Strategies for Success in Academic Writing (Advanced)
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Oxford University Press
Authors: Mary R. Colonna, Judith E. Gilbert
£17.55 (UK bookshop) or $22.50 (amazon)
ISBN 019 436583-2
Academic writing is one of those skills that you either do not need at all, or you need very urgently. So this review is for anyone who has just started at an English-speaking university, and has spent a long night wondering how to start the first essay papers of the term. This book is one of a set of four which deal with academic writing, starting with high beginners. The advantage for users of the advanced series is that by the time the editors reached the advanced levels, they have had a lot of practise and put together a slick and professional production.
The book as 210 pages arranged into eight chapters with a few pages given over to an answer key at the back. Each of the chapters covers a different type of academic writing. For example there is comparing advantages and disadvantages, essays based on cause and effect, and others on literary analysis. These different types of writing each require slightly different skills, and the authors show you exactly how to go about doing each. Every chapter has the same format. It starts by giving you an unstructured writing task, in which you should not worry too much about grammar or spelling, and instead try to express yourself creatively. The second part is a reading exercise (because 'you have to learn how to read before you cna write'). The topics have been deliberately chosen to be thought-provoking or controversial.(For example, 'Is beauty really just skin-deep?'). After this you are asked to look at some of the types of grammar and sentence structure you will be using (for example causative clauses in cause and effect essays). After this, you are invited to have a first go at writing an essay, and are given tips of what to look for when examining your first draft.
Who is this book for? Anyone who is at a college or university, and is not sure of their writing skills (and not just if English is their second language!) The book is well written and organized, even if the reading and tips are presented on a rather nasty orange background. I am not sure why Oxford University Press are being modest about this book, but I could find no record of it, or the authors, when I searched their website.
Verdict: Nice book, shame about the colour scheme
Assessment7/10