Students matriculating through a veterinary technician’s educational program are oftentimes required to write term papers or in some instances participate and contribute to the writing of scientific research-oriented papers. For those just beginning the journey through the academic phase of their careers, requirements such as formulation of research questions, hypotheses and methods of inquiry can be quite confusing; not to mention the various forms of required reference citations which include APA, MLA, CMS and CSE all which can be confusing if not overwhelming for novice writers.
The Research Writer tackles writing from the beginning, doing so in a way that is engaging as it is fun. While most would not characterize writing a required paper as “fun” this book takes the guesswork out of the sometimes vague instructions that sometimes accompany such assignments. Within 510 pages and 21 chapters are covered such topics as: basic writing, planning the research, electronic research in both wired libraries and the free web, establishing credibility (through avoidance of plagiarism), revision and refining, team research projects, analytical and personal research, argumentative papers, MLA style (used for English papers), APA style (used for psychology and social sciences), CMS style (Non-English humanities subjects) and CSE style (Natural and Applied Sciences).
Each chapter is written with multiple subheadings (also reflected within the Table of Contents) making it easy to locate exactly what is needed to complete any given phase of the project. The four chapters on the various citation forms are outlined with samples of the correct format for citing references of the most common sources of information provided.
This is the book which the reviewer wishes she had possessed throughout her undergraduate, graduate and doctoral studies to demystify the citation of references. The book is definitely one to own if planning to write scientific based papers on a regular basis. However, in terms of usefulness within a veterinary technology curriculum, it may be of limited overall value if the academic program does not require large amounts of research oriented papers to be developed. There are certainly less expensive and free sources for the “occasional” writer who is only writing out of scholastic necessity; sources such as Purdue University’s OWL site. For this reason alone, the book garners a 4 out of 5 star rating for usefulness to technician students. Veterinary technicians and veterinarians who are interested in regularly writing for peer-reviewed journals, books or magazines on the subject of veterinary medicine will find this book however to be quite useful as they reach for it again and again.
Publisher: Wadsworth-Cengage Learning (2012)
510 pgs; spiral bound soft cover
ISBN 13: 978-0-618-75622-3
VIN Store: Currently unavailable