Dissertation-to-Book Workbook

Katelyn E. Knox is an associate professor of French at the University of Central Arkansas. She is the author of Race on Display in 20th- and 21st-Century France. Allison Van Deventer is a freelance developmental editor for academic authors in the humanities and qualitative social sciences.

• Introduction: The What, Why, and How of This WorkbookThis Workbook’s OriginsAn Overview of the Work You’ll DoHow This Workbook Invites You to WorkPractice 1: Prioritize ActionPractice 2: Aim for Progress, Not PerfectionPractice 3: Reflect Intentionally and Capture DoubtsPractice 4: Build Confidence by Asking Challenging QuestionsWhat You Won’t Do in This WorkbookDecide Whether to Publish a Book or ArticlesAnswer Questions about Your Book’s Publishability or Your Argument’s SignificanceComplete Your Book ManuscriptCopyedit Your Book’s ProseIdentify Your Book’s Target Audience and Possible PublishersDraft Your Book ProposalGain Procedural Information on PublicationHow to Use This WorkbookCompleting the Workbook ExercisesRecommended PacingA Final Note: You Aren’t Alone!Chapter 1: Considering Your Book on Its Own TermsWhat to ExpectTime InvestmentCommon Discoveries in Chapter 1Common Stumbling BlocksExercisesStep 1: Describing Your Book on Its Own TermsStep 2: Understanding the Alignment Between Scope, Claims, and EvidenceStep 3: Troubleshooting Misaligned Claims, Scope, and EvidenceStep 4: Freewriting to Assess Your Book as a BookDebrief, Support, and TroubleshootingChapter 2: Reviewing Your Book’s Organizing PrincipleWhat to ExpectTime InvestmentCommon Discoveries in Chapter 2Common Stumbling BlocksExercisesStep 1: Recognizing Organizing PrinciplesStep 2: Identifying Your Book’s Current Primary Organizing PrincipleStep 3: Imagining All of Your Book’s Potential Organizing PrinciplesStep 4: Stating the Implied QuestionsStep 5: Choosing Your Organizing PrincipleStep 6: Reflecting on Your Organizing PrincipleDebrief, Support, and TroubleshootingChapter 3: Drafting Your First Book QuestionWhat to ExpectTime InvestmentCommon Discoveries in Chapter 3Common Stumbling BlocksExercisesStep 1: Understanding Book QuestionsStep 2: Stress-Testing the Actors and Actions of Your Book QuestionStep 3: Revising Your Question WordStep 4: Checking Your Book Question Candidates Against Your ChaptersDebrief, Support, and TroubleshootingChapter 4: Drafting Your Remaining Book QuestionsWhat to ExpectTime InvestmentCommon Discoveries in Chapter 4Common Stumbling BlocksExercisesStep 1: Selecting Other Book QuestionsStep 2: Brainstorming Questions Related to Book Question 1Step 3: Stress-Testing and Answering Your Book QuestionsDebrief, Support, and TroubleshootingChapter 5: Revising Your Book QuestionsWhat to ExpectTime InvestmentCommon Discoveries in Chapter 5Common Stumbling BlocksExercisesStep 1: Checking Actors and ActionsStep 2: Stress-Testing Your TerminologyStep 3: Assessing Conceptual RelationshipsStep 4: Projecting Your Chapter AnswersDebrief, Support, and TroubleshootingChapter 6: Assessing Your Chapters on Their Own TermsWhat to ExpectTime InvestmentCommon Discoveries in Chapter 6Common Stumbling BlocksExercisesStep 1: Producing Chapter SnapshotsStep 2: Surveying Your Chapters Within Your BookStep 3: Assessing the Alignment Between Your Chapters’ Evidence, Scope, and ClaimsStep 4: Evaluating Your Chapters’ CorpusStep 5: Adding MetacommentaryDebrief, Support, and TroubleshootingChapter 7: Checking Your Chapters for ParallelismWhat to ExpectTime InvestmentCommon Discoveries in Chapter 7Common Stumbling BlocksExercisesStep 1: Identifying Constants and VariablesStep 2: Evaluating Your Book’s VariablesStep 3: Handling Outlier ChaptersDebrief, Support, and TroubleshootingChapter 8: Crafting Your Book’s Narrative ArcWhat to ExpectTime InvestmentCommon Discoveries in Chapter 8Common Stumbling BlocksExercisesStep 1: Describing Your Chapter OrderStep 2: Playing with Chapter OrderStep 3: Settling on a Final Chapter OrderStep 4: Identifying Narrative InterestStep 5: Laying Out Connections and Shifts Between Consecutive ChaptersDebrief, Support, and TroubleshootingChapter 9: Producing Your Chapter AnswersWhat to ExpectTime InvestmentCommon Discoveries in Chapter 9Common Stumbling BlocksExercisesStep 1: Transforming Your Templates into Chapter AnswersStep 2: Collecting Your Key TermsStep 3: Scrutinizing Your TermsStep 4: Noticing and RevisingOptional Step 5: Expanding and Condensing Your Chapter AnswersStep 6: Producing the Rest of Your Chapter AnswersDebrief, Support, and TroubleshootingChapter 10: Revising Your Chapter Answers as a Group and Refining Your Book QuestionsWhat to ExpectTime InvestmentCommon Discoveries in Chapter 10Common Stumbling BlocksExercisesStep 1: Reassessing Your TerminologyStep 2: Checking for Parallelism in Actors (and Actions)Step 3: Noticing and Revising for DirectionalityStep 4: Reviewing Your Final Book Questions and Chapter AnswersStep 5: Reading AloudDebrief, Support, and TroubleshootingChapter 11: Reviewing Your Book’s Changes and Tying Up Loose EndsWhat to ExpectTime InvestmentCommon Discoveries in Chapter 11Common Stumbling BlocksExercisesStep 1: Reviewing and Reflecting on Decisions Made Along the WayStep 2: Revisiting, Revising, and Extending Your Chapter 1 WorkStep 3: Reviewing Your Book’s Structure and ArcStep 4: Reflecting on Your Chapters and Their ContributionsStep 5: Capturing ThreadsStep 6: Dealing with Background InformationOptional Step 7: Synthesizing Dissertation and Book DifferencesDebrief, Support, and TroubleshootingChapter 12: Assembling Your Book ArgumentWhat to ExpectTime InvestmentCommon Discoveries in Chapter 12Common Stumbling BlocksExercisesStep 1: Writing Your Implicit Lesson(s)Step 2: Turning Your Book Questions into StatementsStep 3: Pulling It All TogetherDebrief, Support, and TroubleshootingChapter 13: Assembling Your Two-Page Book NarrativeWhat to ExpectTime InvestmentCommon Discoveries in Chapter 13Common Stumbling BlocksExercisesDebrief, Support, and TroubleshootingInterlude: Transitioning from “Working on” Your Book to “Working in” Your BookWork You’ve Done; What Lies AheadFAQ as You Reach This Transition PointAm I ready to draft proposals now?Am I ready to talk to editors now?Which chapter(s) should I start with in Chapter 14?What about chapters I still need to draft?When should I plan to draft my book introduction?How long will revisions take?When should I plan to submit proposals?What if I want to change my plan?Chapter 14: Assembling a Chapter CollageWhat to ExpectTime InvestmentCommon Discoveries in Chapter 14Common Stumbling BlocksExercisesStep 1: Gathering Your MaterialsStep 2: Using Your Chapter Answers to Produce a Chapter Structure and RoadmapStep 3: Assembling One Section by Mining Your Source MaterialStep 4: Making Notes and Filling GapsStep 5: Repeating Steps 3–4 for Each SectionDebrief, Support, and TroubleshootingChapter 15: Reverse Outlining Your Chapter CollageWhat to ExpectCommon Discoveries in Chapter 15Common Stumbling BlocksExercisesStep 1: Assembling Your Materials and Preparing the SectionStep 2: Claim Tagging (Reverse Outlining) Your ParagraphsStep 3: Function Tagging Your ParagraphsStep 4: Generating Your “Honest Outline” of the SectionStep 5: Analyzing Your “Honest Outline” and Jotting NotesStep 6: Creating an Aspirational OutlineStep 7: Assessing Your Aspirational OutlineStep 8: Drafting Topic Sentences to Match Your Aspirational OutlineStep 9: Fleshing Out Paragraphs by Drafting or AssemblingStep 10: Revising Your TransitionsStep 11: Repeating Steps 1–10 for the Other Body SectionsOptional Step 12: Macro Revising, Using Targeted QuestionsStep 13: Adjusting Your Book Questions and Chapter AnswersDebrief, Support, and TroubleshootingChapter 16: Citing with ConfidenceWhat to ExpectCommon Discoveries in Chapter 16Common Stumbling BlocksExercisesStep 1: Deciding Whether and Where to CiteStep 2: Deciding How Much to CiteStep 3: Deciding How to CiteDebrief, Support, and TroubleshootingFinal WordsAcknowledgmentsAppendixesAppendix A: If Your Book Isn’t Based on a DissertationReadiness ChecklistAppendix B: If Your Scope Needs a Closer LookAppendix C: If You’re Unsure about Your Organizing Principle QuestionStep 1: Reprising Your Topic StatementStep 2: Review—Who’s Doing What to Whom?Step 3: Checking Against the Question Implied by the Organizing PrincipleAppendix D: If Your Book Question and Chapter Answer Terms Need a Closer LookAppendix E: If You Want Strategies for Drafting New WorkStrategy 1: Close ReadingStrategy 2: Asking and Answering QuestionsStrategy 3: Distilling Your Evidence BaseStrategy 4: Dumping Everything You KnowStrategy 5: Explaining to Yourself What You SeeStrategy 6: Talking as ThinkingStrategy 7: Using a Topical OutlineAppendix F: If You Want Some Tools for Micro RevisingConsidering the Topic SentenceConsidering the Paragraph, GloballyConsidering Each SentenceAdditional Resources for Micro RevisingNotesBibliographyIndex

“The Dissertation-to-Book Workbook not only succeeds but excels in guiding scholars through this process of revision. This pragmatic workbook walks an author through clear steps to identify the organizing principle of the book, write and revise the book’s central claims, and then ensure that the chapters actually function well together before the author sends the book to a press. Since scholars often only have one opportunity to convince a press to publish their book, working through this process before sending to editors is crucial—and this is an essential guide.”