A helpful list of tips from the First Peoples: New Directions in Indigenous Studies blog.
From Dissertation to Book: Advice for Indigenous Studies Scholars
- The book’s conclusion should serve, in part, to lay the foundation for future research (your own or others’). So, if there is anything you weren’t able to adequately address in the book, you can raise those issues in the conclusion and highlight opportunities for additional research.
- Limit your historiography and literature analysis in the book’s introduction. Instead, focus on what contributions your book will make. Along these same lines, several of the mentors warned authors not to “oversituate†themselves in the literature. As mentor Kevin Bruyneel put it, “Don’t situate yourself, situate them,†meaning that the work should support your argument rather than the other way around.
- Over all, claim authority over your own voice and tell a story. Going into the revision process with these goals in mind will help you be a better writer and should help provide structure for the book.
The blog also recommends From Dissertation to Book by William Germano. Looks like a must read.