Academic Writing for Publication

5. Writing an academic text - a checklist

The previous sections have asked you to reflect upon your writing taking factors like environment, time, struggles and collaboration into account.

This section aims to provide more concrete pointers for the academic text itself.

Whilst everybody's writing is different depending on subject, discipline, format and writer(s) , there are some elements that can be taken as key for successful academic writing.

The two lists (on the right) aim to give you concrete reference points for successful academic writing.

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.” – Mark Twain

The next section will explore more the processes involved in publishing academic writing.

1). Consider a piece of academic writing you are planning and check the following points. Compare to your own way of working and add your own comments to this checklist. How confident are you that your writing:

is logically planned and structured

is correct

identifies the importance of the topic

demonstrates your knowledge of the topic

provides balanced, unbiased information, clearly and concisely

includes relevant, contemporary evidence to support my opinions

is potentially of interest to other people

includes what makes it important for publication

gives a new perspective on the topic or moves the discussion in a new direction

is your own work (also applies to work written in collaboration with others).

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2). Now identify relevant points for your writing from this checklist: Become a Published Researcher - Your Plan for Success Research manuscript major steps checklist (source: Elsevier):

consultation and discussion with research team members the subject for the literature review

define objectives (require originality), study protocol (optimal methodology and statistical analysis), and novelty (importance to field)

perform study and collect data

Statistical analysis of results

Discuss with research team the probable results to publish (i.e., the core message)

Short list of possible journals to publish in

Read Guide for Authors of proposed first journal

Agree type of paper (e.g. regular or short)

Convert most results into figures and tables

Decide final results to publish via agreement with research team

Decide which articles to cite

Create working (draft) title to manuscript

Write abstract and select best keywords as per journal guide

Write introduction

Describe method(s) clearly enough to allow for reproducibility

Present and discuss all results shared with readers with final conclusions and future directions

Decide whether any extra data should be included in the Supplement, or where possible, in a linked Data micro-article

Export references list from citations database into journal style

Agree co-authors sequence from research team

Reread Guide for Authors and ensure whole manuscript complies (e.g., highlights, graphical abstract etc..)

Polish entire manuscript into good English style and circulate to research team for review

Finalise Title and ensure all authors agree with final version of manuscript to be submitted

Prepare motivated covering letter to editor, indicating disclosures, and possible referees

Prepare to submit manuscript to chosen journal...

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