Simple Guide to Writing a Journal Article

November 2013

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$99 special author acceptance fee; $495 for Engineering; $995 for Medicine SAGE Open Engineering, SAGE Open Medicine and SAGE Open Medical Case Reports now accepting submissions Article Processing Charge available for these OA journals

SAGE Open: 2,000 submissions and 65% rejection rate

In July 2013 G8 science ministers endorsed need to increase access to publicly funded research; Formation of NZGOAL in 2010; applicable to materials produced for state services, public, scientific datasets, educational resources etc., Hybrid OA not a fan of many; Doesnt matter whether Green or Gold although most OA advocates prefers Gold OA Universities holding OA week; LSE and SAGE held a session on October 24th Making OA a reality is more difficult and time consuming

End notion that the value of a research is dependent on what journal publishes it. The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) working in the right direction OA movement should focus on education and its is growing in importance in developing nations

Mitchell Duneier, Princeton University Professor of Sociology pulled out of the MOOCs movement

Chronicle Survey July 2013:

- 60%/79% positive about Hybrid courses with face-to-face and online components - 49%/64% adaptive learning to personalise education - 44%/56% technology increases interactions amongst students - 33%/32% competency based education - 27%/23% free or open courses - 8%/5% MOOCs

Faculty members optimistic about future especially in STEM Most humanities faculties pessimistic about the future of higher education the leading platform. Coursera Zone - partnership with NetEase to provide Chineselanguage portal to be hosted on NetEase open education website.

Know where and how to share research still an issue Upload preprint before submission is technically very easy to do. arXiv.org. Preprints have a clear citation advantage Check Sherpa/RoMEO to see which journals not accept articles that have been posted online

Postprints a little tricker. Check with publishers and also Sherpa/RoMEO on which journals allow this Some institutions mandate to deposit their fulltext articles. Recommended service by most academics as compared to Academia.edu or ResearchGate

Initiative by Engineers without Borders (EWB)

No cost to author or to the reader

Journal of Humanitarian Engineering (JHE) launched as a pilot project Open access including multi-language access, developing country access and disability-accessible content

Launched in 2006 Peer reviewed New initiative: All articles accompanied by video Authors submit manuscript and they film video

OERu founded in NZ in October 2012 Fees payable for work assessed for academic credit; recognised by all 31 participating universities Students can approach any of the partner universities to apply for a degree

Designing Your Plan

Successful Academic Writers - Write: No matter how busy ones life is make a plan to write; do not
procrastinate - Make Writing Social: Make writing more public, more social. Eg start a writing group, take writing classes, convince another student to cowrite - Persist Despite Rejection: Work rejected by one journal may be accepted by another - Pursue

their Passion: Focus on what interest you

Articles that are - Heavy on theory with sweeping implications: Most

articles accepted are narrow in claims and context

articles are carefully organised around a single significant idea

- Loads of interesting ideas: Can be detrimental; accepted - Entirely original: Almost all published articles are not the first

on the subject.

Approaches new evidence in an old way: typical students article which can be published. Eg New cultural practices that developed amongst the citizens of Sarajevo. New data would include poetry readings, popular songs, paintings and then use it to theorise it for eg how citizens uses such new practices to re-cast their national identity Approached old evidence in a new way: More experienced writes. Here the author develops a new way of explaining or approaching old data. Eg comparison of how governments respond to human atrocities perpetrated by previous governments

Pairs old evidence with old approaches in a new way: Another typical student type publishable article. Weigh in on a

debate. Ask yourself; do you think that existing approaches explain the existing evidence well. Eg Role of white women in the south during Civil War; if there is a debate about womens role with many theorists arguing that the war widened the scope of womens work and some narrowing it. You can weigh in on the argument by arguing that the war reinforced womens gender roles, using evidences from the Diary of Miss Emma Holmes

Provides insight into an important issue Insight is important for research development Insight is used for development of a theory

Insight stimulates the mind for more questions

Methodology were applied thoroughly and applied correctly to arrive at the conclusion Reference to prior work

Well written and easy to understand

Dont Just Introduce your Topic Dont have an abstract that reads like a plan; do not include statements like we hope to prove or this article tries to analyse Dont give a barrage of data without any argument or conclusion Dont include footnotes/citations (some journals allow this) Dont include quotations; paraphrase instead Dont include abbreviations, symbols or acronyms

State why you embarked on the project (often because of a

gap or debate or persistent social problem)

State what your project/study is about

State how you did the project; your methodology

State your findings State what you conclude from these findings; your arguments Optional Recommendations

Getting Started

Day 1: Hammering Out Your Topic: Describe, Summarise

and Write

Day 2: Rereading your paper: reread hard copy first without

touching it; then with a pen in hand to make a list of revision

Day 3: Drafting Your Abstract: Draft, share Day 4: Reading a Model Article: Search online for recently
published articles and pick a model. Then study this model article to see its presentation; look at the first paragraph and make notes

Day 5: Revising Your Abstract

Advancing Your Argument

Too narrow or Too broad

Poor Structure

Not Relevant
Not scholarly Too defensive Not really original

Insignificant
Theoretically/ Methodogically Flawed Too many spelling and grammatical errors Lack of constructive arguments

Statistical analysis of data that people behave in certain ways politically Research that some regions/countries have certain political characteristics, policy has certain impact or political system has certain process Political issue is at stake in academic field, some variable are causing certain political tendency or field of political science is shifting in its understanding of power, politics, race, religions, theories etc

Selecting Journal

 Relevance

Research: Importance to the Community Reputation of journal and its editors

Research the references Rejection Rate

Email to editors of your 3 top choices for journals

Questions to Ask:

How many submissions a year does your journal received? What is your journals turnaround time? What is your journal backlog?

Address the editor by name Mention any human connection (recommendation to write) State briefly why the editor and journal readers should be interested in your article Display a knowledge of the journal Give the title of your article/abstract Follow the journal specifications State that you have not published nor submitted to another journal Name grants/awards received for the research Always include a question that will tease out your articles chances of rejection Thank the editor

Reviewing the Related Literature

Cite one source too much Cite irrelevant literature Overcite definitions Misattribute ie if you attribute general beliefs or entire systems of
thought to one person, peer reviewers can dismiss your article as not scholarly

Cite the citation Cite asides Cite the derivatives Quote too much Omit citations

Whats Your Entry Point? Viz

your way to get into the ongoing scholarly argument on a specific topic eg specialists in communication have called for additional research into traditionally accepted rhetorical strategies - addressing a gap in previous research - extending previous research eg this paper examines the impact of the financial sector crisis on the financial management of small and medium sized enterprises in Malaysia - correcting previous research viz misconceptions; offer contrasting

or alternative opinions rather than an outright rebuttal

Whats a Related Literature Review?

- most difficult part to write; not always easy to summarise and evaluate others - best way is to imagine telling a colleague about a debate you overheard; you report who did or did not participated in the debate, who took what side, who was convincing etc.,

Strengthening Your Structure

Structuring Your Article

Section 1: pyramid structure, general to specific 1. Introduction general subject of investigation 2. Review of the literature lacks and gaps 3. Statement of the hypothesis your arguments

Section 2: description of study, all information needed to replicate study

1. Methods, 2. Procedures, 3. Materials & Instruments, 4. Experiment, 5. Context & Setting 6. Population Section 3: inverse pyramid structure, specific to general 1. Results 2. Discussion comment on validity of methods/findings 3. Conclusions Works Cited

Day 1: Reading the Article Day 2: Outlining a Model Article eg return to the model article
in Week 1

Day 3: Outlining Your Article viz follow model article, then read
through it

Day 4 and 5: Restructuring Your Article

Presenting Your Evidence

Identify your methodology Describe your sample/sampling procedure Describe your measurement instrument Describe your research context Describe your variables Write in the Past Tense Match methods subheads to results subhead

Dont give statistics tutorial Dont mix in your results Watch repetition Check your journal for instructions Watch passive voice and dangling phrases Keep in short

How could I improve my methods section?

How could I improve my methods section?

Be choosy Use tables and graphs Design tables and graphs properly Title tables properly Identify respondents Write in the past tense

Dont repeat the tables Dont organise your results by discovery Organise your results around your argument Dont mix in your methods Keep it short

How could I improve my result section?

How could I improve my result section?

State whether you have confirmed your hypothesis Link results Relate results to previous research List some implications

Claim significance Question the findings Note the limitations Suggest future research Discuss the results, dont repeat them Focus

How could I improve our discussion section?

How could I improve my discussion section?

Opening & Concluding Your Article

Revising Title viz avoid broad titles or vague terms but embed

your title with searchable keywords eg Original Exposure to Immigrant Culture & Dropping out of School among Asian & Latino Youths; Revision The Benefits of Biculturalism: Exposure to Immigrant Culture & School DropOuts among Asian & Latino Youths
Embed your title with searchable keywords

Revising Introduction strengthen introduction by starting with Revising Abstract, Related Literature Review good
abstract is crucial for getting into publication and citation

telling anecdote, striking depiction of your subject or solid claim about the significance of your topic

Revising Conclusion viz good conclusion summarises your argument

and its significance in a powerful way and must state the articles relevant to the scholarly literature and debate

Giving, Getting, & Using Others Feedback

Give specific instructions on kind of feedback you need Separate delivery from message be positive and ignore
emotions or criticism delivered in a hostile manner

Listen, dont talk be silent and take careful notes; then decide if
criticism is useful or not

Take advantage see every criticism as an opportunity for you to

explain your ideas more clearly

YOU ARE THE FINAL AUTHORITY ON YOUR OWN WRITING

Final Points/Advice

Be confident and exercise some level of humility

Editors acknowledges quality regardless of whether it is from a postgraduate or an experienced professor

Whatever the outcome of our article do thank the editor Celebrate success of first article and work towards the next and next and next

Things You May Want to Know

SAGE Journal Author Gateway

Publishing Journal Articles

http://www.uk.sagepub.com/journalgateway

http://www.uk.sagepub.com/books /Book236083/title

Part one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klRWllrdpcg& feature=youtu.be Part two http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61AJb2VEMA&feature=youtu.be

Research is to see what everybody else has seen and to think what nobody else has thought Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known The way to do research is to attack the facts at the point of greatest astonishment

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rosalia.garcia@sagepub.co.uk @RosaliadaGarcia