Book Review: “A Professor’s Guide to Writing Essays: The No-Nonsense Plan for Better Writing” by Dr. Jacob Neumann

Many students feel too overwhelmed with their curriculum to do any additional reading. It’s understandable as they have millions of tasks that need urgent focus, so fiction and non-fiction genres are left in their past, freer life — as long as they aren’t assigned them in college or uni. This trend is depressing since reading is essential in many ways, from cognitive to social. Researchers from Psychology Today Schwanenflugel and Knapp confirm that reading improves brain function and helps in studies. Interestingly, it might happen both directly and indirectly.

 “A Professor’s Guide to Writing Essays: The No-Nonsense Plan for Better Writing”written by DoctorNeumann is a non-fiction book with the power to bring benefits in two ways at once. First, it’s deeply engaging and stimulating. Second, it’s essential for studies because regardless of whether you are still in high school or if you’re tackling complex uni challenges, writing essays is a task that will follow you everywhere. Knowing how to do it will save you tons of time.

The Content of Neumann’s Book and What Makes It Stand Out

DoctorNeumann has worked as a professor in many areas and on different educational levels. He’s seen the struggles his students face with crafting their essays personally, and it encouraged him to write a book that would help them improve their writing. So, Neumann’s book explores the concept of academic essays and provides useful tips on how to structure ad compose them. He raises such topics as the creation of helpful outline, effective introduction, strong thesis, and logical paragraphs. Neumann also explains how to avoid plagiarism, which is essential since unless your paper is 100% unique, you risk facing a disciplinary hearing and even suspension. This way, his book presents a complex of suggestions aimed at facilitating your writing.   

But what makes this book special? Neumann discards the idea of each essay type differing from one another. Instead, he promotes the idea that writing principles stay the same in all cases, claiming that if you get a grasp on them once, you’ll be able to apply them over and over again.  He uses practical demonstrations and builds excellent and relevant associations that stay in the memory of his readers for a long time. For example, when explaining transitions and their role in the structuring of the paragraphs, Neumann draws the comparison with road signs. Such vivid examples help demonstrate the rules much better than long theoretical explanations.

The Audience Neumann’s Book Targets

Published in 2016, Neumann’s book has quickly gained popularity because of how relevant and useful its central topic is to different groups of people. Since it revolves around academic writing, all people involved in this sphere can benefit from reading it. There are four specific groups that can be seen as its target audience.

·         The youth. Young people of all ages study in schools, colleges, or universities, and all of them have to inevitably write essays. Nearly all of them face problems on their way to a good grade, so Neumann’s book is perfect for them. They’re the primary audience since it’s students who inspired the author to write his guide.    

·         Professors. Teachers are also an important audience since they might grow frustrated with having to explain the rules of writing to their classes repeatedly. With Neumann’s book, they have a chance to save their time and make explanations rich and on-point. 

·         Academic writing professionals. The area of academic writing is fast, and many specialists are joining it daily to help students with their tasks. Some essay structure nuances might be a novelty to them, which is why Neumann’s book is a recommended reading in such places. To understand the rules intimately, people working for admission essay writing service from EduBirdie all read this book thoroughly before they start working. This helps them avoid mistakes and achieve the best results for their clients.   

·         Adults entering the education sphere. Many adults who didn’t have a chance to graduate go back to school or get jobs where knowing how to write academically is essential. Neumann’s book targets them as well. It’s written in a way that will be engaging to people regardless of their age, so they will all find it worth their time. 

The Best Kind of Books: Easy and Beneficial Reading

Best books don’t underwhelm you — they stimulate and relax you at the same time, capturing your interest and teaching you something useful. “A Professor’s Guide to Writing Essays: The No-Nonsense Plan for Better Writing”by Neumann is a great example of such books. Dunn from Psychology Today mentioned how academic writing doesn’t have to be boring or stuffy, and Neumann has met this particular goal brilliantly. If you wonder how to cope with your essay tasks, just give it a try. It’s short but extremely illustrative.

Biography

Robert is a writer from Edubirdie who unwaveringly stays in touch with the modern content market. He understands the reasons underlying the popularity of books or research and the uniqueness of their creation. The world of literature is diverse, and Robert strives to make it brighter by adding his own contributions to it.  

Marvel’s Jacob Johnston talks about his short film “Kadence”

Jacob Johnston has been working at Marvel Studios with their Visual Development team on films like “Thor”, “Thor: The Dark World”, “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”, “Guardians of the Galaxy” and currently on “The Avengers: Age of Ultron”. Aside from working on superhero movies, Jacob is also a writer and director. He is currently trying to get his short films made “Kadence” via Kickstarter. Media Mikes had a chance to chat with Jacob about the short film, what we can expect and how can you help get this film made.

Click here to become a backer for “Kadence” on Kickstarter! At the time of posting, there is only 23 hours left! So don’t miss out!

Mike Gencarelli: Give us some background on how “Kadence”, came to be that you wrote and directed?
Jacob Johnston: It all started when I was driving to a friend’s birthday party last spring. It was just a visual of a young boy lying helpless in his room with a voodoo doll within arms reach – but it all felt so far away – something we saw by the pinning look in his eye. Following that: Kadence was a project that took me about 3 months to even form into words. For the most part, it started as a series of visuals – highlighting certain story elements – but finding a unique and compelling through line was something I didn’t want to force. As I began writing the script out, it evolved from a more supernatural based story into a more character-driven drama with horror elements. Which, to be honest, was far more interesting to me. I wanted a project that brought back the terrifying elements of visceral human interaction and unraveling – evocative of movies like The Haunting [1963], Silence of the Lambs and Let the Right One In.

MG: Give us the one minute pitch on the story?
JJ: Still reeling from the loss of his mother, a damaging and complex relationship with his father, and a relentless battle with his own inner demons, Kadin’s [17] grip on reality is loosening by the day. Amid this struggle comes an enigmatic and brazen new neighbor, Marissa [19], who, along with the promise of a budding new friendship gives Kadin an ancient voodoo doll. Her reassurance is seductive and the promise of a brighter future leads Kadin to make a sinister choice. [laughs] Was that a minute!?
MG: Well, I am sold man! For sure!

MG: Tell us about your Kickstarter campaign or your goals?
JJ: The Kickstarter campaign was launched for a couple of reasons: to help raise crucial funds for the production budget and for building an audience. We have brought on a lot of industry professionals to help bring this story to life, most of which who are donating their time for little or no pay – however, the cost of permits, locations and equipment adds up incredibly fast. More than raising additional budget money, we launched the campaign to create a community long before the movie was even finished. The horror community is huge and very tied together – we wanted to network with them and get those who we could reach as excited about the project as we were. Kickstarter really granted us the opportunity to do more than raise money, it really is a wonderful platform.

MG: You recruiting any of your co-workers at Marvel to assist with the film?

Production keyframe by Anthony Francisco

JJ: I work with a number of extremely talented artists who were graciously willing to use their nights and weekends to illustrate the crazy visuals in my head so the rest of the world could see. Jackson Sze, Anthony Francisco and Andy Park have been working as professional illustrators in this industry for quite some time and definitely brought both a legitimacy to the project and look to the film that went above and beyond what I ever envisioned in the beginning of the process.

MG: After the film is completed; what are you plans to distribute?
JJ: Ha. Let’s have that conversation after the film is done! Just want to focus my attention on telling the best possible story for now!

MG: “Kadence” is a short film; any chance to develop into feature?
JJ: Another good question and one that many people have asked. It’s hard to say. I think there is definitely a potential for a feature. However, I never wanted to see the project that way – for fear that I may compromise the story I was trying to tell in the short.