Acknowledgments

Student's guide to writing college papers, Fourth edition - Kate L. Turabian 2010


Acknowledgments

This book is in the lineage of The Craft of Research and A Manual for Writers. Those began as the work of a triumvirate: Wayne Booth, Joe Williams, and myself. Now I alone am left. Wayne Booth died in 2005, while this book was barely an idea; Joe Williams in 2008, while it was in very early drafts. Two better writers, teachers, scholars, colleagues, and companions I cannot imagine. Their influence is everywhere in this book and, where I've been lucky, in me.

In The Craft of Research, we tell the story of a dream reported by one of Wayne's students, decades after he left school: “You were standing before Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates,” the student said, “hoping for admission. He looked at you, hesitant and dubious, then finally said, ’Sorry, Booth, we need another draft.’ ” After Wayne's death, Joe and I wrote that Wayne's draft had been “better than most, so much more than good enough.” Well, Joe was even more obsessed with revision than was Wayne. His draft was damned good too.

Because of its lineage, this book inherits the debts we mentioned in The Craft of Research and A Manual for Writers. They are too many to list here, but they know who they are and I thank them again.

New to this book was the help we received from Christine Anne Aguila, Jo Ann Buck, Bruce Degi, Laura Desena, Joe Flanagan, Robin P. Nealy, Kathleen Dudden Rowlands, and Joseph Zeppetello. Among them, I want to single out Joe Flanagan, who guided our thinking about a book like this for more than a decade; thanks also to his colleagues at York High School, who spent a sunny afternoon indoors, educating Joe Williams and me. I also want to thank Robin Nealy and her class at Wharton County Junior College, especially those who corresponded with me about their experience with the manuscript: Dionna Austin, Drew Brenk, Jenni Buyer, Leslie Carcamo, Ashleigh Hernandez, Amber Jennings, Ashley Lockin, Heather Miller, Marcus Pantoja, Kortney R., Julia Smith, and Stephanie Ward. I can assure them that the book is better for their help.

At the University of Chicago Press, David Morrow was as helpful as any editor I've had and always a pleasure to learn from. Mary Laur, who now feels like an old friend, was a mainstay in the development of parts 2 and 3. More-over, she has been a major contributor to each of the projects that led to this one. Kira Bennett did invaluable work on parts 2 and 3.

Finally, though Joe is not here to say it, I know what his closing sentiments would be: “I thank those who contribute to my life more than I let them know: Oliver, Michele, and Eleanor; Chris and Ingrid; Dave, Patty, Owen, and Matilde; Megan, Phil, Lily, and Calvin; and Joe, Christine, Nicholas, and Katherine. And at beginning and end still, Joan, whose patience and love flow more generously than I deserve.”

And to my own family, words cannot do justice to what they have meant to me. Robin and Kiki, Karen, and Lauren have put up with much and blessed me with more. And for more years than either of us wants to acknowledge, Sandra has been the center of it all.

Gregory G. Colomb