Writing for
international journals: 10 tips
What seemed like
common sense is not common practice, said Rowena Murray who share his best tips
for publication
1) Have a
strategy, create a plan
Why do you want
to write for the journal? What is your purpose? Do you write for the assessment
of research? Or to make a difference? Do you write has the effect or impact
factor? Do you want to develop a profile in a particular area? Whether this
will determine which journals you write? Did you take into account the impact
factor?
Have you
researched other researchers in your field - in which they were published
recently? Groups or conversations where you can follow? Some people write
journal first and then looking for a 'home' for him, but for all that is in
your article - the content, focus, structure, style - will be established for a
particular journal, saving you time by specifying the journal targets and find
out how to write with manner consistent with the journal.
Having a writing strategy
means making sure you have an external driver - like scoring points in the
evaluation of research promotion or climbing stairs - and internal drivers -
which means finding out why write for an international journal is important to
you. This will help you maintain the motivation that you have to write and
publish in the long term. Because the time between submission and publication
can reach two years (although in some areas much less), you should be clear
about your motivation.
2) Analysis of
writing in a journal in your field
Take a few
journals in your field who would like to target now or soon. Scan all abstracts
for the last few issues. Their analysis: good look at all the first and last
sentence. The first sentence (usually) give the reasons for the study, and the
latter confirms the 'contribution to knowledge'. But the word 'contribution'
may not exist - it is associated with a doctorate. So the word is used? What is
new knowledge in this journal at this time? How you can build a form similar contribution
from the work you do? The two sentences what would you write to start and end
your abstracts for the journal?
Scan other parts
of the article: how its structure? What components of the argument? Highlight
all sentences of topics - the first sentence of each paragraph - to show the
stages in the argument. Can you see the writing genre taxonomy that appeared in
this journal? Could you specify different paper types, the different structure
and decide which one is most suitable for your paper? Select two types of
paper: one was the type of paper that you can use as a model for you, and one
that you quoted in your paper, so join the conversation ongoing research in the
journal.
3) Create an
outline and write it
Which type of
writer you: do you always make an outline before writing, or just dive in and
start writing? Or do you do both? Good outlines and just write useful, and
because it's a good idea to use both. However, for your very detailed outline:
outline of the main part and calibration with your target journal.
Type the title of
what is normally used there? How long does it usually part? Set a word limit
for your part, sub-section and, if necessary, to sub-sections. This involves
deciding on the content you want to include, so it may take time, and feedback
will help at this stage.
When you sit down
to write, what you are actually doing: using paper to develop your ideas or
write to document your work? Do you use an outline as the agenda for the
writing part of your article? Determine your writing task by thinking of verbs
- they define the purpose: to summarize, overview, criticism, define,
introduce, conclude etc.
4) Get feedback
from beginning to end
Even at the
earliest stage, discuss your idea for the journal with four or five people, get
feedback on your draft abstract. Just take a few minutes for them to read it
and respond. Make several revisions before you submit your articles to the journal.
5) Set goals and
sub-goals specific writing
Make your goals
specific writing means defining the content, verb, and the word length for the
part. This means do not have a goal to write like, 'I plan to make this article
was written at the end of the year "but" The purpose of writing my
next is summarize and criticize the twelve articles to section reviews the
literature in 800 words on Tuesdays between 9am and 10.30'. Some people see
this too mechanical for academic writing, but this is a way to force yourself
to make a decision about the content, sequence, and the proportion for your
article.
6) Writing with
others
While most people
see writing as a solitary activity, writing together - writing with other
people who are writing - can help develop confidence, fluency and focus. It can
help you develop the discipline of regular writing. Doing your academic writing
in a group or a writing retreat is a way to do your own writing, but - if you
retract your email, internet, and all other devices - is also developing the
necessary concentration for the regular academic writing and high level.
At a certain point
- ideally on a regular basis - you can get more done if you just focus on
writing. If this seems like common sense, it is not common practice. Most
people do several things at once, but this will not always work for ordinary
writing journal articles. At some point, paying the privilege to write to all
other tasks, for a certain period, such as 90 minutes, which is long enough to
accomplish something in your paper, but not so long that it is impossible to
find the time.
7) Warm up before
you write
When you decide
what you want to write, preheating succeed is to write for five minutes, in the
sentence, as an answer to the question: 'Writing what to publications that you
have done [or the closest thing to it], and what you want to do in the long
term, medium and short? '
Once you start
writing your article, use variations on this question as a warm - what writing
for this project that you have done, and what you want to do in the long term,
medium and short? Top Tip: end each writing session with 'instruction words'
for you to use in the next session, for example, 'on Monday from 9 to 10 am, I
will make up the summary in 500 words'.
As discussed, if
there are no points, no goals. Targets work must be specific, and you need to
monitor how you achieve it. Here's how you learn to set realistic targets.
8) Analysis
reviewers feedback on your submission
What exactly do
they ask you to do? Find out if they want to add or cut anything. How many?
Where? Write down a list of actions revisions. When you send back your article,
include this in your report to the journal, which determine how you respond to
feedback reviewers. If your article is rejected, it is still useful to analyze
the feedback, find out why and revise it to another place.
Most of the
feedback will help you improve your journal and, perhaps, writing your journal article, but sometimes it feels too hot, personalized or even vindictive. Some
of them even look unprofessional. Discuss responses reviewers - see what others
think of it. You may find that others - even leading researchers - they get a
rejection and a negative review; every rejection is a reason for celebration.
Fix it and send it back as soon as possible.
9) Be persistent,
thick-skinned and resilient
It is a quality
that may develop from time to time - or you may already have it. It might be
easier to develop in a discussion with other people who wrote to the journal.
10) Take care of
yourself
Writing for the
highly competitive international journals. It can be very stressful. Even
taking the time to write can be stressful. And there are health risks in
sitting for a long time, so try not to sit down to write for more than an hour
at a time. Finally, be sure to thoroughly celebrate when your article is
accepted. Remind yourself that writing for international journals is what you
want to do - that your writing will make a difference in some way.