Anthony Pina: Questions on academic writing

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by RoscoeB, Aug 18, 2008.

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  1. RoscoeB

    RoscoeB Senior Member

    A few questions about academic writing:

    1) What's the secret of your writing productivity? How do you manage to crank out so many papers each year?

    2) Do you write every day?

    3) Do you set a goal for the number of papers you will write?

    4) Do you mix it up by doing academic and popular writing?

    5) Do you include popular writings on your CV?

    6) Did you begin publishing before earning your doctorate?

    7) Could you recommend a good book on academic writing/publishing?

    Any tips or suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated.


    Roscoe
     
  2. Anthony Pina

    Anthony Pina Active Member

    Hi Roscoe,

    1) What's the secret of your writing productivity? How do you manage to crank out so many papers each year?

    TONY: Well, I actually spent the first 15 years as a practicing instructional technologist. I presented regularly at conferences, but really did not do much in terms of journal or magazine publishing, other than co-authoring some technical monographs, grants, association newsletters and a couple of articles. Even as a faculty member, I worked for teaching institutions and was not really bound by “publish or perish”. A couple of years ago, I thought that it was time for me to start writing and started doing it. I was pleased to discover that peer reviewers and editors liked what I wrote.

    My secret? Well, this is what has worked for me:

    • My discipline is instructional technology and distance learning, which has the advantage of having several venues in which to publish.
    • Much of my materials comes from my conference presentations and papers, which receive live peer review at the conferences. This fall, I will be delivering my 100th presentation at the AECT Conference in Orlando, so this is the major source of content for my articles.
    • I designed my dissertation so that I actually ran two studies, which resulted in two different journal articles.
    • I made a list of topics that interest me and have tried to match that topic with journals that I thought would be appropriate (which means that I have had to read several different journals). I try to become familiar enough with the scope of the journals so that I do not waste my (and their) time submitting a manuscript that is inappropriate.
    • I submit the 10th (at least) draft of the manuscript to the journal, so that I am sure that the quality is decent enough not to be embarrassing.
    • I have my wife proofread it (I am too close to it and I miss silly typos and unclear passages).

    2) Do you write every day?

    TONY: No, but it is a good idea. I do set a specific time a couple of times a week to write. I go to the office early, so I won’t be disturbed. I am a pretty slow writer, so it takes a while for me to write an article. I tend to use to publication deadlines in the calls for manuscripts to motivate me to finish.

    3) Do you set a goal for the number of papers you will write?

    TONY: Well, yes and no. I have a list of topics of interest and I create a tentative title for each, but I do not have a specific timeline for when I will write them. Some topics are directly relevant to my job, so those get written first. In a couple of cases, I have had collaborators, so those also get bumped up in priority. I currently have two articles and diploma mills and one on the Ed.D. versus Ph.D. in education that are taking a long time to write because other topics keep getting bumped ahead of them.

    4) Do you mix it up by doing academic and popular writing?

    TONY: Right now, I am most focused on peer-reviewed (refereed) journal articles because I have found that journals will actually publish them . I just wrote a book based on a slightly edited version of my dissertation research. I will probably do more “popular” writing in the future, as it is more interesting for the reader.

    5) Do you include popular writings on your CV?

    TONY: Yes, I do. I’m one of those persons who puts every time he sneezes into his CV :)

    6) Did you begin publishing before earning your doctorate?

    TONY: Yes, but my dissertation research gave it a definite boost.

    7) Could you recommend a good book on academic writing/publishing?

    TONY: Dr. Kenneth T. Henson writes an article every two years on writing for professional publication in the June issue of Phi Delta Kappan (odd years). I have every article going back to the mid 90s and they are excellent. He includes a table of journals with their formatting requirements and acceptance rate. If you have access to EBSCO online, I recommend going to the June 2007 issue of PDK and going back every two years and copying those articles. He has put much of it in book form as “Writing for Professional Publication”. I believe that the latest edition is 2005. My scrawny publication list is nothing next to his.

    8) Any tips or suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated.

    OK here goes (not in any particular order):

    • Make a list of topics that interest you.
    • Find an appropriate publication for one of your topics.
    • Become well-acquainted with the target publications, their article requirements, deadlines, preferred writing style and topics of interest. Many authors have their manuscripts rejected simply because they did not follow the journal’s/magazine’s author guidelines or were not familiar enough with the publication to see that their manuscript was not appropriate.
    • Set up a specific and regular time and place for writing.
    • Get a collaborator if you can. The writing can go faster if you divide the work.
    • Don’t get discouraged if it takes a long time to complete your manuscript. I am a slow composer and have never been able to “crank ‘em out”.
    • Have someone who is not an expert in your topic read your article for clarity, grammar and interest.
    • Develop a thick skin for constructive criticism. If you submit to a peer-reviewed journal, you WILL be asked to make revisions and edits to your article, even if they like it and want to publish it. Two or three experts will give you recommendations for improving your article. It is best if you take those recommendations very seriously.
    • For other recommendations, I recommend Ken Henson’s articles in the Kappan.

    My job as Dean does not depend on me “publishing or perishing,” but publishing and presenting at conferences does make me more credible with my faculty and impresses my administrative peers and superiors. I am fortunate that I can write because I have discovered that I enjoy it and it is nice that some others have determined that what I write has some usefulness.

    All the best,

    Tony
     
  3. edowave

    edowave Active Member

  4. Anthony Pina

    Anthony Pina Active Member

    Why thank you...what a nice thing to say! I am just happy to be able to help.
     
  5. RoscoeB

    RoscoeB Senior Member

    WOW! Great stuff!

    Thanks, Anthony!

    This info is VERY useful. It's informative, practical, and inspiring. I will certainly print this out and save it.

    Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to share this with the board. It really is appreciated.

    And congrats on the 100th paper presentation!

    Roscoe
     
  6. RoscoeB

    RoscoeB Senior Member

  7. Anthony Pina

    Anthony Pina Active Member

    Thank you much. this is one of the advantage of being in the field of instructional technology and e-Learning. The opportunities are there for those who wish to take it and there is still so much for us to learn about learning and teaching online.
     
  8. Anthony Pina

    Anthony Pina Active Member

  9. RoscoeB

    RoscoeB Senior Member

    Thanks for the link, Anthony.

    I get inspired whenever I read your posts. Can't wait to read this latest publication.

    Roscoe
     

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