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Academic Writing week 2

Academic writing workshop lectured by Steven Wallace.

Also see the blog in his techinical writing editor company: https://www.editing.tw/blog

Stay motivated in writing

Unpublished work helps nobody

Writers write, even they hate writing

They force themselves into the habit of writing everday by taking the brave action first.

They write little and often (15 minutes everyday) and make timed burst.

  • At the same time
  • At the same quiet place
  • Take a notebookwith you in case you stumble upon a great idea
  • At first draft for ideas. Then revise for grammar another day.

Writers block

  • Weak motivation: why should I write
  • Poor planning
  • Perfectionism: the enemy of good
  • Treatments

Do not use reading as the excuse to not write

  • Reading list should be trimmed to a minimum (~20 papers). Cite latest ones first.
  • Skim the ideas and take notes sparingly. Keep simple notations about what you read.
  • Do not wait to write, read to write
  • Constant scheduling helps

Debunk the reasons not to write

  • Need a big chunk of time / too busy / cannot sit still / taking care of my kids : so write little and often.
  • "I will write as soon as ....": imperfections are totally OK.
  • Writing is everything in my life: No, you will avoid it with that thinking.
  • I cannot get started / I am not in the mood: reward yourself afterwards
  • Afraid of publishing mistakes: Even better, you get materials for the next paper.
  • My advisor rejects my ideas: grow the idea a little bit more
  • I write so slowly: everyone thinks so. It's OK.
  • I will write for 8 hours straight tomorrow: Do not burn yourself out.

How to target journals

Textbook (p.184)

Nowadays desk rejects (i.e., without reviews) are more frquent by the reviewer. The editor is the key person.

Which journal to publish

Remember you cannot double submission.

  • Keyword and JCR related metrics for cadidate journals.
  • The journal where the author of your cited reference mostly published
  • Scopus: serach engine for origins of the authors. Does the journal accept Taiwanese / young scholars?
  • Editors letters state the hot topics going on in the journal.
  • It's even better to cite the articles in the journal (esp. the editor's) for your paper to be more relevant and connected to key persons.
  • Pick a journal with a rising impact factor (IF) and a good acceptance rate. Avoid the ones that could die before you do.
  • Pick new SCI journals as they are hungry for papers.
  • Two helpful metrics: total citation (TC) and cited half-life (CHL).
  • High IF hard vs. low IF easy journals
  • Finally, find several (~5) journals that might accept your papers.

Those do not help you

  • Book chapters: no impact factor
  • Non-peer reviewed / Non-SCI / Graduate student journals
  • Letters, communication: not a full research paper
  • Local / Very new journals: may not last over 2 years
  • Electronic only (?): some people would think no hard copy, no credibility
  • University journals: inbreeding bias

Those would help you

SCI journals

  • Regional: low competition
  • Rising journal: hungry for papers
  • Interdisciplinary: fast growing and high cite numbers
  • Field (specialist, lower competition)
  • Note: Disciplinary (top) journals have high rejection rates (>95%). They are for seniors.

Metrics

  • Number of publications per year
  • Backlog time (reception to acceptance to publish)
  • Avoid temporary editors
  • Who would read the journal (libraries' subscriptions)
  • Ask (assistant) editor

Matching your article to the journal

  • Upcoming theme and special issues. Hot topics are hungry for papers.
  • First article and last article of the year.
  • Word / page length limits
  • Article formats, keywords and other regulation: a big reason for rejection
  • Even better if there is an template paper
  • Limits on number of pages / tables / figures. Put them in the appendix if you have too many of them.
  • Coonection with journal editors (e.g conference)
  • Keep a record of your publications: follow the status for reach of your papers

Query letter to the editor

Also called presubmission paper. You are encouraged to do so. Save each other's time and effort.

Textbook p.270 and p.271

Send hello letter to the assistant editor for indirect backlog (time from reception to publish) / rejection rate. (received vs. published)

Letter to the editor
- Artitle title
- My topic (even better if it's the current hottopic of the journal)
- Connection e.g. conference, meetings
- No double submission decleration
- Abstract for your idea. Never send the full paper to violate the rule above.
- Conflict of interest (funding)
- Ask for feedback e.g. interested subtopics

Response from the editor

  • Mini review : the best. The editor cares about you.
  • Send it: OK-ish
  • No: Find others interested
  • No response: Not a good journal if they keep your paper in the desk for too long (> 2 months)

Cover letter

Textbook p.345

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Academic Writing Week 4

Academic writing workshop lectured by Steven Wallace.

Also see the blog in his technical writing editor company: https://www.editing.tw/blog

Why go to conferences

To meet other humans of the same special interest group and to impress them

  • reviewers and editors
  • potential coauthors

Show them you are interested in their studies. Exchanging email addresses is even better.

Conference paper

  • Accepts partial results (if you get full results go for regular journals)
  • Most likely not count towards multiple submissions, except
  • Journal conference papers
  • Conference with a ISBN
  • If rejected, send a nice letter to query reviewer comments to help your paper.

Abstract

  • Match the keyword for survive the screening and for search engines
  • Word limit for abstract is around 300 words (2 sentences for each section)
  • Do not use abbreviations. uncommon acronyms, symbols difficult to explain
  • Cite one new research for novelty, one important person in your field, and one conference reviewer (e.g. technical editor) for connection.

How to write a paper

(General version)

Writing order

Methods and results -> (target a journal) -> Intro and discussion -> title

Introduction

  • Avoid telling a long history
  • Minimal amount a necessary background information
  • Motivation
  • Literature review for terms and definitions
  • Knowledge gap
  • Research questions (Research aim)
  • Only cite for
  • Context (motivation)
  • Keywords (lit. review)
  • Concepts (lit. review)
  • Knowledge gap (related work)
  • Common mistakes ⚠️
  • Cite one source too much
  • Cite irrelevant sources
  • Overcite definitions
  • Misattribute (may upset your referee)
    • Misuse implication as facts
  • Cite a citation (for the keyword definition, go for the first one)
  • Quote too much
  • Paraphrasing : when you just opy the notes. Instead: close the reference and note and try to recall by impression alone.

Tenses

  • Present: for facts and descriptions in figures / tables
  • Present perfect: for multiple previous studies (e.g. knowledge gaps)
  • Past: for a single previous study and your methods / results

Materials and methods

  • Past tense, except for populations and facts
  • Cite for methodology only
  • Passive voice to hide we
  • Occasionally hint the reader the purpose of your methods
  • Avoid using then too much
  • After A, B...
  • Once A, B ...
  • In the end, ...
  • Verbs > Nouns. Adv. + Verb >> a lot of descriptions
  • Give your devices a meaning name instead of tube 1, tube 2, ...

Results

Figures and table are here to save your text, not to replicate them.
- Use present tense in the descriptions
- legends should be standalone
- Put related data into subplots
- Avoid power point humors

Discussion

What does your results mean?

  • Note and difference of strong vs weak verbs: e.g. found (strong facts) vs. suggested (weak implications)
  • Do reverse lit. review to state the connection of prev. work and yours
  • Future works to encourage other to join force and you can get cited. Also get relevant to the reality.

Acknowledgements

  • Ones who helped you and cheered you up
  • Reviewers and editors
  • Sponsors and funding