Category Archives: journal article

why journal articles get rejected – #3

Posted on May 2, 2022 by pat thomson

Every journal article is expected to make a contribution. The writer has to say something that adds to the conversation about the particular topic in the target journal. And through this addition, they participate in the discussion in the field. … Continue reading →

Posted in contribution, journal article, peer review, rejection, significance | Tagged contribution, journal article, Pat Thomson, peer reveiw, rejection, significance | 1 Comment

why journal articles are rejected #2

Posted on April 18, 2022 by pat thomson

Here’s the thing. Journal Editors say that one of the major reasons that papers are rejected is when the writer is not clear about their point, and their argument. Accepted journal articles have a point to make. They work with … Continue reading →

Posted in argument, journal article, rejection, the point | Tagged argument, journal article, Pat Thomson, rejection, structured abstract, the point | Leave a comment

why journal articles get rejected #1

Posted on April 11, 2022 by pat thomson

Some journal articles never get sent out for review. They are rejected at the outset by the Editor. Why is this? Well, there’s a short and a somewhat longer and a very extensive answer to this question. The short answer … Continue reading →

Posted in choosing the right journal, editing a journal, journal, journal article, journal editor, rejection | Tagged journal article, journal editor, reasons for rejection, rejection of articles | 1 Comment

trouble finding a writing angle? try cubing

Posted on January 10, 2022 by pat thomson

You have research results. You want to write something – a book, a chapter, a paper. You’re in a field where there is already an active conversation. You’ve done an analysis which seems to repeat what is already out there. … Continue reading →

Posted in cubing, free-writing, ideas clarification, the angle | Tagged angle, cubing, free-writing, generating ideas, Pat Thomson | 1 Comment

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 conclusion, journal article, Pat Thomson, so what | 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 academic writing, argument, journal article, Pat Thomson, the point | 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 angle, argument, contribution, Pat Thomson, writing a journal article | 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 "native speaker", grammar, peer reviewing, publication in English, Randi Stebbins, style | 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 academic writing, journal article, literature section, Pat Thomson | 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 →