
Hacker, D. 1995. A Writer's Reference, 3rd Edition. New York: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press. One of the most complete, user-friendly basic academic guides to composing and revising, structuring, grammar, punctuation, documenting sources and avoiding plagiarism, and with a bonus section on ESL trouble spots, this handbook is organized for quick reference on particular topics.
O'Conner. P.T. 1996. Woe is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English. New York: Riverhead Books. $12 in bookstores everywhere. You can't go wrong with Patricia T. O'Conner. This is another very funny and very useful guide. If your progressive, whole-language-minded English teachers never taught you the essentials of grammar in your American primary or secondary school, read this book!
Booth, W.C., Colomb G.G, Williams J.M. 1995. The Craft of Research. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. $14 paperback, usually available in BU Barnes & Noble. Amazon.com says: "… the book shows how to choose a topic, plan and organize research, and how to draft and revise a report of findings such that a convincing solution is offered to a significant problem…. Recog-nizing that good research is rarely a simple, sequential procedure, but is instead a complex and intricate process, it discusses the subtle ways in which asking questions about your topic can influence how you draft your report, how a quality introduction can send you back to the library, and how the process of drafting can highlight flaws in your argument that need to be addressed. Clear and explicit, sophisticated and practical, The Craft of Research encourages high standards of scholarly achievement, and spells out the steps by which to get there."
Swales, J.M. and Feak, C.B. 1994. Academic Writing for Graduate Students: A Course for Nonnative Speakers of English. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. This no-nonsense textbook can be used as a tutorial by the serious international student; its analysis of the conventions of the research paper is also valuable for native-speakers of English. A sequel by the same authors, English in Today's Research World (2001), focuses on writing dissertations, with special attention to abstracts, literature reviews, poster presentations, and job applications.
If you're glued to the computer screen…
There are so many online writing references, courses and tutorials to turn these days, we are in danger of being overwhelmed. But if you have access to the internet, there is NO EXCUSE for ignorance. Surf around these sites to get a sense of what's out there and what you might not even know you don't know.
Uniform Requirements For Articles Submitted to Biomedical Journals, from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors: the best guide to the Vancouver system of citation;
Strunk and White's entire Manual of Style, courtesy of Columbia University; and
http://depts.washington.edu/hsic/journals/journals.shtml
Guidelines for authors for hundreds of health service and medical journals.
http://webster.commnet.edu/writing/writing.htm
Ø A staggering array of links to on-line writing courses, grammar guides, technical writing guides, ESL references, dictionaries, and university writing tutorials. You might scroll through to see if something rings a particular bell for you. Here are my favorite links from this site:
http://writecenter.cgu.edu/students/index.html
From Claremont Graduate University's Writing Center, a good online source for advice on graduate-level research and writing, including long papers and projects, grant proposals, book critiques, annotated bibliographies, CVs, and much more.
The Paradigm Online Writing Assistant: full of useful exercises on the whole range of composition, revising, and editing tasks as well of strategies for various types of arguments and essays.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
The Purdue Online Writing Lab offers exercises (under handouts and materials) and tutorials (go to workshops & presentations) on specific writing skills. You won't have access to Purdue's writing classes and one-on-one help, but there's plenty here for self-help.