37.3432, Reviews: Academic Writing Demystified: Salvatore Attardo; Hilal Ergül; Elisa Gironzetti; Heather Jerónimo (2026)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-37-3432. Tue 20 Oct 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.3432, Reviews: Academic Writing Demystified: Salvatore Attardo; Hilal Ergül; Elisa Gironzetti; Heather Jerónimo (2026)

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Date: 20-Oct-2026
From: Allison Nguyen [anguye9 at ilstu.edu]
Subject: Salvatore Attardo; Hilal Ergül; Elisa Gironzetti; Heather Jerónimo (2026)


Book announced at https://linguistlist.org/issues/37-1133

Title: Academic Writing Demystified
Subtitle: Publish and Thrive
Publication Year: 2026

Publisher: Cambridge University Press
           http://www.cambridge.org/linguistics
Book URL:
https://www.cambridge.org/ch/universitypress/subjects/languages-linguistics/applied-linguistics-and-second-language-acquisition/academic-writing-demystified-publish-and-thrive?format=HB&isbn=9781009418836

Author(s): Salvatore Attardo; Hilal Ergül; Elisa Gironzetti; Heather
Jerónimo

Reviewer: Allison Nguyen

SUMMARY
“Academic Writing Demystified: Publish and Thrive” (Attardo et al.,
2026), is a fantastic writer’s guide aimed at guiding junior scholars
through the process of writing papers, from drafting to submission.
The book is split into four sections: The Fundamentals, The Mechanics,
The Genres, and the Community, which are further broken down into
chapters (and subchapters) that deal with unique aspects of writing.
Each chapter contains reflection questions and exercises that are
meant to develop the techniques or themes discussed in that chapter.
This book would be valuable for junior scholars across any field to
read. It is thoughtfully laid out and would be a good addition to any
writer’s shelf or as a textbook for a class on professional writing.
In the first section “The Fundamentals”, (chapters 1–4), the focus is
on the writing process. Chapter 1 lays out the philosophy behind the
book, with an emphasis on writing as a practice, rather than a moment
of inspiration. Chapters 2 and 3 focus on creating spaces to write,
with chapter 2 focusing on mental headspaces and chapter 3 on creating
physical spaces to write in. Both chapters contain action items that
give the reader practice in these spaces. Chapter 4 discusses the
benefits and drawbacks of joining a writing group. Throughout these
chapters the authors acknowledge that writing is individualized, and
that writers should experiment with different forms of writing
(writing alone, writing in groups, writing using a timer) in order to
find the method that works. The authors also include questions that
junior scholars can ask their mentors, such as “What kind of writing
group would you suggest for me?” (page 35).
In the second section “The Mechanics”, (chapters 5–13), the authors
walk through the mechanics of writing. Chapter 5 is about the ethics
of writing, with useful discussions on self-plagiarism and authorship
issues. Chapter 6 walks readers through creating an outline. Chapter
7, 8, and 9 guide readers through writing sections of the paper, and
there are specific chapters on literature reviews (chapter 9), data
visualization (chapter 10), and copyright (chapter 11). Chapter 12 is
targeted towards those who need to create an index, and has a
checklist that readers can go through. Chapter 13 is about how to
revise a manuscript for reviewers, and includes reassurance about
rejections, as well as exercises on how to structure responses to
reviewers.
In the third section “The Genres”, (chapters 14–23), the focus is on
how to write for different audiences, with different chapters focusing
on the different types of science communication people do in the
social sciences. Chapter 14 sets up this section with a discussion of
how to turn different types of presentations into publications, and
chapter 15 is about choosing a publication venue, including warnings
about predatory journals. Chapters 16 – 23 give details about the
different types of writing one might do throughout their academic
career, with a chapter on journal article writing (chapter 18),
proposing a book (chapter 20), and, notably, one on nontraditional
academic writing (chapter 23). This chapter focuses on non-academic
spaces that are valuable for dissemination of work, such as blogs,
podcasts, interviews, and social media. The exercises in these
chapters encourage writers to try these skills for themselves, such as
selecting a journal and evaluating it, or thinking through keywords
for a blog post.
In the final section The Community, (chapters 24 – 31), the authors
lay out how scholars can participate in the academic community more
broadly. Chapters 24 and 25 are about self-marketing both online and
off. Chapter 26 is about networking, and 27 is about mentorship.
Chapter 28 is an overview of how to approach the collaborative writing
process, which can be different from the solo writing process. Chapter
29 discusses the benefits of open access science. Chapter 30 is about
serving as a reviewer, which is a particularly useful chapter. Chapter
31 is a very thorough breakdown of how the publishing world works and
what the different roles are in publishing. The book also has
appendices with sample email templates and sample cover letters, which
are invaluable resources for junior scholars in the field.
EVALUATION
This book is exceptionally thoughtful in how it is written and
designed. The flow of the book is clear, with thematically relevant
chapters close to each other, and the exercises and action items in
each chapter are well-thought out. It is also nice that the authors
include questions for people to ask their mentors, as new or different
perspectives on writing can be helpful when learning to write. If this
book were to be used in a classroom, the built-in exercises and
activities would make good assignments or class check-ins. If someone
is working through the book individually, the exercises and activities
make good checkpoints for understanding. This book would be a good
resource for those learning how to write as well as for those who
teach writing, whether that’s formally or informally.
Learning how to write is one of the great challenges of becoming an
academic, and this book is an especially friendly approach to
developing a writing style and skills around writing, with an approach
that is accessible to those who are new to academic writing as well as
those who have experience. This book takes a broad look at writing
across academic traditions and types, providing tips for writing
everything from books to conference papers. The authors explicitly lay
out strategies for writing in the academic tradition, and the clear
organization of the book is helpful for those looking for specific
topics or suggestions. In addition, this book does a nice job of
giving ways to approach discussions that may be intimidating for a
junior scholar, such as how to go about discussing authorship when
collaboratively writing. The authors also emphasize saying “no” and
discuss in several places the importance of knowing when to refuse to
do something, such as a review. This is also an important skill to
develop, and one that is relevant for far more than just writing in an
academic career.
One of the commendable sections of this book is how the authors
discuss imposter syndrome.  Many people struggle with imposter
syndrome around teaching and scholarship in higher education (Parkman,
2016), and the authors are sensitive and respectful in their
discussion of imposter syndrome and imposter syndrome management. It
is important to discuss how imposter syndrome affects the writing
process and give advice on managing it. Related to this, the authors
also acknowledge that rejections and reviews that feel personal are a
part of the writing process. Once again, a fairly sensitive issue is
handled well, and constructive comments are given on how to address
those feelings. The authors do a nice job balancing validating the
feeling of rejection and giving instruction on how to respond to it.
By discussing these issues openly and frankly, the authors help to
normalize something that can leave scholars feeling discouraged about
their writing or career (Day, 2011). As Day (2011) points out, being
able to talk about rejection can help scholars feel better about their
work overall, and hopefully this book can provide ways for people to
open up conversations around rejection and writing. It is a nice
bookend that the authors discuss how to write good reviews, too. By
having a chapter on being reviewed followed fairly closely by a
chapter on how to review, the authors give space for people to reflect
on how they felt when receiving an unkind or unhelpful review before
giving tips on how to be a helpful reviewer.
Perhaps the section of the book that is most broadly useful to anyone
at any career stage is the section on nontraditional writing, and
there are helpful tips for interviews, podcasts, blogs, and social
media more generally. More and more, academics are participating in
non-traditional media, so advice on how to give good interviews and
write good blogs is always appreciated. The other chapters that focus
on networking and online presence would also be useful for anyone at
any career stage. While the authors did not discuss explicitly how to
network via social media, which may be of interest, the tips given in
these chapters provide a good starting point for thinking about
networking across different platforms. Networking can be difficult,
and the authors give useful exercises and action items to get readers
of the book more comfortable with giving elevator pitches and talking
about their work to strangers.
Overall, this book is grounded in evidence-based practices for
teaching writing (Graham & Harris, 2016). Each chapter is carefully
laid out, and all exercises are useful in developing the habit and
practice of writing. Academic Writing Demystified would be an
excellent textbook for teaching writing, or an excellent reference
guide for those learning to write in the academic discipline.
REFERENCES
Day, N. E. (2011). The silent majority: Manuscript rejection and its
impact on scholars. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 10(4),
704-718.
Graham, S., & Harris, K. R. (2016). A path to better writing:
Evidence‐based practices in the classroom. The Reading Teacher, 69(4),
359-365.
Parkman, A. (2016). The imposter phenomenon in higher education:
Incidence and impact. Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice,
16(1), 51-60.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Dr. Allison Nguyen (ORCID 0000-0002-2051-1372)  is an Assistant
Professor in the Department of Psychology at Illinois State
University. Dr. Nguyen’s interests are in spontaneous human
communication and how people negotiate meaning in conversation, with a
particular interest in how social identities, technology, and
communication interact and influence each other. Her work focuses on
discourse phenomena, such as backchannels, discourse markers, and
emojis. She teaches academic writing often.


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