Thank God I Don’t Have to Write Research Papers Anymore: A Review of The Bedford Handbook

It should come as no surprise to hear that this was the most useful book I have read so far along this journey. Words for the sake of words was an interesting way to start my reading quest but it wasn’t very useful. I will admit that the dictionary’s usage notes provided some worthwhile commentary and highlighted the importance of selecting the right word to convey what you wish to express. The thesaurus and my word roots dictionary contained few, if any, insights. Assessing The Bedford Handbook required the most thought to date, both while reading it and while sitting down to write this review.

Toolbox Level 1: A
Much of The Bedford Handbook’s focus is on honing and perfecting the structural elements of writing that fall under Toolbox Level 1. For that reason alone, it should come as no surprise that this book scores as high as possible. I didn’t note any spelling errors or any odd grammatical turns. This has me thinking that I may want to reevaluate how this category is weighted compared to the others. Perhaps not every book will score so high. If they do, however, then I may have to do a little fine-tuning.

Toolbox Level 2: B
I wasn’t able to dock my previous reads for their style and structural elements. Form and function are very basic for dictionaries and thesauri. While a B may not seem like taking a book to task, I feel it is a harsh but deserved score. The author’s style isn’t suspect but I feel that the organization of this book leaves something to be desired. It’s filled with great content but the chapters are not arranged in a manner that benefits the readers in the greatest need of assistance. Parts I and II are fine where they are but I am still baffled by the decision to stick the grammar section in Part XI. I think a more natural and logical progression was missed, resulting in far too much page turning.

Fulfillment of Purpose: B+
If I wanted to be nasty, I could punish this book for how dated some of its research guidelines now seem. I suspect that more research is done online now than in physical books. I could also rail against the fact that the website supplements this book points readers to no longer exist. In fact, Ms. Hacker’s website, the backbone of The Bedford Handbook’s online presence, is no longer in operation- not even by the publisher. This is almost to be expected, however, for a reference book that’s old enough to drive. For this section, I chose to focus on the strengths this book has to offer.

While the organization of the book could be better, the content is excellent. The MLA, APA, and Chicago reference and works cited sections will come up big for you if you are writing a research paper. The only way it could fail you is if MLA, APA, or Chicago style rules have changed, so it would be best to pick up something more current. It is 2019 after all.

The value of this book extends well beyond research papers. Even if you think you are a good writer, there at least two or three chapters in this book that will make you realize that you still struggle with something. I plan on coming back to this well of information as I start to write more. Heck, I’ve already used it to assess and correct some of my reading posts.

Reading Experience: B-
Given that I am neither writing research papers anymore nor struggling with ESL issues, this book was hit-or-miss as a cover-to-cover read. The chapters that I could relate to or gain help from kept my attention. Chapters focusing on areas I don’t think I struggle with were easy to read less intently. Those chapters that I had no interest or stake in were chores to read.

This is probably how most reference books covering a broad range of topics feel though. I’ve been sheltered by my first three books because they have very narrow foci. This is the first book I’ve read with more than just a few pages containing paragraphs, making it hard to compare to the dictionary, thesaurus, and word roots guide. It reads like a true book and yet it reads quite differently from non-reference material.

Overall Score: 3.25 out of 4 (solid B)
The Fulfillment of Purpose section is easily more important for a reference book than Reading Experience. The purpose of this book helped me get a better sense of the kinds of things I should look for when evaluating a book’s Toolbox Level 1 ingredients. This is precisely why I read this book when I did. It will help me evaluate both my own writing and the writing of others. It’s foundational stuff that may be easy to ignore as a reading-worthy subject, but it is also the kind of foundational stuff that separates the wheat from the chaff if we only choose to focus on it.

While I wouldn’t call this an enjoyable book, I have no regret calling it a worthwhile book. That may lose me points with the anti-prescriptivism crowd, but I believe that a fair amount of prescriptivism is necessary in written works. In face-to-face conversation, you can ask for clarification. Written communication is an all-or-nothing pursuit. You are either understood or you are not. If you follow the rules for grammar, usage, and mechanics laid out in this book, then you will have a better chance of having your written words understood. On some level, we all just want to be understood, don’t we?