Up In Consulting

Elevate your writing and move up in your career

Up In Consulting
  • About
  • Elevate
  • Testimonials
  • Blog
  • FAQs

From Course Paper to Article

  • By Jane
  • September 23, 2015
  • From Course Paper To Article
  • 0 Comments
From Course Paper to Article

 

This post is the first in a series called “From Course Paper to Article,” where I explain how to transform your course paper into a manuscript ready to submit to a journal. This series will walk you through the process of selecting a topic, preparing for writing, making the most of the data you collect and literature you read, soliciting feedback, choosing the appropriate journal, and more.

Tip #1 Be Strategic

If you intend to publish an article while in graduate school, time is of the essence. Publishing is a long, difficult process. I don’t say this to scare you, but rather to share the facts. Consider the acceptance rates and time to publication of some prominent journals in sociology:

Imagine this scenario: You are starting your last year of coursework, and you know you’re nearing time to submit a manuscript to a journal. Remember: the turnaround time from submission to publication of a journal article can be over a year! You want that article on your CV by the time you go on the job market. That means you should think about publishing sooner rather than later.

Getting a job isn’t the only reason you should publish, however. Part of your role as an academic – in my strong opinion, your duty – is to share knowledge with your community. This can be your intellectual community, or an even broader community. After all, what is the point of making a discovery if you don’t tell anyone about it? In addition, the goal of taking courses in the first place is to improve your understanding of a concept, topic, methodology, or so forth. Writing is one of the best ways you can think through an issue and demonstrate your knowledge.

Writing a course paper is an excellent opportunity to prepare a draft of a manuscript to be submitted to a journal. You are focusing on a theme or topic, and you have access to a tightly edited collection of literature in the form of the syllabus. This will inevitably vary by course – “Gender and Society” for instance, may not have as narrow a syllabus as a course called “Christianity and the Civil Rights Movement.” No matter what the course, you are giving your sustained attention to a singular matter that can be the basis for a manuscript.

Now that you know why you should turn your course paper into an article draft, the question is how? First, decide on your topic early. Think about the course you are taking and how the readings on the syllabus will help you to write a literature review. Then determine what else you’ll have to read. It’s a rare occasion where you can write a journal article based solely on syllabus readings. Look at what’s there, decide what else you’ll need, and start reading. Make sure you have a system for organizing your notes.

Think about whether you’ll need to collect data. Do you need to conduct interviews? Use a dataset? Collect archival data? Start this process sooner than later. If you can, build on data you are already collecting. For instance, in graduate school I took a course in consumer studies, and wrote a paper on the evolution of a certain type of beauty products. Later, in an in-depth interviewing course, I decided to conduct interviews with the consumers of those beauty products. This is not cheating, nor is it trying to do less work. Think about it: you might take 2-3 years of coursework, where you take 3 or 4 classes a semester. That is going to be over 12 courses at a minimum, meaning you have 12 opportunities to write papers. Should they all be distinct papers? It would be impossible to publish 12 separate manuscripts, so why should you write something that will only be seen by your instructor 12 different times? That simply does not make sense.

Identify whether the requirements of the course paper are amenable to writing an article. What are the expectations of the instructor for your final paper? If, for instance, your assignment is to write a literature review, that can potentially be the basis of an article, but it will not be an article in and of itself (and later in this series I will explain why a course paper is NEVER an article – at least not without revisions). In some cases, you may be able to combine the work for two courses and write one paper. If you want to do this, be sure to seek permission from both instructors.

Let the instructor know what you’re doing. If they are teaching the course, it’s likely that they’re an expert on the subject matter and can give you additional guidance. The instructor can be one of your best resources. So tell her that you’re thinking of using your course paper as the basis for an article draft, and ask her opinion your topic, approach, and potential journals you can submit to. Ultimately, the instructor will be giving you feedback on the paper in the form of comments and a grade, so just start that process early.

What do you think are the most important steps to taking in preparing to write a journal article? Share them in the comments or connect with me on Twitter @janejoann.

[1] All information in table from the ASA Annual Report, 2014


Share

Related Posts

From Course Paper to Article: Simplify Your Notes

October 17, 2015

Writing Literature Reviews: Developing a Backstory

April 16, 2015

Literature Reviews: Getting Started

March 12, 2015

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Social

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn

Archives

  • October 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • January 2021
  • September 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • June 2018
  • April 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014

Categories

  • Academic Writing
  • Asking For Help
  • Book Reviews
  • Book Writing
  • Editing
  • From Course Paper To Article
  • general-testimonial
  • Goal setting
  • Impostor Syndrome
  • Journal Articles
  • Monday Motivation
  • Overcoming Barriers
  • Planning
  • Productivity
  • productivity-testimonial
  • Quick Tips
  • Revising
  • Saying No
  • Services
  • Stress
  • Uncategorized
  • Writing Tips

Meta

  • Entries RSS
  • Home
  • Blog
  • From Course Paper To Article
  • From Course Paper to Article

Let’s get writing.

Subscribe to get the latest writing and productivity tips. Like happy mail for your planner.

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

  • Privacy Policy
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn

© 2023 Up In Consulting

  • Home
  • About
  • Elevate
  • Testimonials
  • Blog