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Category Archives: Writing Instrumentally
Of Cover Letters and Magic (A Follow-up Post)
There is some advice I give that I believe in fiercely and will defend to the death (ref: Should I Do an Edited Collection?). And then there is some advice I give that I am very willing to concede … Continue reading
How To Write a Journal Article Submission Cover Letter
Today’s post is a special request post for several clients who have written to inquire how to write a cover letter for the submission of an article manuscript to a journal. ****Addendum (4/29/13): Please read the follow up to this … Continue reading
Nobody Cares What You’re Interested In
One very common error that writers of job documents make is going on and on about what they are interested in. It’s often quite a writing tic. “I am interested in…. and I am particularly interested in…and a topic of … Continue reading
Gerund Addiction and Word Repetition–Two More Scourges
Faithful readers know that I have several posts on different kinds of writing tics that plague many academic writers. These include list addiction, dyad addiction, and cheap adjectives. There are two more writing tics that I’ve come to identify: gerund … Continue reading
The Weepy Teaching Statement: Just Say No
A while back I wrote a post called “The Worst Job Letter Ever Written (Not Really).” Today I want to share with you a similarly awful teaching statement (with kind permission of the writer, discipline obscured.) I don’t call it … Continue reading
How and Why to Write Collaboratively: A Guest Post
For the next bit of time I will be posting special guest posts early in the week, in addition to my regular Friday post. These guest posts are kindly submitted by readers in response to requests that arise on the … Continue reading
Why Are There No Elephants? A Common Grant-Writing Error
In recent work on grant applications this year, I’ve finally identified a problem that has bothered me for a long time. People who use the Foolproof Grant Template construct an argument for the urgency of their research by deploying what … Continue reading
List Addiction, Cont’d: The Dyad
List addiction is an epidemic among academic writers. I have a blog post about the subject (which I knew nothing about prior to my work in TPII), and I refer at least 50% of clients to that blog post at … Continue reading
Banish These Words
Do not use the words “unique” or “burgeoning” in any of your job documents. They are painfully overused. The first is just trite. The second is over-dramatic. That is all.
Posted in Graduate Student Concerns, How to Get Grants and Fellowships, How To Write Academic Job Cover Letters, How To Write CVs, Landing Your Tenure Track Job, Major Job Market Mistakes, Strategizing Your Success in Academia, Teaching and Research Statements, Teaching Portfolios, Writing Instrumentally
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Information for Those Who Work With Dr. Karen
Today’s post is meant to clarify some confusion among some of you who are or are thinking of becoming clients related to the time required to complete the editing process. I’ve had a few incidents this past month in which … Continue reading
