READING AS METHOD by Oliver Simons a concise and systematic account of how readers engage with texts, exploring the most paradigmatic techniques taught in the past and today and guiding readers on developing their own critical approach to literature. Oliver Simons argues that behind the dizzying variety of reading methods—deep interpretation, surface reading, symptomatic or scattered reading, close textual analysis—are three distinctions: depth versus surface, text versus context, and close versus distant. By tracing these recurring distinctions, Simons offers students and instructors alike a lucid map for getting through the landscape of literary analysis. Throughout the book, Simons returns to Franz Kafka's unsettling 1920 story, "A Country Doctor," in which a wound glimpsed from afar becomes a tangle of imagination and fact upon closer scrutiny. The analysis of this wound is a lesson in reading itself: The more precisely we look, the more our own assumptions shape what we find. Reading as Method equips its readers to see how critics think, question the blind spots in every technique, and reclaim reading as an active, even subversive, pleasure. Order book here: https://ow.ly/Axo250Yglwq

Avoiding these story structure problems takes teamwork, and you don’t have to go it alone. Look for our announcement in June when we launch the Write Blueprint™, manuscript and publishing guidance for authors from start to submission-ready. https://lnkd.in/efbjyKNM #amwriting #editor #manuscript #structure #publishing #indiepub

 📖 Pre-teaching vocab is the highest-leverage 5 minutes in your literacy block. Picking the right 5 words shouldn't cost Tier 2 academic words — analyze, evident, contrast — are the ones that travel across texts and unlock comprehension. But surfacing them from tomorrow's reading and writing kid-friendly defs is the prep teachers skip on Sundays.  ✏️ Paste the passage into Gemini. Ask for 5 Tier 2 words, defs under 15 words, an in-context sentence, and a visual cue per word.  ⬇️ 25 minutes → 5. PDF below walks it through. #ScienceOfReading #Vocabulary #AIforTeachers #LiteracyInstruction #ClassroomReadyAI

🧠 Ever read something… and immediately forget what you just read? You’re not alone. For many people with dyslexia, the challenge isn’t just reading words — it’s holding onto the meaning while you read. So I built something new into DyslexiaWrite 👇 🚀 “Memory Reader” A reading support system that: ✔ Summarises what you’re reading as you go ✔ Lets you click any word for a simple explanation ✔ Builds your own personal vocabulary log over time ✔ Helps you stay focused without losing your place 💡 This isn’t about reading faster. It’s about reading with confidence and actually understanding. No switching tabs. No re-reading the same paragraph 3 times. No feeling lost halfway through a page. 📚 Over time, it also helps you: → improve comprehension → build vocabulary naturally → reduce frustration → become more independent This is the direction I believe assistive technology should go: 👉 Not just correcting mistakes 👉 But actually supporting how people think and learn I’d love honest feedback on this 👇 👉 Would this help you (or someone you know)? 👉 What would make reading easier for you? 🌐 Try it here: https://lnkd.in/efyYMVwA #Dyslexia #Neurodiversity #AssistiveTechnology #EdTech #Accessibility #LearningSupport #ReadingSupport #AIForGood #InclusiveDesign #DyslexiaSupport

Let's say you're in the middle of writing something.. it could be an essay, a novel, an email, a text message, song lyrics or whatever you like. You pause in the middle of an unfinished sentence and try to think of the next word. What is the perfect next word to use? Could you ever claim with any seriousness to describe or produce a rule which identifies the perfect next word to use? Could you produce a machine implementing a rule like that? --- Doesn't that kind of sum up the entire thing? We could draw this observation out really far into math/CS topics, political/social/cultural dimensions and much more.. but doesn't that scenario cover everything on a basic level? I think it illustrates the very obvious mistake which must surely be deliberate given how stupid it is.

New publication alert 🚨 I’m thrilled to share that my article, “Metis as a Pedagogical Framework for Approaching Alternative Writing Assessment: Embracing Neurodiversity Through Adaptation,” is out now in the Journal of Writing Assessment! Drawing on metis as a theoretical framework, the article argues for writing assessment practices that embrace neurodiversity and attend to the diverse ways students actually compose. Huge thank you to Megan Von Bergen and Andrew Harnish for putting this special issue together, and to the peer reviewers and colleagues who offered such generative feedback over the past year. So glad this one is finally out in the world! 🎉 This article is open access — link below! #WritingStudies #Accessibility #WritingAssessment #Neurodiversity #DisabilityStudies #OpenAccess https://lnkd.in/gpYMqStP

BOOK LAUNCH: The Frequency of Truth The time has come. Years of writing, questioning, and integrating are now real. What if the sensitivity you've carried your whole life isn't a flaw but a coherent response to something real? Annette Beckham has experienced reality differently from the very beginning. Perceiving patterns others missed. Sensing what couldn’t be seen. Spending years trying to rationalise experiences that didn’t fit, until they became impossible to ignore. The Frequency of Truth is part lived experience, part structured framework. An exploratory guide to understanding: consciousness coherence embodied awareness and what it means to be frequency-sensitive in a world that hasn’t yet caught up Drawing on emerging science and years of direct experience, this book explores: DNA as a fractal antenna The Unified Field The Observer Effect Archetypal frequency patterns Quantum dowsing The multidimensional blueprint Developed through direct experience and translated into a grounded, embodied model, this work bridges perception and integration. Not metaphor. A framework. Not doctrine. A set of lenses. Annette Beckham is a writer, Frequency Translator, and mentor who supports individuals as they navigate expanded awareness and perception. You are not broken. You are remembering. #BookLaunch #TheFrequencyOfTruth #AnnetteBeckham #Consciousness #Embodiment #ExpandedAwareness #FrequencyWork #Coherence #HumanPotential #Neurodivergent #HighlySensitive #SelfAwareness #MindBodyConnection

Strong research can still struggle in peer review when the manuscript is difficult to follow. Reviewers are not only evaluating results. They are also evaluating clarity, structure, and how logically the argument progresses from one section to the next. That’s why editing is not always just about grammar. Sometimes, it’s about helping the research communicate more clearly. A manuscript can be scientifically sound and still lose impact if the reasoning feels disconnected or the structure creates friction during review. Clarity shapes interpretation more than many authors realize. #AcademicPublishing #ScientificEditing #ResearchWriting #PeerReview #ScholarlyPublishing #ManuscriptEditing #ScienceCommunication

Some manuscripts fail quietly. Not because the idea was weak, but because the structure underneath it couldn’t support the story. https://lnkd.in/e9uqAgHS #amwriting #editor #manuscript #structure #publishing #indiepub

To write a discussion in a thesis is like hosting a dinner party Since I wrote my last Substack in the series "How to write a thesis without crying," I have run a whole bunch of sessions on semi-structured interviews, surveys, scaling, and on using Cognitive Load Theory as a theoretical framework. I will get back to those later. For now, I jump straight to how to write a discussion in a thesis. We academics (or at least me) love to talk about "the synthesis." We love to read a synthetic paper. We say things like "this is a really synthetic piece of writing" and we mean it as one of the highest compliments we can give. And then we set students loose to write one without ever quite explaining what it is. In this Substack, I have tried my best to explain what a synthesis is, and how you conduct it. I have piled together a five-point list to help, and I make the claim that writing a discussion is almost like hosting a dinner party. Happy reading, happy writing, happy hosting! 🍷 Link to Substack ➡️ https://lnkd.in/e_4S7sJ9