Carden and Coyne on Academic Publishing
Liveblogging from the Career Development Seminar
Advice on Publishing:
- Grad school is the transition from being a consumer of scholarship to a producer. That product is original scholarship.
- Each discipline has its own emphasis on writing and different types of publishing. Be aware of what your field expects.
- Pick something that's doable. Write a dissertation, not a treatise.
Various Types of Research Paper Strategies:
1. The Small Twist - a new tweak on an existing idea. Lower impact, but a way to build up publications.
2. The Big Twist - a new, innovative approach to an idea. Higher impact, but also larger time investment.
3. Co-author - with other students, more established faculty etc.
ADVICE: Submit, submit, submit! Get your papers out and keep writing while they are under review. Don't wait on the publication to come through - keep working!
Getting Rejected -
1. It happens to everyone.
2. It will be frustrating, but fight the urge. Don't write back to the editor complaining if you are rejected - it's bad form and it can hurt your own reputation in the long run.
Book Strategies:
1. Some disciplines are journal focused (e.g. Economics), others are book focused (e.g. History). Know what your discipline wants before writing a book.
2. There are benefits to books from a personal angle - you can probe a topic in greater detail, write for a broader audience, explore a topic more widely than a journal permits.
3. Standard advice: if you want to write a book, wait to do it until it is appropriate for your career given your discipline - it is time intensive.
Tip: Work with IHS - use the IHS network to find other faculty and students researching similar topics.