Customer Reviews

Writing for Academic Journals (Study Skills S.)

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Rowena Murray, author of How to Write a Thesis and How to Survive Your Viva, has a third book, Writing for Academic Journals. Published by Open University Press, a McGraw-Hill imprint, this book is very useful to scholars. Murray leads academic authors by the hand, every step of the way, from reasons to write and outlining your concepts for your journal article, to writing, marketing, revising, and even recycling your words. Some of the chapter topics include: why write for academic journals?; targeting a journal; finding a topic and developing an argument; outlining; drafting; revising; and submitting. As an editor, I used the information in this book to help my editing clients achieve publication of their journal articles; most of them did get published, even on a first submission. Targeting a journal was, perhaps, the most valuable information in this book.

This is a very useful step-by-step book about writing for journals, and even has good suggestions for dealing with rejection and unfriendly reviewers, resubmitting, marketing your work, etc. This is a worthwhile book to add to your toolbox if you plan to write and publish your scholarly work in a professional journal. In the "publish or perish" academic world, this how-to book is free of confusing jargon and is clearly written to provide instruction and assist professionals in real-world expertise, as they seek development and publication of their most important works. -- Eve Paludan, editor of scholarly work at a state university

I am a professor working in universities and I specialize in supporting professors to improve the quality and productivity of their academic writing. I've been doing this work for just under 10 years. Rowena Murray's work has fast become a classic in the area called "writing practice", which is about how you approach writing; what techniques to use to be a productive and successful writer; how to think about the act of writing.

Murray talks about what to do/how to actually write. This is useful to both graduate students, their supervisors, and professors who are simply interested in publishing more. Mine own copy is highlighted and dog-eared. Even if you have your PhD, this is the book to help you learn more about getting journal papers published.