This is my personal list of favorite writing ideas, tools, and techniques — resources I have learned from, admire, and return to. Please email me (or comment on this post) to share your favorite writing resources!

Language skills

Tools, templates, and self-paced online courses in academic writing skills from Dr. Crystal Herron at Redwood Ink

A variety of resources available on Dr. Letitia Henville’s website, Short Is Hard, including her online course on Becoming a Better Editor of Your Own Work

Guidance on conscious, inclusive language in academic and science writing at the ACS Inclusivity Style Guide

Writing and publishing skills

Academic writing coaching, workshops, and online resources from Dr. Malini Devadas at MD Writing & Editing, including an upcoming free webinar on “How to write, submit, and publish regularly”

For those writing an academic book, the Book Proposal Accelerator course and associated online resources created by Dr. Laura Portwood-Stacer at ManuscriptWorks

A series of videos on Practical Strategies for Pain-Free Academic Writing, from a writing workshop by Dr. Alexis Shotwell

Technical skills

Lists of academic editors for hire, including BIPOC editor directories, along with BIPOC and white editors volunteering time to support Black and/or Indigenous scholars at the Academic Editing Circle 

Tips, tricks, and training on how use Microsoft Word more easily and skillfully from Adrienne Montgomerie at Editing in Word

Additional training in Microsoft Word, PerfectIt, and Endnote from Cadman Training Services by Dr. Hilary Cadman

Resources on diversifying reference lists: 

• The Cite Black Women movement and website
• The Cite Black Women+ in Physics bibliography founded by Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
• The Decolonizing Science Reading List curated by Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
• Why Dr. Letitia Henville of Short is Hard believes that “auditing your list of references leads to better science”

Tools for focus and scheduling:

• The Pomodoro Technique
• The body doubling technique
• The Un-Schedule

Research and ideas

Books that have shaped my approach to academic writing groups:

• Community as Rebellion: A Syllabus for Surviving Academia as a Woman of Color by Lorgia García Peña
• The Anti-Racist Writing Workshop: How to Decolonize the Creative Classroom by Felicia Rose Chavez
• Pathways to Nonviolent Communication: A Tool for Navigating Your Journey by Jim Manske

Books that have shaped my approach to editing academic writing:

• Writing Science in Plain English by Dr. Anne E. Green
• They Say/I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing, by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein
• The Sense of Style: The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century by Dr. Steven Pinker [1]
• Elements of Indigenous Style: A Guide for Writing About and By Indigenous Peoples by Dr. Gregory Younging
• The Artful Edit: On the Practice of Editing Yourself by Susan Bell

— notes —

[1] I am aware of Dr. Pinker’s reactionary politics. I also found that reading the first half of this particular book on language changed my editing eye radically for the better.