Preparing papers for International Journals

Sarah AerniSpecial Projects LibrarianUniversity of Pittsburgh20 April 2005

Overview of this presentation The steps of the writing process Style guides for the bibliography section of

the paper Information on the journal submission

process, including examples from history and chemistry

Time for Questions

The Writing Process: a guide Choosing a topic Selecting resources and finding background

information Refining the topic Writing Revising and editing Citing Sources

Choosing a topic Start with the topic area you have Brainstorm the idea, putting your thoughts

about the topic on paper in any order. Look for structures, common themes and

areas for direction, including keywords. Begin to read about these ideas to see what

others have done.

Selecting resources and finding background information Evaluate these factors when selecting resources:

(1) Quantity (2) Diversity (3) Date of Publication (4) Quality and Reliability

Try to obtain a balanced perspective on the issue. Pay particular attention to the source of electronic

information. Ask someone for help if you can’t find sources

that you feel are reliable. Many people are willing to help students.

Parts of this page are from: http://www.lib.duke.edu/libguide/evaluating.htm

Refining the topic and beginning the writing process After you have done background reading, you

will be able to refine and narrow your topic. Next, make a rough outline of your paper and

main topics. Set these down first, and then proceed with filling

in these main areas with text. In order to avoid getting stuck, begin by writing

as the thoughts come to you. The revision process will help clean things up later.

Revising and Editing – 1 This is one of the most important steps! Since you let yourself have some freedom when

initially writing the paper or report, it is now time to go back and be critical about the language.

Look for these things:- Areas needing better transition between ideas.- Areas that are too wordy or unclear.- Words and concepts that are not fully explained.

Revising and Editing – 2 Reconsider the order you present your topics.

Could they be reordered to make the presentation more logical?

Edit your paper, and then leave it for a little while. This time can help you see areas that need more work.

If you have time, ask someone else to read the paper and to mark parts that seem unclear or hard to understand.

Citing Sources This is often one of the most difficult areas for

students. It is a very important step in making your paper

“legitimate.” Many scholars look at the bibliography before they read the main text.

Citing the sources you read also helps you avoid plagiarism, or illegally copying other people’s work.

There are many different ways to properly cite references. Become familiar with the way your discipline does this.

Specific information on citing electronic resources The APA style manual has a special

website for information on citing electronic resources. It is updated frequently.

http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html In general, provide as much information as

you can about how and when you accessed the information you are using.

Resources for further help MLA Style Guide (from the Modern

Language Association) APA Style (from the American

Psychological Association) Journal submission guidelines. For

example: Chemistry and History.

How to submit an article to a journal

The Submission Process Most journals in academic disciplines

allow and encourage electronic submissions.

Prepare your manuscript according to the specifications from the submission guidelines. This can be different from discipline to discipline, or even from journal to journal!

Scientific Topics Examples of scientific writing and proper

conventions for punctuation, abbreviation and others can be found here: http://www.sportsci.org/jour/9901/wghstyle.html

Pay particular attention to the format of tables and figures. Often journals have special regulations about these items.

Chemistry Example: The Journal of Magnetic Resonance is

published by a commercial publisher. http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescript

ion.cws_home/622884/description This page includes a description of the journal

and its coverage. It includes information on how to submit articles online.

There is also a link to a guide for authors.

Humanities Topics The Modern Language Association gives advice f

or humanities scholars. http://webster.commnet.edu/mla/index.shtml It includes information on the writing process, pa

per formats, guides for the bibliographic format and grammar and writing tips.

Humanities disciplines tend to be a little more flexible in terms of the format of the materials.

History As an example, the American Historical

Review is published by a society publisher. Information about this journal can be found

here: http://www.historycooperative.org/ahr/

Guidelines for submitting articles to this journal are also available from this website.

What happens after you submit the article? If the journal is “peer-reviewed”, it will send your

article out to other scholars in your field to review the article.

The peer review process can provide valuable feedback for you and your work.

It can also slow down publication time! Results of two or three reviews lead to three

options for your article: (1) the journal accepts it as is; (2) it requires revisions before acceptance; or (3) it rejects it.

Once your article is accepted After your article has been accepted, the

journal editors will do further editing on the document, and create a manuscript for you to proofread.

This is your final chance to make changes to the manuscript.

The editor may suggest final changes to you, that are usually not subject orientated.

Final Steps After you carefully proofread the first copies, the

journal will make any final changes. Then you only have to wait for publication. Sometimes the wait times for publication can be

long - a year or two. An advantage of electronic publishing is that the time between acceptance and publication is often reduced.

More information on the writing process http://www.lib.duke.edu/libguide/choosing.

htm This page has excellent information about the whole writing process, and especially about the different formats for bibliographic resources.

Acknowledgements Special thanks to James Cassaro, music libr

arian at the University of Pittsburgh and editor of the Journal Notes for his helpful support and information.