Post 153. Writing Journal Articles: Part 2. December 9, 2024
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Big and bright green leaves on the FIU campus.
Tip of the Week
I am writing a series of journal article writing tips based on Paul Silvia’s “Chapter 6: Writing Journal Articles,” in How To Write A Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing.
This week, I summarize my take-home points from Silvia’s discussion on titles, abstracts, and introductions.
(1) Write your title and abstract last and use key words.
Most people do this. I like to write my title first as a form of “direction” of where I’m going and what I want to say. (I am aware that my title may change).
I do write my abstracts last. I literally cut and paste key sentences from the body of my paper to include the most relevant information from each section of the manuscript (i.e., introduction, method, results, discussion).
It is good to use keywords that are important for electronic searches in your titles and abstracts if you want people to discover your article.
(2) Structure your Introduction.
For me, introductions are one of the most challenging sections to write. Silvia gives structure that might help.
Section 1 - Introduce the reader to your problem.
Justify your article’s existence, interest the reader, and provide a framework/background.
Section 2 - Review theory and research relevant to the problem.
Create a main heading that is like your title. Use headings and subheadings to signpost. Describe relevant theories, review past research, and discuss the question that motivated your research in more detail.
Section 3 - Clearly state how your research will solve the problem.
Create a heading and explain this (he discusses bringing up your past series of studies and how the present one is a continuation…do this only if it makes sense for your paper).
How long introductions and literature reviews should be (and if they should even be included) depends on your field of research and publication expectations. I advise that you carefully study the journal article structure for the field you are in and the specific journals you want to publish in.
(3) Structure your Method.
I personally like to begin writing my articles here. Methods is the easiest place to start writing because it is descriptive and detailed. Notice, I didn’t say it’s EASY. It’s just the easiest place to start.
Siliva wisely says that your methods, “…reveal how carefully you conducted your research” (p. 83) and that, “A good method section allows another researcher to replicate your study” (pp. 83-4).
A possible structure for your Method section is as follows:
Participants and Design - describe these in detail.
Instruments - Include details and references to back up your choice of instrument (including past instrument validity and reliability information/measures).
Procedures - Describe variables and processes in detail and cite past research that used the same/similar variables to justify your procedures.
Note: This is a basic outline and may appeal more to those of you in social science and even those of you who do quantitative work.
AGAIN: I suggest that you look at models of other articles similar to the one(s) you are writing, to give you an idea of how to structure your own article — both as a whole and within each section.
Reference: Silvia, P. (2007). How to Write A Lot: A Practical Guide to Academic Writing. American Psychological Association.
In Closing…
Are you writing a journal article? If so, are any of these tips helpful?
I’d love to know! If you are able, please leave a comment. If not, please email me at inforealacademics@gmail.com
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