Bethann Garramon Merkle (NASW member) and Stephen B. Heard—Teaching and Mentoring Writers in the Sciences: An Evidence-Based Approach

Advance copy: Backstories on books by NASW members

Cover of the book Teaching and Mentoring Writers in the Sciences: An Evidence-Based Approach by Bethann Garramon Merkle (NASW member) and Stephen B. Heard, showing the title and authors’ names in rust-orange print, on a dove-colored background. Line drawings in white below the title represent three manuscript pages with a few sections highlighted in black. An owl sits at the edge of one of the pages on the right side of the cover.
Teaching and Mentoring Writers
TEACHING AND MENTORING
WRITERS IN THE SCIENCES:
AN EVIDENCE-BASED APPROACH
Bethann Garramon Merkle (NASW member) and Stephen B. Heard
University of Chicago Press, December 31, 2025
Hardcover, $115.00, Paperback, $22.50, eBook, $21.99
Hardcover ISBN: 9780226829326
Paperback ISBN: 9780226843889
ebook ISBN: 9780226843872

Merkle reports:

For ten years, I worked adjacent to science graduate students, postdocs, and faculty who bemoaned the crisis of bad writing plaguing science and felt unable to fix it. During my MFA in writing and writing pedagogy (2015-2017), I encountered the missing link: 50-100 years of research on how to teach writing effectively! My enthusiastic referrals to many scientist colleagues and friends fell on deaf ears.

Portrait photo of Bethann Garramon Merkle
Bethann Garramon Merkle
By 2020, my husband and I were science faculty dealing with the “science students can’t write” dilemma every day. We needed our own field-specific book translating the insights from Writing Studies and Rhetoric & Composition into examples, vocabulary, and scenarios my colleagues could use in their classrooms. In late 2020, I pitched the idea to Steve and then to University of Chicago Press editor Mary Laur.

Steve and I weathered two rounds of peer-reviewed proposals before selling the book, as well as eight beta readers and a full peer review after the book was written! It took two+ years to draft and revise, plus a multi-month printing delay caused by paper supply chain issues. We received a small advance, wrote the book as part of our jobs, and drew on an extensive lit review and our experiences teaching science communication and scientific writing for decades.

I’m in Wyoming, Steve’s in New Brunswick, and we have very different professional backgrounds. We used Google Drive extensively. We delegated drafting chapter by chapter based on interest and expertise, and then met to finesse the material into a single, coherent voice. Through countless video calls, we worked through ideas, content, word choice, editing, citations, and more. We were both candid about non-negotiable ideas and very flexible about everything else.

What would I do differently? I’d act sooner! The book is already getting amazing, unsolicited feedback from readers who affirm my sense that we need this book for the practical how-to-write challenges. Honestly, though, that framing was a disguise for my true mission: boosting investment in teaching students and early-career folks in STEM how to write and communicate successfully—the top skill desired by employers in basically every sector.

Contact Info:

NASW members: will your book be published soon? Promote it by submitting your report for Advance Copy.

Tell your fellow NASW members how you came up with the idea for your book, developed a proposal, found an agent and publisher, funded and conducted research, and put the book together. Include what you wish you had known before you began working on your book or what you might have done differently.

See https://www.nasw.org/advance-copy-submission-guidelines. NASW member login required.

View Advance Copy archives at https://www.nasw.org/member-article/advance-copy.

Thinking of writing a book? If you are a NASW member, you may access a list of more than 200 books and online resources to help you craft your book proposal, find an agent and funding sources, negotiate your contract, learn about self-publishing, publicize and market your book, and more at https://www.nasw.org/article/write-book.

View the recording of a recent Virtual Skills Chat presented by NASW’s Freelance Committee The existential challenges of self-promotion. NASW member login required.

View the recording of a recent Virtual Skills Chat presented by NASW’s Freelance Committee Using Generative A.I. as Writers and Editors. NASW member login required.

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Banner image adapted from original photo by Bethann Garramon Merkle.

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Advance Copy

The path from idea to book may take myriad routes. The Advance Copy column, started in 2000 by NASW volunteer book editor Lynne Lamberg, features NASW authors telling the stories behind their books. Authors are asked to report how they got their idea, honed it into a proposal, found an agent and a publisher, funded and conducted their research, and organized their writing process. They also are asked to share what they wish they’d known when they started or would do differently next time, and what advice they can offer aspiring authors. Lamberg edits the authors’ answers to produce the Advance Copy reports.

NASW members: Will your book be published soon? Visit www.nasw.org/advance-copy-submission-guidelines for information on submitting your report.

Publication of NASW author reports in Advance Copy does not constitute NASW's endorsement of any publication or the ideas, values, or material contained within or espoused by authors or their books. We hope this column stimulates productive discussions on important topics now and in the future as both science and societies progress. We welcome your discussion in the comments section below.

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