Tips on Writing and Publishing an Academic Paper
I joined the Interactive Measurement Group the summer of my freshman year. The lab member who recruited me warned me that the lab was more difficult than other labs on campus, but that it was well-worth it. I think we can all agree that her advice was accurate! I continued with the research lab for nearly 5 years, gaining multitudes of experience along the way in expected and unexpected areas. Some of the most valuable things I learned were how to effectively work in groups to complete tasks and how to write up research papers. The end of the 5-year period proved to be a cumulative experience when I combined both of these abilities to write an academic paper with Dr. Barchard and Matthew Roe (past lab member). [If you are interested in learning more, the article is called, “Is Sadness Blue? The Problem of Using Figurative Language for Emotions on Psychological Tests”]
The process of writing and submitting a paper to an academic journal is both exciting and terribly grueling. In this short article, I will attempt to share a few friendly tips that will hopefully be useful to those interested in publishing an academic paper.
1. Clear & Concise writing. Anyone who has worked on a paper with Dr. Barchard knows how much she values writing that is clear and easy to understand. Interesting or valuable information will stand out more when the writing is clear. Using the following will help the clarity of any paper: active vs. passive voice, transitions between paragraphs, introducing old information before the new in a sentence, verbs vs. nominalizations (‘I understand’ vs. ‘I have an understanding’), and avoiding redundant words or phrases (‘I am of the opinion that…’). [I found the following book to be most helpful: ‘Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace’. Also see: Purdue’s Online Writing Lab]
2. Don’t get too attached! When writing a paper, I always find it difficult to throw away well-written or interesting sentences and paragraphs. However, it is important not to get too attached to the wording. In the end, Dr. Barchard, Matt, and I accumulated over 150 versions of our paper. At version 80, we completely revised the paper based on a new focus. This meant deleting words, sentences, and even whole paragraphs of our hard work! So, before you artfully craft each sentence or beautifully format your paper, you may want to ensure that the big picture issues are finalized first, such as the focus and supporting ideas.
3. Use a story. For our paper, we didn’t even think of using a story-line until version 80! The story we ended up using was ‘Should figurative language be used on psychological tests?’ This story provided more direction and focus to our paper than the previous thesis: ‘Associations of figurative language in the U.S and India.’ Once we had this new story in mind, we made sure everything in the paper followed it – the literature review, how the results were framed, the discussion, and even how we laid out the tables. While many research articles do not appear to contain a story, they do still follow a key idea or thesis throughout the paper, ensuring that all the concepts laid out help support the main thesis. As I learned, it can be helpful to create a concept map of the conclusions or theses you want your paper to have, with branching ideas or results connected by their association and importance.
4. Feedback. One of the most challenging issues for me is reading the same material over and over. It can be helpful to receive feedback from other academics and people who are experts in your paper’s content. When asking for feedback, it will save time to ask selected people specific questions. For example, we asked an expert on ‘culture and emotions’ to (1) list additional papers to read and cite and (2) provide journals that would be relevant for submission.
5. Be picky. Once you feel your paper is adequate, you’re ready to pick journals. (I use the plural form because it is rare for a paper to be accepted upon first submission.) First, ensure the journals are relevant to your paper; my team had to research many before picking an appropriate list of 5. [You can start by looking at the journals where the main articles in your paper were published.] Next, look at journal requirements (i.e., word and page count). If you have a paper that is 40 pages long and the maximum is 25 pages, you may want to look elsewhere! Finally, you should look at the ranking and impact factor (how often articles in the journal are cited). To improve our chances of acceptance, we chose to submit our paper to a highly ranked journal first and obtain valuable feedback, before submitting it to one more moderately ranked.
6. Is it ever over? After submission, you may think that the process is finally over, but you will most likely have to delay your celebration. For my team, it took 10 months from first submission to online publication: We received two rejections before being rewarded with a ‘revise and resubmit’ letter. From the two rejections, we received feedback and revised accordingly, but we received the most feedback from the journal that was interested in publishing our paper. When you receive a ‘revise and resubmit’ letter, you must also send the editor a ‘Response to Reviewers’ document, listing all your additions/deletions/changes and explaining why you did or did not make certain changes suggested by the reviewer.
And finally, prepare to congratulate yourself when you do get your paper published. It feels great and makes all the time and effort well worth it! I would like to thank Dr. Barchard and Matt Roe for sticking with me through the entire process – we made a great team!
Kelly E. Grob currently lives in London, UK and works as a research assistant and administrative director for a company that researches the effects of social and emotional learning curricula with children and adolescents. She obtained her BA in Psychology and Anthropology at UNLV in 2014 and was involved with the Interactive Measurement Group from 2010-2015. Kelly plans to apply to masters’ programs in London for Fall 2017.