Academic Writing Martie Thompson My insights are derived from my experiences as both an author who writes papers and then submit s for publication to peer-reviewed journals AND also as a reviewer for different journals and as an Associate Editor for JFP.

You must have something to write about Pick a research topic or area of inquiry that interests you You’ll be spending lots of time on this topic so make sure it is something intriguing TO YOU Don’t wait too long after your study is completed before you write and submit the paper Work that is not published will not have a substantial impact Find collaborators who complement your skill set If you love doing your own data analyses, look for a collaborator who can offer topical expertise, for example How many of you enjoy writing? Writing can be hard to do and many people find it daunting to sit down and write, especially when first getting started

Know your audience Identify the most likely journal to which you plan to submit. To do this, you’ll need to do some homework: Know the journal’s mission Be familiar with what types of work they publish Check your references and see what journals you cite; these would be likely candidates to consider

Pay attention to journal impact factors http://jcr. incites Pay attention to journal impact factors http://jcr.incites.thomsonreuters.com/JCRLandingPageAction.action Identify first, second, and third tier journal outlets; start with first tier

Know your audience Journals vary in style and submission requirements AMA or APA style Impacts how references are cited Headers may vary Style may vary: Medical and public health journals typically have shorter introductions than psychology or sociology journals Follow the author submission guidelines-e.g., page length, abstract word count, required elements Review other articles published in the journal as a guide

Write!!! Make yourself sit down and write Don’t worry about not getting it perfect; just start getting your thoughts down Starting with bulleted outline is useful, especially if you are new to writing APA style papers First thought best thought; get ideas down and reorganize and edit later APA style

Sections of paper (APA) Abstract Introduction Method Results Discussion References Tables and figures Tip: Start with Method and Results first; these sections are most prescriptive in terms of what needs to go in them First thought best thought; get ideas down and reorganize and edit later APA style

Method Very prescriptive in content and structure: Sample and sampling procedures: Describe participants in your study (sample size, characteristics) and how they were selected Design and procedures. What was your study design? How were data collected? Materials/measures: Describe your measures: give sources of scales, # items, response formats, psychometrics from your sample, sample item(s) Data analytic strategy: Explain how you analyzed data

Results Start with descriptive findings and move to inferential findings (e.g., regressions, ANOVA) Objectively present your findings in order of your research questions. Tie back to your study purpose Use tables when possible. Highlight in text what tables show but do not provide same statistics in tables and text

Introduction tips Make sure Introduction section is relevant to your paper; do not review literature review that is not specific to the topic under study Be certain that you are citing studies relevant to your topic One of the reviewers may have done work in the area and not citing their work would be a faux pas Be sure you cite recent papers and ideally primary work Find your niche; what are you adding to the literature base that is not yet known?

Introduction Flow Must make compelling case for significance of your study and ways it will advance field and offer new information Why is your topic of inquiry important? Rationale for investigating this topic? Situate your study: Discuss relevant extant research and summarize current understanding of the problem. What is known now and what is not known? How will your study fill this gap and advance knowledge base? End this section with a statement of the purpose of your paper and if applicable, provide hypotheses. Statement of problem: Sexual violence is a prevalent public health problem, resulting in both psychological and physical harm. Prevalence and risk factor studies have yielded important information about SV. Gap: However, knowledge gaps exist regarding if there are distinct longitudinal trajectories of sexually aggressive behaviors for youth transitioning into young adulthood and if there are, what factors differentiate youth who follow these different paths. How your study will address this gap: In order to intervene effectively to prevent SV, research is first needed to determine what factors predict the onset, maintenance, escalation, or desistance of SV behaviors during the transition to young adulthood.

Discussion Summarize findings Place your findings in context of extant literature- how do your findings support or not support prior work? Limitations and strengths of your study Limitations lead in nicely to suggestions for future research What are the implications of your findings? Impact on the field is important

Abstract Write it last; Summary of major aspects of entire paper Needs to clearly and succinctly convey study’s purpose and provide an accurate depiction of key findings Must include the following: What was your research question(s)? from Introduction) What was your sample and methodology? (from Method) What were the major findings? (from Results) What did you find and what are conclusions and implications? (from Discussion) Really important section First thing editors will read and what reviewers will read hen they detrermine if they want to review the paper Also, on search engines like Psychoinfo, the abstract may be the only thing that someone sees.

Peer review process Reviewer’s identity not known to authors so that reviewers can provide honest reviews Reviewed manuscript is typically confidential but not always Reviewers’ responsibilities: recommendation (rejection, R & R, accept ) and written critique Editors examine reviews and make decision Decision goes to author, with comments from reviewers Reviewer thanked, informed of decision, & given copies of comments sent to author APA guide for new authors on preparing manuscripts

APA Publication and Communication Board To merit publication- A manuscript cannot have been published in another journal A manuscript must be accurate, and conclusions must follow from data A manuscript must be more than free of major fault; it must make an important contribution to literature A manuscript must be appropriate for journal to which it is submitted

Common problems Inadequate review of literature Introduction not clearly articulated and tied to research questions Ambiguous research questions Inadequately described sample Insufficient methodology Lack of detail for measures used to assess constructs

Common problems Inappropriate data analytic technique Unclear statistical procedures Poor discussion – does not address common elements of a discussion section Conclusions go beyond data Poor writing style Excessive length Lack of contribution to the field Poor fit to journal

Don’t give up!!! Tenacity is key If your paper is rejected, don’t give up. Take the advantage of getting free advice from peer reviewers and make changes as appropriate and then SUBMIT somewhere else There are many journals out there, so there will be an outlet for your work!

APA Style Official formatting style for papers, comps, dissertation. Please purchase a copy! $18 new on amazon IFCS PhD Program Official Formatting Style The style of writing set forth in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association is required for student papers in the IFCS PhD Program. APA format is commonly used to cite sources in psychology, education, and the social sciences. Students are encouraged to purchase a copy of the latest version of the APA manual. APA style provides a standard system for giving credit to others for their contribution to your work. It's what we call a "parenthetical" documentation style, meaning that citations to original sources appear in your text. This allows the reader to see immediately where your information comes from.   The APA style includes guidelines for the formatting of documents. The most important aspects of these guidelines for most academic writing are the formatting of the reference list and headings. Information about the APA publication manual may be found at http://www.apastyle.org/.

APA Style Manual Covers… Structure of the manuscript Writing clearly and concisely Manuscript formatting Headings Citing references in the text The reference list The importance of crediting sources The publication process

A Few Notes About Crediting Sources “Whether paraphrasing, quoting an author directly, or describing an idea that influenced your work, you must credit the source. To avoid charges of plagiarism, take careful notes as you research…” (APA, 2010, p. 170). Document all facts and figures that aren’t common knowledge (APA, 2010). Citation of an article implies you have personally read the cited work (APA, 2010).

Resources at apastyle.org Includes Tutorial

Another Online Resource: Purdue Online Write Lab (OWL)

Online Bibliography Manager Available libguides.clemson.edu/refworks RefWorks is a bibliography manager that allows you to create your own personal database of citations by importing references directly from online databases or text files. You can use these references in your papers and automatically format your citations and bibliographies in seconds.