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Writing for Publication
Getting an article in a professional journal, especially
a juried journal, is one way to improve your status on campus
as well as publicizing to your colleagues and administration
that learning support centers and its programs and services
are academically relevant. Here are some references and
tips to help you publish.
Writing for publication is both an opportunity and a challenge.
Some of these challenges are identified in Kenneth Henson's
interesting list of "Six Myths that Haunt Writers," which
focuses specifically on academic writing: (1) I'm not sure
I have what it takes; (2) I don't have time to write; (3)
I don't have anything worth writing about; (4) The editors
will reject my manuscript because my name isn't familiar
to them; (5) My vocabulary and writing skills are too limited;
and, (6) In my field there are few opportunities to publish.
Reverse these myths and write to publish.
Writing for publication, according to Frank Christ, a long-time
learning support center professional, is a learning assistance
professionalism mandate. Christ: has given two keynote presentations
in which he exhorts all learning assistance professionals
to publish so that learning assistance does not perish.
The first keynote was at
a ACCTLA conference; the second
keynote, at a NCLCA conference. Both may inspire you
to begin your journey as a researcher, presenter, and author.
Writing for Publication References. To help you
get published, here are some web sites that relate to acceptable
research and writing at http://www.people.memphis.edu/~prpalmer/home.html
Research Design Explained at http://spsp.clarion.edu/mm/RDE3/start/RDE3start.html
Good Practice in Educational Research Writing offers
good practice guidelines for people interested in improving
the quality of writing arising from educational research
at http://www.bera.ac.uk/writing.html
How to Win Acceptances by Psychology Journals: 21 Tips
for Better Writing by R. J. Sternberg, R. J. (1993).
APS OBSERVER (newsletter of the American Psychological Society).
at http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/~clark/research/Sternberg.txt
Publishing Educational Research: Guidelines and
Tips at http://www.aera.net/epubs/howtopub/writing9.htm
Writing for Publication: Rationale, Process and Pitfalls
by Peter Witt at http://rpts.tamu.edu/Faculty/Witt/wittpub8.htm.
Writing for Publication: Some Guidelines by Neil
Moreland at http://www.wlv.ac.uk/sed/research/writing.htm
Some Tips for Successful Publication
Begin by reading 6-10 past issues of a journal that you
think may be interested in what you want to write about.
Read carefully the specific submission directions for manuscripts
that are published in most journals.
Before sending off your article, have one or more colleagues
review and critique it.
Also consider writing for association newsletters. Although
not juried, you will get your name on a citation and you
will gain experience and confidence in publication writing.
Remember that most professional associations have both a
general newsletter and chapter or state newsletters that
will accept short articles for publication.
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