Sourcing, summarizing, and synthesizing:  Skills for effective research writing 

Reviewed by Jason Parks, Professor of English, Anderson University on 8/12/24

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The book is focused and less than 100 pages, so it's not comprehensive compared to some English Composition textbooks. If you look at it as a guidebook for multiple disciplines, then it would work well as a supplement.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Everything is clear and accurate. I didn't sense any bias.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

This book does not address AI, so it will need updating to be comprehensive and up-to-date. I also think a broader discussion of more disciplines would be helpful. STEM vs. Humanities annotated bibliographies may look very different.

Clarity rating: 5

Everything would be very easy to understand for an entry-level undergraduate. The whole book centers around making academic genres accessible to students who are new to academic research. This was one of the greatest strengths of the book.

Consistency rating: 5

All of the terms were consistent and everything was focused around key themes related to research and writing.

Modularity rating: 5

This book was very well-organized and easy to navigate. Each chapter was short with exercises at the end.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

All of the chapter headings and subheadings were easy to follow.

Interface rating: 5

Easy to navigate. Nothing flashy.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

Well-edited. No errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The book does use an excellent variety of examples and does not have anything offensive or insensitive. I'd love to see deeper discussion of some issues with grammar explored further in the sections that provide grammatical instruction. Perhaps some links or further research explaining some of the issues surrounding vernacular language, slang, and academic writing.

Comments

This would be an excellent supplemental text for an entry-level undergraduate course that requires students to complete an abstract, literature review, or annotated bibliography. It is not comprehensive in the same way that certain Rhet/Comp textbooks are, so it could actually be more useful as a guide for classes outside of English Composition. I think an instructor from any discipline who requires one of these genres could take this book and then add their own examples to help students succeed. It was a quick read, and one that provides plenty of useful refreshers on style, grammar, and also the research writing process.