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I was always the student who scored very well on papers. I can write. It’s something I love to do (hence this blog), but I have room to improve. Academic writing is not my forte. I find it boring; however, in the quest for evolving and going to grad school, I need to work on it. So, I found classes to help me learn and got some books.
Classes
Linked In Learning has a lot of great classes, and I took “Learning to Write Marketing Copy” because I needed to learn different formats. Plus, it’s online and easily accessible.
I’m taking a class on Academic Writing at Arizona State University, a part of their Ph. D program, for a few hours a week. It’s the first 700-level class I’ve taken, and to be very honest, I am nervous but also excited. Having a structured class with required assignments is something that I will benefit from. My husband, currently in a doctoral program, stated that his last year at Harvard was helpful because it taught him that academic writing was the push I needed. I will not be getting a Ph. D at ASU, but I hope it will help me in the future.
Books
When you work with academics and tell them your goals, the professors give you books. One of my favorite professors gave me a few books and told me to buy one I would mark all over. It also gave me another goal, to write a journal article. See the list below:
Books:
The Writer’s Diet: A Guide to Fit Prose by Helen Sword
Writing your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks by Wendy Laura Belcher
I’ll be interested to see how these books and classes help me out with writing. The key is consistency, like most things you want to improve.
Liz Evans, NBCT 