Transcript Writing for Academic Journals

Writing for Academic
Journals
Dr. Íde O’Sullivan, Patricia Herron, Lawrence Cleary
Shannon Consortium
Regional Writing Centre,
C-1065, Main Bldg., UL
Processes and Strategies
• Processes:
– Writing
– Researching
– Publishing
• Strategies:
– Cognitive
– Metacognitive
– Affective
– Social
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Writing Process
• Prewriting
– Assessing the context into which you write
– Planning accordingly
– Gathering information (research)
• Drafting: Methods of Development
• Revision: Global Features
• Editing and Proofreading: Local Issues
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The Rhetorical Situation
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Occasion
Topic
Audience
Purpose
Writer
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The Research Process
• Identifying topic and identifying a problem
• Reading and note-taking
• Identifying discourses and situating them
within wider discourses
• Developing a research project around a
problem/question, proposition or
hypothesis.
• Pursuing an answer, defence or
affirmation
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The Publishing Process
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Deciding to submit for academic publication
Targeting a journal
Finding a topic and a purpose
Drafting, revising and proofreading
Submitting for peer review
Acceptance/rejection
Responding to feedback/looking for other
venues
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Occasion
• Why write for publication?
– Internal drives:
• To engage in the discourse on a topic/problem of
interest
• To increase your knowledge in the field
– External drives
• Research Information Support Systems (RISS)
and expertiseireland.com
• Advancement and promotion
• Networking
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Occasion
• Once you have decided to writer for
publication in an academic journal, you
need to begin to assess the field.
– How many journals are there in my field?
– Are there interdisciplinary journals where my
expertise might also find a home? (Sports
Science and Psychology).
– What journals address my area of expertise?
– What differentiates those journals from one
another?
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Occasion
• Once you have decided to target a particular
journal or group of journals, you need to review
the journals’ conventions:
– Get information about the journal
• Mission/vision of the journal
• Identify categories of submission and key subject areas
• Select a sample paper from the target journal, check it for
level of rigour, tone, audience, purpose
• Look at the guidelines for authors
– E-mail the editor about your proposed paper (Murray,
2005:63)
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Types of Articles
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Primary Research Papers
Theory Papers
Practice Analysis/Evaluations
Critical Reviews
Case Histories/Reviews
Opinion Pieces
Editorials
Letters to Editor
Literature Reviews
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Analysing the journal
• Develop a profile for your target journal (Murray,
2005:45).
• Generate a list of the important criteria which will
make your writing more effective.
• Ask yourself the following questions:
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How is the paper structured?
How is the contribution articulated?
What level of context is provided?
What level of detail is used?
How long are the different sections?
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Analysing the journal
• What organisational features/patterns are in evidence?
• How are arguments and counterarguments presented
and structured?
• What types of evidence are important?
• What stylistic features are prominent?
• Is the text cohesive? How does the author achieve such
cohesion?
• What kind(s) of persuasive devises does the author
employ?
• How does the author communicate her authority?
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Guidelines for authors
• Categories of submission
• Preparation of the manuscript
– Copyright
– Ethics
– Layout
– Presentation
• Submission of the manuscript
• The review process
– Editorial process
– Editorial decisions
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Reasons for rejecting manuscripts
• Discussion not relevant to journal’s
converstional scheme
• Methodology or research design problems
• Poorly developed idea
• Poor writing skills
• Poor research skills
• Data interpretation problems
• Literature review not
relevant/comprehensive/up to date
• Key terms and concepts not clearly defined
• Failure to consider the journal’s audience
• Failure to follow Regional
the journal’s
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New writers’ errors
(Murray, 2005:4)
• “Writing too much about ‘the problem’”
• “Overstating the problem and claiming too
much for their solution”
• “Overstating the critique of others’ work”
• “Not saying what they mean, losing focus
through indirect writing”
• “Putting too many ideas in one paper”
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Strategies
• You might view your strategies in terms of the goals they
are designed to achieve and in terms of the stage in the
process to which they apply:
– Writing/Research/Publishing
• Identifying the key players in a discourse and knowing
how they agree and disagree is a strategy for locating
yourself within the discourse community, a strategy that
assures that you achieve your purpose: to persuade your
audience of your authorial credibility by using good
resources, a writing, research and publishing strategy
that belongs to the prewriting stages of the writing
process.
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Writing Strategies
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Cognitive
Metacognitive
Affective
Social
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Writing Time
• Dealing with issues of time
• Setting goals
• “Binge” and “snack” writing (Murray,
2005)
• Do I need a big block of time to write
productively?
• “Short bursts of productive writing”
(Murray and Moore, 2006:17)
• Outlining (Murray,
2005)
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Research Strategies
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Cognitive
Metacognitive
Affective
Social
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Publishing Strategies
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Cognitive
Metacognitive
Affective
Social
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Peer review
• Dialogue about writing
• Getting feedback on writing
• Peer-review
– Generative writing
– The “writing sandwich” (Murray, 2005:85):
writing, talking, writing
– Writing “buddies” (Murray and Moore,
2006:102)
– Writers’ groups
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Writers’
retreats
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A Publishing Strategy
• Is there an established path to
publication?
(conference papers, for instance, followed by
literature reviews, then theory papers and,
finally, primary research/position papers)
• Once I have published once, how can I
assure a steady flow of publications?
• What is your publication strategy?
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Works cited
• Ebest, et al. (2005) Writing from A to Z: The
Easy-to-Use Reference Handbook. Boston:
McGraw-Hill.
• Elbow, P. (1973) Writing without Teachers.
New York: Oxford University Press.
• Murray, R. (2005) Writing for Academic
Journals. UK: Open University Press.
• Murray, R. and Moore, S. (2006) The
Handbook of Academic Writing: A Fresh
Approach. UK: Open University Press.
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