Textbook Editing and Study Guide Writing Experience
Textbook reviews generally entailed answering specific questions provided by the publisher. Artwork evaluation critiqued the effectiveness of the image at conveying key ideas and avoiding propagation of common misconceptions. Table of contents reviews addressed the overall organization of topics so that foundational concepts would be established in early chapters and allow instructors to select additional chapters to meet their specific instructional needs.
In all instances, once I addressed the publisher’s questions, I provided many additional comments about the flow, content, and course relevance based on my own experience. Rather than identify problems, I tried to also suggest solutions and my reasoning so that the authors could see my comments in the context of my perception of their writing goals.
When writing test bank questions, I was usually provided a set template of the types of questions I was to design and the number of questions desired for each textbook section.
In some instances, most notably the study guide for Hillis et al. Principles of Life 1st edition, I was encouraged to use my own teaching experience to write more challenging and more problem-solving based questions so that students using the study guide would apply their understanding rather than regurgitate memorized facts. I also wrote some questions to force students to evaluate parallels with topics from earlier chapters and explain how apparently different systems were actually quite similar. I was very proud of the results and pleased to see my name on the cover.
2003
- Reviewed Life, fifth edition by Lewis et al. for McGraw-Hill publisher
2004
- Reviewed Biology 7th ed. proofs by Raven, Johnson, Losos, & Singer for McGraw-Hill publisher
- Reviewed Biological Sciences, 2nd ed. proofs by Freeman for Prentice Hall publisher
- Reviewed Biology 7th ed. by Raven, Johnson, Losos, & Singer for McGraw-Hill publisher for preparation of the 8th edition.
2005
- Reviewed Campbell’s Biology 7th edition for publisher and compared it to Raven’s Biology 7th ed.
- Reviewed three chapters in Raven’s Biology 7th edition for the publisher.
- Reviewed proposed organization and topic coverage for Biology 1st ed by Brooker et al by McGraw-Hill Publisher.
2006
- Brooks/Cole review of one chapter in General Biology for Majors. (McGraw-Hill)
- Brooker et al, Biology 1st ed. I reviewed the Table of Contents for overall text design, One chapter critiqued in detail.
- Freeman publishing. Reviewed Table of Contents for a new Majors Biology text.
- Freeman publishing asked me to review a single chapter after seeing my comments on the table of contents for the same book
- Art review for 2 chapters in the 8th edition of Raven’s Biology.
- Freeman publishing. Reviewed five chapters for a new Majors Biology text.
2007
- Freeman’s Biological Science, revised 2nd edition. Reviewed chapter 8
- Art review for 10 chapters in 8th edition of Raven’s Biology.
- Wrote test bank questions in multiple formats for 5 chapters of Thompson publishing’s new biology textbook by Russell.
2008
- Wrote test bank questions in multiple formats for 2 chapters of Russell’s Biology by Thompson publishing.
- Reviewed detailed table of contents prospectus, and the overall organization of proposed textbook by Bedford, Freeman, and Worth publishers.
2009
- Reviewed 4 chapters of Sadava et al’s Life: The Science of Biology
- Reviewed 4 chapters of Russell et al’s Biology: The Dynamic Science by Cengage Learning
- Reviewed Detailed Table of Contents and one chapter of proposed text How Life Works for W.H. Freeman and Company
2010
- Authored revisions to 15 chapters of the study guide for Sadava et al. Life 9th edition
- Authored revisions to 15 chapters of online interactive quizzes for Sadava et al. Life 9th edition
- Proofread first-pass page-proofs of 1 chapter of Raven et al. Biology 9th ed and provided feedback on content accuracy.
- Proofread for the test bank and online quizzes for 4 chapters of Sadava et al. Life 9th. I provided feedback for the appropriateness, accuracy, and correct classification according to Bloom’s taxonomy for all questions.
2011
- Authored 6 study guide chapters to accompany Hillis et al. Principles of Life 1st edition
- Table of contents review of How Life Works 1st edition
2012
- Review of How Life Works 1st edition “How Do We Know?” feature.
- Reviewed the immunology chapter of Solomon/Berg/Martin Biology, 9th Edition