Table Of ContentTHE THESIS AND THE BOOK:
A GUIDE FOR FIRST-TIME ACADEMIC AUTHORS
Edited by Eleanor Harman, Ian Montagnes, Siobhan McMenemy,
and Chris Bucci
The academic caveat ‘publish or perish’ is not new, and for over a quar-
ter of a century The Thesis and the Book has come to the aid of graduate
students in their quest for publication. The doctoral dissertation, usu-
ally the first book-length study completed by a scholar, is only rarely
publishable as a book. Understanding the differences between the two
forms is a crucial part of one’s education as a scholar and is equally
important in appreciating the endeavours of scholarly publishers. The
Thesis and the Book: A Guide for First-Time Academic Authors, revised and
expanded in this second edition, continues to provide the best over-
view of the process of revising a dissertation for publication.
Drawing on the expertise of the contributors, all of whom are edi-
tors, publishers, and scholars themselves, the chapters present the
essential differences between a thesis and a book (including matters of
purpose and audience), give guidance on the necessary stylistic, techni-
cal, and structural revisions to the dissertation, and offer advice to first-
time authors who must not only revise their work to satisfy prospective
publishers, but also become familiar with the workings of scholarly
publishing.
The Thesis and the Book will continue to be of great value to graduat-
ing doctoral students seeking publication and to the faculty members
who supervise these students. It will also be of value to acquisitions edi-
tors at scholarly presses, who must contend with the submission of
revised dissertations for publication.
eleanor harman was founding editor of Scholarly Publishing: A Jour-
nal for Authors and Publishers.
ian montagnes was formerly editor-in-chief of University of Toronto
Press. He is currently a publishing consultant.
siobhan mcmenemy is an acquisitions editor at University of Toron-
to Press and an instructor in the publishing program at Ryerson
University.
chris bucci was formerly an acquisitions editor at University of
Toronto Press. He is now an editor at HarperCollins Canada.
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THE THESIS AND THE BOOK
A Guide for
First-Time Academic Authors
second edition
Edited by
Eleanor Harman
Ian Montagnes
Siobhan McMenemy
Chris Bucci
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS
Toronto Buffalo London
www.utppublishing.com
© University of Toronto Press Incorporated 2003
‘An Academic Author’s Checklist’ © Barbara B. Reitt 2003
Toronto Buffalo London
Printed in Canada
Reprinted 2008
ISBN 0-8020-8806-6 (cloth)
ISBN 0-8020-8588-1 (paper)
Printed on acid-free paper
National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication
The thesis and the book : a guide for fist-time academic authors /
Eleanor Harman ... [et al.]. – 2nd ed.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8020-8806-6 (bound) ISBN 0-8020-8588-1 (pbk.)
1. Scholarly publishing. 2. Dissertations, Academic. I. Harman,
Eleanor, 1909–1988
Z286.S37T54 2003 808’.02 C2002-905845-7
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to
its publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the
Ontario Arts Council.
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial support for
its publishing activities of the Government of Canada through the
Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP).
Contents
Preface to the Second Edition vii
Preface to the First Edition ix
Contributors xi
chapter one
The Thesis and the Book 3
francess g. halpenny
chapter two
The Dissertation’s Deadly Sins 11
robert plant armstrong
chapter three
Revising the Dissertation and Publishing the Book 20
robert plant armstrong
chapter four
Avoiding the Warmed-Over Dissertation 34
william c. dowling
vi Contents
chapter five
Thesis to Book: What to Get Rid of and What to Do
with What Is Left 39
olive holmes
chapter six
An Academic Author’s Checklist 78
barbara b. reitt
chapter seven
Basic Advice for Novice Authors 87
allan h. pasco
Index 103
Preface to the Second Edition
The Thesis and the Book, which was originally published in 1976
as a collection of articles culled from the venerable Scholarly
Publishing (now the Journal of Scholarly Publishing), has become a
classic among doctoral students and their supervisors. As Elea-
nor Harman and Ian Montagnes knew from their years of expe-
rience as scholarly press editors, first-time authors welcome
guidance from the professionals as they begin the important
revisions to the thesis and transform it into a publishable book
manuscript. The aim of the manuscript, its intended audience,
the language, style, and organization of the work: these are the
kinds of concerns addressed by the contributors to this guide,
who are themselves editors, publishers, and scholars. The suc-
cess of the book attests to the soundness of their advice and the
ongoing need of it.
More than ever before, scholars must heed the warning of the
‘publish or perish’ mantra that is intoned across the campus.
For doctoral students, the obvious place to turn for the material
for their first book is to their dissertations. It isn’t surprising that
the advice an editor might offer an author hasn’t changed a
great deal over the years, at least with respect to the stylistic and
structural changes necessary when transforming a thesis into a
book manuscript. Competition for the attention of acquisitions
editors at university presses is fierce, however, given the prolif-
viii Preface to the Second Edition
eration of graduate programs and the rising number of gradu-
ating doctoral students. As a result, the contributions to this sec-
ond edition have been revised and expanded to reflect the needs
of the twenty-first-century scholar.
With college and university curricula now reflecting a desire
among students for new forms of professional development –
courses on pedagogy, access to writing labs, and certificates in
editing and publishing – there is an expectation that scholars
new to the world of university presses will take it upon them-
selves to become familiar with the ins and outs of academic
publishing. It has become a crucial part of a graduate student’s
education to learn as much as possible about prospective pub-
lishers and their publishing programs. Answers can be found
here to such questions as the following: How does one find the
right publisher for a given book project? What kind of material
is required in a formal proposal to a university press? How long
does it take for a scholarly book to appear in print? What is it,
exactly, that the publisher does for its authors? And how much
attention can an author expect to receive from the publisher
once the book has been published? Because the submission of a
carefully revised manuscript is not the only way to impress an
acquisitions editor, we present The Thesis and the Book: A Guide
for First-Time Academic Authors as the place to begin the quest for
publication of one’s first scholarly book.
siobhan mcmenemy
chris bucci
Preface to the First Edition
The thesis or dissertation, prepared as part of a program of
graduate study, is only rarely publishable as a book, and even
more rarely as a good one. On the other hand, many books, and
some good ones, have had their origins in dissertations or have
been developed from research undertaken for a doctorate. The
distinction between a thesis and a book is not, alas, always clear,
either to the author of the thesis, anxious to secure early publi-
cation for the fruits of intensive study and laborious writing, or
to some of his advisers, who may encourage the new graduate
to submit his manuscript immediately for publication. The con-
fusion arises in large part from a conflict between the traditional
view that a dissertation should be publishable, and the practical
imperative to produce a thesis which will convince a small com-
mittee of its writer’s grasp of a restricted field of knowledge.
The traditional approach to dissertations in graduate studies is
criticized and defended by contributors to this volume. Never-
theless, despite all the lamentations about ‘publish or perish,’
publication continues to be essential for the professional ad-
vancement of most scholars, and particularly in attaining those
first few vital rungs on the academic ladder.
While the author of a thesis may excusably be concerned with
immediate benefits, neither he nor scholarly publishers can for-
get that publication has wider objectives, which include the
