A Guide to Writing in Education

A Writer's Help Guidebook Series

First Edition

Publication Date: June 01, 2025

E-book ISBN: 9781319623821

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ISBN: 9781319623821
A Guide to Writing in Education

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Table of Contents
Authors

Introduction: A Guide to Writing in Education
Thinking like a writer in education
Questions writers in education ask
Kinds of evidence education writers use
Ethics in education

Researching education
Using databases to locate education publications
Books and online resources
Primary and secondary sources
Evaluating sources
Drawing on expert opinion

Reading in education
Active reading
How to read research studies, case studies, and reports
How to read qualitative and quantitative studies

The process of writing papers and projects in education
Considering your purpose
Understanding your audience and their expectations
Checklist for assessing the writing situation
Distinguishing fact, opinion, and value
Choosing topics and forming thesis statements
Drafting and developing a thesis
Four approaches to revising thesis statements
Organizing and drafting
Revising and editing

Writing conventions in education
Writing strong sentences
Choosing vocabulary
Using visuals and presenting data

Integrating, citing, and documenting sources in education
Avoiding plagiarism and recognizing intellectual property
Quoting and summarizing sources
In-text citations in APA style
Reference list in APA style
APA manuscript format

Genres of writing in education
Argument or position paper
Annotated bibliography
Case study
Curriculum design or lesson plan
Literature review
Policy paper or white paper
Poster presentation
Reflective paper
Research proposal
Research paper

Glossary of vocabulary in education
References
Additional resources for writers in education
Practice activities
Practice activity: Developing a research area or topic
Practice activity: Using a database for research
Practice activity: Reading research critically
Practice activity: Evaluating a research article
Practice activity: Writing direct quotations and summaries

Sample student writing: Education
Case study: Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Lesson plan and reflection: Integrated Planned Experience and Reflection
Reflective writing: A Reflection on Service Learning: Working With Eric

More help with documentation: APA style
APA-style reference list: Additional examples

Editing strategies
Subject-verb agreement
Pronoun agreement, reference, and case
Strong verbs
Sentence fragments
Run-on sentences
Distracting shifts
Parallel structure
Clear, uncluttered sentences
Sentence emphasis
Commas
Apostrophes
Quotation marks

Stephen A. Bernhardt

Stephen A. Bernhardt is Professor of English and the Andrew B. Kirkpatrick Chair in Writing at the University of Delaware, where he teaches composition, grammar, and technical writing. His professional interests include computers in composition/distance education, writing across the curriculum, professional and technical communication, and visual rhetoric. He has also taught at New Mexico State University and at Southern Illinois University. The author of many journal articles and technical reports, Bernhardt is also the author of Writing at Work (1997) and coeditor of Expanding Literacies: English Teaching and the New Workplace (1998). Bernhardt designed the research plan and reworked content for Writers Help.

Nancy Sommers

Nancy Sommers, who has taught composition and directed composition programs for thirty years, now teaches in Harvard's Graduate School of Education. She led Harvard's Expository Writing Program for twenty years, directing the first-year writing program and establishing Harvard's WAC program. A two-time Braddock Award winner, Sommers is well known for her research and publications on student writing. Her articles “Revision Strategies of Student and Experienced Writers” and “Responding to Student Writing” are two of the most widely read and anthologized articles in the field of composition. Recently she has been exploring different audiences through publishing in popular media. Sommers is the lead author on Hacker handbooks, all published by Bedford/St. Martin’s, and editor of Tiny Teaching Stories on Macmillan Learning's Bits Blog.