Category Archives: journal article

concluding a paper

Posted on May 31, 2021 by pat thomson

Conclusions can be hard. There are a few big traps that conclusion writers can fall into. In order to avoid them, try the following three things. Deep breath. It’s good to be bold. The conclusion generally requires bigging up what … Continue reading →

Posted in conclusion, journal article, so what | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

writing a journal article – identifying “the two paper problem”

Posted on April 12, 2021 by pat thomson

If you’re writing a journal article, you need write it so that you make one big point. Right? One unavoidable, spelled out, take home message. There may be nuancing of the point, of course. But there’s basically just the one. … Continue reading →

Posted in argument, journal article, the point | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

writing for publication – finding an angle and an argument

Posted on February 1, 2021 by pat thomson

This is a story, a my story, which leads to eight pointers about writing for publication.  I’m currently writing a paper. Well, yes, always writing something. But right now it’s a paper. A paper designed to do some thinking work … Continue reading →

Posted in argument, choosing the right journal, contribution, journal article, journal publication, literature a resource, the angle | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

style, tone and grammar – native speaker bias in peer reviews

Posted on October 12, 2020 by pat thomson

This is a guest post from Dr Randi Stebbins. Randi is Director of the University of Iceland Centre for Writing. Peer review is a central part of academic publication. The process of back and forth between authors and reviewers is … Continue reading →

Posted in English language, grammar, journal article, peer review, reviewing, style | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

I’m writing a journal article – what literatures do I choose?

Posted on January 27, 2020 by pat thomson

I’m often asked about the literatures sections of journal articles. Not your literatures based paper of course but your standard empirical paper. They only want a short section! I can’t cram everything I’ve read into a few paragraphs – how … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, journal article, literature review, literature reviews | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

planning a paper

Posted on November 18, 2019 by pat thomson

Last week I was in Norway running a three part workshop on planning a journal article. The workshop was based around a Tiny Text abstract.   As a planner myself, I use Tiny Texts for sorting out the contribution argument … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, argument, contribution, journal article, planning, planning a paper, Tiny Text | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

peer reviewing your first paper

Posted on October 14, 2019 by pat thomson

Patter now has over 800 posts. It’s pretty hard to find things on here, even when you know what you’re looking for. Some of the elderly posts are, I hope, still useful. I’ve decided to start an occasional ‘best of’ … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, feedback, journal article, peer review, refereeing, reviewing, reviews | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

writing a journal article – how many references?

Posted on July 1, 2019 by pat thomson

I’ve been asked about how many references go in the literature section of a journal article. A supervisor had offered a view – one reference per sentence is best, perhaps two. But, the person asking me said, they had seen papers … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, citation, citations, journal article, literature review | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

PhD by publication

Posted on June 24, 2019 by pat thomson

I’ve been asked a few times recently about the text that accompanies published papers for the PhD by publication. So who am I to refuse? This is a slide show that I use to raise some key questions that people … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, examiner, journal article, journal publication, PhD by publication, viva | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

revise and resubmit

Posted on March 25, 2019 by pat thomson

Yep. Those dreaded words when you get the email back from the journal. R and R. Anything but Rest and Relaxation. Groan. In essence, the message says We have considered your paper and we have decided that – well it’s … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, journal article, reviewer speak, revise and resubmit, revision | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments