- Email: [email protected]
Writing Skills for Nursing and Midwifery Students
Journal of English for Academic Purposes 17 (2015) 74e78
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of English for Academic Purposes journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jeap
Book reviews Writing Skills for Nursing and Midwifery Students, Dena Bain Taylor. SAGE Publications Ltd (2013). 205 pp., US $36.00, UK £18.04, ISBN: 1-44620833-5
Writing Skills for Nursing and Midwifery Students is a 205-page handbook, divided into 12 chapters. Each chapter starts with an overview of its key contents and closes with a list of relevant further readings. Supported by the author's 17 years of experience as Director of the Health Sciences Writing Centre at the University of Toronto, the handbook should be useful for students of nursing, midwifery and other allied health professions. Although the handbook has been written for students at any level of university study, those beginning a university degree in nursing or midwifery will find chapters 2 and 3 particularly relevant. Chapter 1: “Introduction” provides a general view of the book and a place for the author to introduce its main aim: to prepare students for today's complex health care environment where they have to master a wide variety of types of writing. Chapter 2, entitled “Essential Management and Study Skills, focuses on practical strategies for the students to cope with their work and to reduce stress. It includes down-to-earth advice on how to control university heavy schedules, as well as on how to take advantage of the different types of support offered to the students: physical, social and institutional. Useful study skills are recommended and strategies for exams study and writing are examined. The chapter features a very helpful glossary of common essay and exam directions which becomes an important asset for those consulting the book. This second part closes with a valuable set of instructions to help students to understand teachers' corrections and marking. “Critical Reading and the Iterative Writing Process”, chapter 3, contains the fundamentals of writing divided into an eightstep process. To help students to follow this process the author provides simple guidelines, adding at the same time additional information that may help to clarify questions that may arise while reading the chapter. Although this kind of guidelines appears in many other writing skills books, there are some elements which give an extra value to this publication. First, there is a very practical table classifying the different types of literature and explaining the different purposes, audiences, subject matters, and the like. Second, a “further reading section” includes several web pages of interest. Third, the author encourages students to undergo the different steps but she warns them about the difficulty of the task, adding a very personal effortbased approach to the process of mastering different writing types: “After individual sessions of study and writing, we may feel tired. The brain needs time to accommodate itself to the new architecture it has constructed and to absorb all its new knowledge and ways of thinking” (p. 19). Whilst chapters 2 and 3 establish the foundations for good writing, chapter 4, “Becoming a Better Writer”, moves on to the development of a clear and persuasive writing style. In order to achieve this goal, the chapter focuses on sentence structure, word choice and a collection of grammar rules relevant to health professionals. The section devoted to “Grammar Tips and Traps” includes 16 areas of grammar usage where students most frequently make errors. It supplies students with a set of examples and becomes one of the key elements of the book as all the examples are taken from health sciences subjects. The next chapter, Chapter 5, “Critical Argument” is a short but important chapter and offers strategies for creating a persuasive argument. The author explains what an argument is and how it can be classified into two main groups: deductive or inductive arguments. In the same way, she presents the features of well-written arguments by means of key words, concepts and logical connectors. From this starting point she moves to the most original part of the chapter, showing how these elements can operate in writing by creating a deductive or inductive movement. These first 5 chapters provide a good solid basis to move to the second half of the book which is devoted to more complex topics. In Chapter 6, “How to Use and Acknowledge Sources”, Dena Bain Taylor sets out an overview of APA and HARVARD styles. But the main strength of the chapter is introduced in the section devoted to how to acknowledge sources. By means of “8 common questions and myths” the author explains when and where to give references, extending the content by means of a webpage address about plagiarism. Chapters 7 and 8 deal with writing literature reviews. Chapter 7, “What is Literature Review”, presents a solid introduction, covering most of the issues that students have to face when evaluating scientific literature. The author's choice of starting the chapter by explaining what “literature” means in the context of scientific research merits special attention as most beginner students are not normally familiar with this genre. The different types of literature review are also examined and explained, giving practical tips to surpass the obstacles of this complex writing task. The next chapter, “How to Review the Literature,” aims to help students become familiar with the most common types of research in the health sciences field, explaining the systems and methods used by the researchers. According to the two
Book reviews / Journal of English for Academic Purposes 17 (2015) 74e78
75
paradigms of research, quantitative and qualitative, the author turns to analyze the typical sections of research articles. In spite of being a very detailed and clear chapter, it is rather dense, and it thus lacks the attractiveness of the previous ones. Chapter 9, “An Introduction to Professional Writing”, moves from academic to professional writing and it explains the differences between the two types of writing by means of a very handy table. As in many other writing texts, CVS and job applications are thoroughly explored as is online communication, and the inclusion of professional portfolios is a relevant and distinctive feature of this book. Furthermore, the author incorporates a valuable section devoted to Clinical and Agency communication. It is worth stressing the importance of this section due to its original approach as it includes SOAP notes, witness statements and writing for health education. The next chapter explores another typical and useful genre for health care students: oral presentations, how to design a poster and a PowerPoint is explained in the beginning of this chapter, highlighting how to maximize the limited space available, showing ways to minimize the number of linking words and to signal the relative importance of visual elements. The author then moves to oral presentations insisting on how to write up a detailed outline to talk from that. The chapter includes a section devoted to preparing to deliver an oral presentation and how to perform it. Although the chapter undoubtedly presents some useful information, it is not obviously related to writing styles and skills and thus it would have been better to include it at the end of the book. In Chapter 11, “Reflective Writing”, the author presents a practical and useful introduction to personal reflection, and to how student can capture on paper their thoughts about the new experiences and the new knowledge they are exposed to. As a result of this writing skill students are involved in a new and different type of learning which asks them to develop an authentic personal writing style. To help them in this task the author includes a note on the use of personal pronouns in reflective writing. There is a section dedicated to different types of reflective writing exercises which can be of use to improve the students' reflective abilities, such as personal journals. One of the most innovative parts of the whole book is included in this chapter, and it is a section in which the author connects narrative with illness experiences, encouraging students to write about the human side of illness and how they face it. Chapter 12, “How to Write Course Papers: Samples of Students Writing”, closes the book by including a set of sample student papers, to show some of the forms of writing they are likely to encounter in their class assignments. The three types of papers presented are: How to write about theory, writing a case study and writing about pathophysiology. Each sample contains a brief introduction, the grade it received, and a set of notes with further comments and explanations. It is an excellent and helpful ending for this book, although a wider variety of samples would have been valued by most readers. In conclusion, Writing Skills for Nursing and Midwifery Students is a welcome addition to the resources available for EAP/ESP. It provides remarkable guidelines as well as a great variety of examples and many health sciences students could benefit from its academic writing strategies. One of the most successful features of the book is its clarity and the closeness to the students. Although the author points out that it has been developed for students, it could also be used by EAP teachers, as there is a lot to interest and inform those new to the field of English for health sciences as well as for those practitioners looking for a broader approach to writing skills in these areas. The handbook could also be useful to health professionals wishing to improve their writing style. ns García María Antonia Sola Departamento de Filología Inglesa y Alemana, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Zaragoza, C/Domingo Miral s/n, 50009, Spain E-mail address: [email protected]
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2014.11.003
A chronicle of learning: Voicing the text, M. Scott. University of Tilburg, Tilburg (2013). 206 p. Free to download from. http://eprints.ioe.ac.uk/19177/1/Mary_Scott_V1_formatting.pdf
Mary Scott's established multilingual and multiliterate academic career has been driven by a commitment to widening participation in and access to the discourses of academia. She has led the London-based Academic Literacies Research Group since 1992 and recently crowned this commitment by completing a PhD which weaves together the many narratives of literacy theory and practice. ‘A Chronicle of Learning: Voicing the Text’ is, in fact, the published version of her PhD dissertation which takes her readers e including those who are unfamiliar with her work e through twenty years of published research (from 1992 to 2012) most of which has been informed by her own multinational identities (South African and British) and by the injustices leading to and resulting from the social and intellectual exclusion of many voices from mainstream academia.
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of English for Academic Purposes journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jeap
Book reviews Writing Skills for Nursing and Midwifery Students, Dena Bain Taylor. SAGE Publications Ltd (2013). 205 pp., US $36.00, UK £18.04, ISBN: 1-44620833-5
Writing Skills for Nursing and Midwifery Students is a 205-page handbook, divided into 12 chapters. Each chapter starts with an overview of its key contents and closes with a list of relevant further readings. Supported by the author's 17 years of experience as Director of the Health Sciences Writing Centre at the University of Toronto, the handbook should be useful for students of nursing, midwifery and other allied health professions. Although the handbook has been written for students at any level of university study, those beginning a university degree in nursing or midwifery will find chapters 2 and 3 particularly relevant. Chapter 1: “Introduction” provides a general view of the book and a place for the author to introduce its main aim: to prepare students for today's complex health care environment where they have to master a wide variety of types of writing. Chapter 2, entitled “Essential Management and Study Skills, focuses on practical strategies for the students to cope with their work and to reduce stress. It includes down-to-earth advice on how to control university heavy schedules, as well as on how to take advantage of the different types of support offered to the students: physical, social and institutional. Useful study skills are recommended and strategies for exams study and writing are examined. The chapter features a very helpful glossary of common essay and exam directions which becomes an important asset for those consulting the book. This second part closes with a valuable set of instructions to help students to understand teachers' corrections and marking. “Critical Reading and the Iterative Writing Process”, chapter 3, contains the fundamentals of writing divided into an eightstep process. To help students to follow this process the author provides simple guidelines, adding at the same time additional information that may help to clarify questions that may arise while reading the chapter. Although this kind of guidelines appears in many other writing skills books, there are some elements which give an extra value to this publication. First, there is a very practical table classifying the different types of literature and explaining the different purposes, audiences, subject matters, and the like. Second, a “further reading section” includes several web pages of interest. Third, the author encourages students to undergo the different steps but she warns them about the difficulty of the task, adding a very personal effortbased approach to the process of mastering different writing types: “After individual sessions of study and writing, we may feel tired. The brain needs time to accommodate itself to the new architecture it has constructed and to absorb all its new knowledge and ways of thinking” (p. 19). Whilst chapters 2 and 3 establish the foundations for good writing, chapter 4, “Becoming a Better Writer”, moves on to the development of a clear and persuasive writing style. In order to achieve this goal, the chapter focuses on sentence structure, word choice and a collection of grammar rules relevant to health professionals. The section devoted to “Grammar Tips and Traps” includes 16 areas of grammar usage where students most frequently make errors. It supplies students with a set of examples and becomes one of the key elements of the book as all the examples are taken from health sciences subjects. The next chapter, Chapter 5, “Critical Argument” is a short but important chapter and offers strategies for creating a persuasive argument. The author explains what an argument is and how it can be classified into two main groups: deductive or inductive arguments. In the same way, she presents the features of well-written arguments by means of key words, concepts and logical connectors. From this starting point she moves to the most original part of the chapter, showing how these elements can operate in writing by creating a deductive or inductive movement. These first 5 chapters provide a good solid basis to move to the second half of the book which is devoted to more complex topics. In Chapter 6, “How to Use and Acknowledge Sources”, Dena Bain Taylor sets out an overview of APA and HARVARD styles. But the main strength of the chapter is introduced in the section devoted to how to acknowledge sources. By means of “8 common questions and myths” the author explains when and where to give references, extending the content by means of a webpage address about plagiarism. Chapters 7 and 8 deal with writing literature reviews. Chapter 7, “What is Literature Review”, presents a solid introduction, covering most of the issues that students have to face when evaluating scientific literature. The author's choice of starting the chapter by explaining what “literature” means in the context of scientific research merits special attention as most beginner students are not normally familiar with this genre. The different types of literature review are also examined and explained, giving practical tips to surpass the obstacles of this complex writing task. The next chapter, “How to Review the Literature,” aims to help students become familiar with the most common types of research in the health sciences field, explaining the systems and methods used by the researchers. According to the two
Book reviews / Journal of English for Academic Purposes 17 (2015) 74e78
75
paradigms of research, quantitative and qualitative, the author turns to analyze the typical sections of research articles. In spite of being a very detailed and clear chapter, it is rather dense, and it thus lacks the attractiveness of the previous ones. Chapter 9, “An Introduction to Professional Writing”, moves from academic to professional writing and it explains the differences between the two types of writing by means of a very handy table. As in many other writing texts, CVS and job applications are thoroughly explored as is online communication, and the inclusion of professional portfolios is a relevant and distinctive feature of this book. Furthermore, the author incorporates a valuable section devoted to Clinical and Agency communication. It is worth stressing the importance of this section due to its original approach as it includes SOAP notes, witness statements and writing for health education. The next chapter explores another typical and useful genre for health care students: oral presentations, how to design a poster and a PowerPoint is explained in the beginning of this chapter, highlighting how to maximize the limited space available, showing ways to minimize the number of linking words and to signal the relative importance of visual elements. The author then moves to oral presentations insisting on how to write up a detailed outline to talk from that. The chapter includes a section devoted to preparing to deliver an oral presentation and how to perform it. Although the chapter undoubtedly presents some useful information, it is not obviously related to writing styles and skills and thus it would have been better to include it at the end of the book. In Chapter 11, “Reflective Writing”, the author presents a practical and useful introduction to personal reflection, and to how student can capture on paper their thoughts about the new experiences and the new knowledge they are exposed to. As a result of this writing skill students are involved in a new and different type of learning which asks them to develop an authentic personal writing style. To help them in this task the author includes a note on the use of personal pronouns in reflective writing. There is a section dedicated to different types of reflective writing exercises which can be of use to improve the students' reflective abilities, such as personal journals. One of the most innovative parts of the whole book is included in this chapter, and it is a section in which the author connects narrative with illness experiences, encouraging students to write about the human side of illness and how they face it. Chapter 12, “How to Write Course Papers: Samples of Students Writing”, closes the book by including a set of sample student papers, to show some of the forms of writing they are likely to encounter in their class assignments. The three types of papers presented are: How to write about theory, writing a case study and writing about pathophysiology. Each sample contains a brief introduction, the grade it received, and a set of notes with further comments and explanations. It is an excellent and helpful ending for this book, although a wider variety of samples would have been valued by most readers. In conclusion, Writing Skills for Nursing and Midwifery Students is a welcome addition to the resources available for EAP/ESP. It provides remarkable guidelines as well as a great variety of examples and many health sciences students could benefit from its academic writing strategies. One of the most successful features of the book is its clarity and the closeness to the students. Although the author points out that it has been developed for students, it could also be used by EAP teachers, as there is a lot to interest and inform those new to the field of English for health sciences as well as for those practitioners looking for a broader approach to writing skills in these areas. The handbook could also be useful to health professionals wishing to improve their writing style. ns García María Antonia Sola Departamento de Filología Inglesa y Alemana, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad de Zaragoza, C/Domingo Miral s/n, 50009, Spain E-mail address: [email protected]
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2014.11.003
A chronicle of learning: Voicing the text, M. Scott. University of Tilburg, Tilburg (2013). 206 p. Free to download from. http://eprints.ioe.ac.uk/19177/1/Mary_Scott_V1_formatting.pdf
Mary Scott's established multilingual and multiliterate academic career has been driven by a commitment to widening participation in and access to the discourses of academia. She has led the London-based Academic Literacies Research Group since 1992 and recently crowned this commitment by completing a PhD which weaves together the many narratives of literacy theory and practice. ‘A Chronicle of Learning: Voicing the Text’ is, in fact, the published version of her PhD dissertation which takes her readers e including those who are unfamiliar with her work e through twenty years of published research (from 1992 to 2012) most of which has been informed by her own multinational identities (South African and British) and by the injustices leading to and resulting from the social and intellectual exclusion of many voices from mainstream academia.