Revise: The Scholar-Writer’s Essential Guide to Tweaking, Editing, and Perfecting Your Manuscript

by Pamela Haag

A helpful, engaging guide to the revision of scholarly writing by an editor and award-winning author
 
“Pamela Haag has been called ‘the tenure whisperer’ for good reason. Any scholar who hopes to attract a wider audience of readers will benefit from the brilliant, step-by-step guidance shared here. It’s pure gold for all aspiring nonfiction writers.”—Nancy MacLean, author of Democracy in The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America

Writing and revision are two different skills. Many scholar-writers have learned something about how to write, but fewer know how to read and revise their own writing, spot editorial issues, and transform a draft from passable to great. Drawing on before and after examples from more than a decade as a developmental editor of scholarly works, Pamela Haag tackles the most common challenges of scholarly writing. This book is packed with practical, user-friendly advice and is written with warmth, humor, sympathy, and flair.
 
With an inspiring passion for natural language, Haag demonstrates how to reconcile clarity with intellectual complexity. Designed to be an in-the-trenches desktop reference, this indispensable resource can help scholars develop a productive self-editing habit, advise their graduate and other students on style, and, ultimately, get their work published and praised.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction

360 pages, Hardcover

Published March 23, 2021

About the author

I’m a published writer of nonfiction, cultural commentary, opinion and polemic. Much of my work has focused on women’s issues, feminism, American cultural history, and cultural trends. My interests are eclectic, and I like it that way. I don’t like cant, predictable stances, or getting stuck in a thematic or intellectual rut. I prefer to keep things moving. Among many other topics, I’ve written on modern marriage, sports talk radio, slots gambling, single-sex education, changes in wealth and class mobility, the politics of sexual violence, elite colleges and their mystique, the genius of “The Wire”, celibacy, and the rebuilding of the lower Manhattan subway system after the 9/11 attacks.

Reviews

[Jana Riess · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the choice last month for my editing book club (a group of professional editors who discuss books that can help us be better at our jobs). "Revise" is not geared at editors so much as authors of serious nonfiction who are trying to improve their writing -- in other words, a fairly broad audience.

Haag has strong opinions, and I didn't agree with all of them (particularly her rejection of signposting, though I certainly appreciated her advice that if signposting is going to occur, it should be more subtle than "In chapter 3 will explore . . ."). My favorite piece was her diagnosis of Tofu Syndrome, which is when an author's prose and structure begin to take on the characteristics of the other people they have been reading, whether in primary or secondary sources. This is something I've seen numerous times with clients but didn't have a name for -- now I do, thanks to Haag.

I'm going to be revisiting this book many times in the years to come.