Includes bibliographical references.

Why read this book? -- pt. 1. Writing as practice -- Unlearning what you (probably) know -- Eight strategies for getting writing done -- Institutional contexts -- Dissertations and books -- A materialist theory of writing -- How do readers work? -- pt. 2. Strategy -- The uneven U -- Structure and subordination -- Structural rhythm -- Introductions -- Don't say it all early -- Paragraphing -- Three types of transitions -- Showing your iceberg -- Metalanguage -- Ending well -- Titles and subtitles -- pt. 3. Tactics -- Citational practice -- Conference talks -- Examples -- Figural language -- Footnotes and endnotes -- Jargon -- Parentheticals --Pronouns -- Repetition -- Rhetorical questions and clauses -- Sentence rhythm -- Ventilation -- Weight -- pt. 4. Becoming -- Work as process -- Becoming a writer -- From the workshop to the world (as workshop [as world]).

Here, Hayot does more than explain the techniques of academic writing. He aims to adjust the writer's perspective, encouraging scholars to think of themselves as makers and doers of important work. Scholarly writing can be frustrating and exhausting, yet also satisfying and crucial, and Hayot weaves these experiences, including his own trials and tribulations, into an ethos for scholars to draw on as they write. Combining psychological support with practical suggestions for composing introductions and conclusions, developing a schedule for writing, using notes and citations, and structuring paragraphs and essays, this guide to the elements of academic style does its part to rejuvenate scholarship and writing in the humanities.