This book is poised to become the new "how-to" book to transform anxious e-mail hacks and mediocre memo writers into eloquent electronic scribes in no time at all.

Developments over the last twenty years have fueled considerable speculation about the future of the book and of reading itself. This book begins with a gloss over the history of electronic books, including the social and technical forces that have shaped their development. The focus then shifts to reading and how we interact with what we read: basic issues such as legibility, annotation, and navigation are examined as aspects of reading that ebooks inherit from their print legacy. Because reading is fundamentally communicative, I also take a closer look at the sociality of reading: how we read in a group and how we share what we read. Studies of reading and ebook use are integrated throughout the book, but Chapter 5 "goes meta" to explore how a researcher might go about designing his or her own reading-related studies. No book about ebooks is complete without an explicit discussion of content preparation, i.e., how the electronic book is written. Hence, Chapter 6 delves into the underlying representation of ebooks and efforts to create and apply markup standards to them. This chapter also examines how print genres have made the journey to digital and how some emerging digital genres might be realized as ebooks. Finally, Chapter 7 discusses some beyond-the-book functionality: how can ebook platforms be transformed into portable personal libraries? In the end, my hope is that by the time the reader reaches the end of this book, he or she will feel equipped to perform the next set of studies, write the next set of articles, invent new ebook functionality, or simply engage in a heated argument with the stranger in seat 17C about the future of reading. Table of Contents: Preface / Figure Credits / Introduction / Reading / Interaction / Reading as a Social Activity / Studying Reading / Beyond the Book / References / Author Biography

In this book, criminologist and experienced educator John E. Eck draws on decades of academic and professional writing experience to provide an analytical toolkit for clear professional writing. This book focuses on the essential objective of clarity, and addresses topics seldom addressed in other books, such as ethics beyond plagiarism; writing with co-authors; organizing complex ideas; using analytics to improve writing; crafting strong beginnings and endings; using examples and metaphors; and integrating tables, charts, and diagrams. As universities continue to demand writing-intensive courses in the social sciences, this book is indispensable in university settings and throughout a professional career. The reader will use the practical advice, examples, and exercises in this book to master a method for clear writing unimpaired by stereotypical academic jargon. The book will help both new and seasoned researchers seeking to translate their work into a clear and accessible presentation for both professional and lay audiences. Designed for and field-tested with graduate and advanced undergraduate students, this lively and easy-to-read book will work for courses taught in criminology, sociology, geography, and other social sciences, and will enable scholars to extend and broaden the impact of their research.

Why you need a writing revolution in your classroom and how to lead it The Writing Revolution (TWR) provides a clear method of instruction that you can use no matter what subject or grade level you teach. The model, also known as The Hochman Method, has demonstrated, over and over, that it can turn weak writers into strong communicators by focusing on specific techniques that match their needs and by providing them with targeted feedback. Insurmountable as the challenges faced by many students may seem, The Writing Revolution can make a dramatic difference. And the method does more than improve writing skills. It also helps: Boost reading comprehension Improve organizational and study skills Enhance speaking abilities Develop analytical capabilities The Writing Revolution is as much a method of teaching content as it is a method of teaching writing. There's no separate writing block and no separate writing curriculum. Instead, teachers of all subjects adapt the TWR strategies and activities to their current curriculum and weave them into their content instruction. But perhaps what's most revolutionary about the TWR method is that it takes the mystery out of learning to write well. It breaks the writing process down into manageable chunks and then has students practice the chunks they need, repeatedly, while also learning content.

This book is a user's guide for writing papers, short memos, and emails when the objective is to inform a busy reader preoccupied with other tasks. The objective is to make sure that all the information needed to understand the main points is in the paper and in the right order, minimizing or eliminating extraneous information and ideas, and resolving inconsistencies. The guide offers a mix of strategic and tactical advice, ranging from how to get started to how to order information in a paragraph. It is not a book about grammar; nor is it a treatise on critical thinking. Grammar and style are undeniably important, but elegantly written sentences will fail to communicate your conclusions if the flow of ideas and information is flawed. If the flow of ideas and information is muddled, your reader will seldom read the paper in its entirety. The primary target audiences for the Guide are policymakers, intelligence analysts, law enforcement officers, and the business world, but the principles underlying the teaching points are applicable to anyone seeking to communicate ideas more effectively--including high school and university students.