Revising and Submitting for Publication

Saturday, January 14th 2:00 p.m. - 6:20 p.m. (EST)

 

Dr. Diana L. Gustafson

Author and Honorary Research Professor, Memorial University

 

For many of us, drafting a manuscript can be one of the most difficult steps in the research process. And sometimes our best efforts to revise and submit for publication are not successful. Why is that?

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This workshop will begin an overview of the main reasons that manuscripts are rejected and offer tips for addressing those shortcomings and producing a publishable paper. Participants will apply the principles of academic storytelling to address the goals of the author-researcher and the demands of the editor/reviewer and the reading audience. That means identifying the key message and how to shape that message for the intended audience in a peer-reviewed outlet. Participants will dig into important but sometimes overlooked elements of a manuscript such as crafting a strong title, choosing appropriate keywords, and writing a solid abstract. Software tools and strategies for editing, proofreading, and polishing a final draft will also be discussed.

 

Outline

• Obstacles to Publishing Success and How to Address Them

• Key Message, Audience, Outlet: Envisioning the Ugly First Draft

• Polishing Your Paper: Turning the Penultimate Draft into a Publishable Paper

 

Readings & Resources

Ahlstrom, D. (2015). Successful publishing in academic and scientific journals: Framing and organizing the scholarly paper. International Journal of Higher Education Management, 2(1)

Blair, A., et al. (2020). Publishing in political science journals. European Political Science: EPS, 19(4), 641-652.

Garcia, D., Gattaz, C. C., & Gattaz, N. C. (2019). The relevance of title, abstract and keywords for scientific paper writing. Revista De Administração Contemporânea, 23(3), 1-18.

Noble, W. (2017). Ten simple rules for writing a response to reviewers. PLoS Computational Biology, 13(10), E1005730.

Slate, J. R. (2016). So, you want to be published? Suggestions from an experienced writer. Research in the Schools, 23(1), 24-28.

*Taber, C.S. & Lodge, M. (2006). Motivated skepticism in the evaluation of political beliefs. American Journal of Political Science, 50(3), 755–769.

 

Audience & Prerequisites

You will be able to engage more actively if you bring along a manuscript that you’re drafting or revising on a Wi-Fi enabled laptop equipped with MS Word and Adobe Acrobat.