Display and post by Maddy Howard, OISE Graduate Student Library Assistant

Writing can be hard, and at times overwhelming. But never fear—OISE Library has plenty of resources to help you navigate the world of Academic Writing and Publishing. Here are just a few resources that can be used both in and out of the classroom, that can help give you the tools you will need to get started on your writing adventures.

The Handbook of Scholarly Writing and Publishing by Tonette S. Rocco, Tim Hatcher and Associates

This book offers emerging and experienced professionals alike a comprehensive overview of the essential elements that you need in order to craft scholarly papers and other materials for publishing. Rocco and Hatcher have divided their work into four sections to encapsulate the different types of manuscripts, submission processes, how to edit, as well as offer suggestions and advice for those of you pursuing publication. The Handbook of Scholarly Writing and Publishing can be used to help you better understand how to write an excellent academic paper and see it brought to life in any publication.

Steps to Academic Writing by Marian Barry

Steps to Academic Writing can be used to teach students, between the ages of 16-18 and speak English as a Second Language, how to make the transition from learning English in school to the expectations of University. Barry includes different exercises and tools in order to help students develop their academic writing skills, including writing for reports, essays, along with other formats. Steps to Academic Writing covers eight topic based units, including four units on essay-writing skills, two units on report writing, one unit on describing visual information (i.e. graphs and charts), and one unit on writing CVs and personal statements for university applications. This is an excellent resource that can be used both in the classroom or for independent study.

The Journey is Everything: Teaching Essays that Students Want to Write for People who Want to Read Them by Katherine Bomer

Katherine Bomer, an international writing consultant, lays out the ways in which students and aspiring academics can restore the way they understand essay writing. Sadly, many students only utilize the five paragraph essay. We all know the one—introduction, argument, argument, argument, conclusion. The Journey is Everything encourages you and your students to break away from that tired, standardized formula. Instead Bomer’s book provides students with the tools, strategies, and activities that can help them discover their own voice and can learn to structure their works organically. This is a must have book for any high school , university, or graduate student.

Academic Publishing: Issues and Challenges in the Construction of Knowledge by Ken Hyland

Writing for publications can be hard. There are so many different challenges that you can face over the course of trying to get your work into a publication. Ken Hyland provides an in-depth discussion of the key aspects involved in writing for academic publications. He explores issues and challenges surrounding academic publishing, including the impact of English as a global academic language, the growth of the assessment culture surrounding publications, and the emergence of Open Access and social media publishing. While a heavy topic to discuss, Hyland’s work is accessible, outlining key concepts and themes concisely and can help all aspiring academics to understand some of the challenges they might face.

Publishing Journal Articles by Lucinda Becker and Pam Denicolo

Who doesn’t get a little intimidated by the thought of getting their work published? It involves a lot of stress and a lot of time. But fear no more! Publishing Journal Articles is an accessible, informative, and entertaining book for all students. It provides practical strategies to help increase your chances of success in getting that paper published in any journal. Becker and Denicolo offer advice on several important topics, including how to write and get the style right, what to select for publication, how to cope with writer’s block, working with editors and reviewers, and more. This book is a must-have for anyone seeking professional journal publication, and the best part is you don’t even have to leave your room! This book is available online for you to read whenever and wherever you want.

To check out these books and more materials about how to write academically and how to get a paper published, visit the Lobby Display in the OISE Building, across from the OISE Library entrance. Ask a staff member for help removing these items from the display case.

This April, OISE welcomes delegates from the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). AERA is an international organization that has been active since 1916, composed of faculty, researchers, graduate students, and other professionals and experts in studies in education. In line with AERA’s  goal of promoting excellent research, and on the heels of the announcement of OISE’s QS ranking as the seventh best educational institution in the world, and the top-ranked such institution in Canada, the OISE Library is celebrating faculty publications in this month’s lobby display.

OISE’s  departments in Applied Psychology & Human Development (APHD), Curriculum, Teaching & Learning (CTL), Leadership, Higher & Adult Education (LHAE), and Social Justice Education (SJE) are incredibly active. Their faculty members are renowned as leaders in their fields, and we are currently showcasing publications from the last five years in our multi-departmental faculty display.

The APHD department has published many works in the last few years, of which, Active Learning from Infancy to Childhood, co-edited by OISE’s own Patricia A. Ganea, is one of the most recent. In the book, the ways in which children drive their own learning at various stages of development are examined. As the editors outline in the introduction, active learning takes place when a child recognizes a gap in their knowledge, knows where to find a solution to that gap in knowledge, and is inclined to seek out this knowledge accordingly. Active Learning from Infancy to Childhood situates itself between classic and contemporary research on cognitive and language development.

Among publications in the CTL department, Kathy Bickmore’s book Comparative and International Education: Issues for Teachers, co-edited with colleagues Ruth Hayhoe, Caroline Manion, and Karen Mundy from LHAE, explores educational practices from around the globe. The book grew out of OISE’s Comparative, International, and Development Education Centre, with the goal of introducing international issues in education and diverse cultural perspectives to both practicing and pre-service educators. Now in its second edition, Comparative and International Education: Issues for Teachers pulls in new authors to dive deep into international issues, perspectives, and practices related to school organization, social justice, and education more broadly.

Apart from research, faculty members from CTL also regularly publish curriculum resources, like Shelley Stagg Peterson’s and Larry Swartz’s co-authored book, “This Is a Great Book!” This resource, subtitled “101 events for building enthusiastic readers inside and outside the classroom—from chapter books to young adult novels,” provides suggestions on how to approach and run classroom activities with a range of reading material. Peterson and Swartz, define a “great book” as being one that has a significant impact on a child; they aim to make reading exciting for all readers by allowing room for readers to engage with all kinds of texts in meaningful ways. The book includes activities, classroom worksheets, suggested titles and book series for children, and a list of recommended professional literature for teachers.

LHAE has also recently published Alternative Schooling and Student Engagement: Canadian Stories of Democracy within Bureaucracy, co-edited by OISE’s Nina Bascia and Malcolm Levin. The book begins by outlining the history of alternative schools in Toronto in the 1960s and 1970s, highlighting these progressive schools’ continuing attendance and success. Multiple essays then explore contemporary critical approaches to alternative schooling, historical perspectives, approaches to teaching, and case studies of six alternative schools.

From SJE, John P. Portelli’s co-edited book Key Questions for Educational Leaders examines the relationship between educational theory and practice as it relates to the development of equitable and ethical educational leadership. The book is composed of a series of essays written by scholars from around the world that explore the purpose of education and the nature of educational leadership. It comprehensively addresses current issues in educational leadership in an effort to “make the student experience genuinely educational, meaningful, fair and equitable, enriching and socially just.”

All of these books and more can be found on display in the OISE building lobby, across from the OISE Library. Ask a librarian for assistance in removing books from the display case.