Writing for Publication

Journal Articles

An Introduction to Publishing Journal Articles (workshop)
Thinking about preparing an article manuscript for submission? Based on Wendy Belcher's workbook, Writing Your Journal Article in 12 Weeks, this workshop focuses on the aspects of the process of getting an article published that most differ from other graduate work, such as selecting appropriate journals and interacting with editors. It discusses how to structure an article as well as the writing and revision process. Click here for the workshop video. (Approx. 1 hour, 20 mins.) This workshop was recorded in 2016.

Introduction to Publishing Journal Articles in the Humanities (workshop)
The purpose of this workshop is to describe the process for publishing a journal article in the Humanities, including choosing a paper to submit, revision and editing strategies, journal selection, and addressing feedback. Click here for the workshop video. (Approx. 40 mins.) This workshop was recorded in 2018.

Belcher, W. L. (2019). Writing your journal article in twelve weeks: A guide to academic publishing success. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. (2nd edition)
This workbook takes the approach to scheduling and work style that productivity scholars recommend and tailors its advice to the specificity of the journal article for humanities and social scientists. It is helpful on several fronts: first, in breaking down the process of writing the article into manageable parts and second, in explaining several other genres that graduate students need to be aware of, particularly the abstract.

Book Publication

The Association of University Presses provides a resource page for prospective faculty authors, including a page that provides resources for finding a publisher. The web page on finding a publisher links to an annual subject area grid that indicates which publishers have strong interests in which fields and sub-fields. There are additional resources on university presses and advice about getting published.

Allison Van Deventer and Katelyn Knox (GWC alums!) have written a workbook (The Dissertation-to-Book Workbook: Exercises for Developing and Revising Your Book Manuscript, 2023) that walks you through the big-picture planning and revising that’s necessary to turn a dissertation into a book. Modeled on Wendy Belcher’s Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks, the workbook takes a structured, manageable approach to evaluating your book’s organizing principle, narrative arc, differences among chapters, outlier chapters, and much more. Chapters 14 and 15 explain how to turn a “zero draft” into an argument-driven chapter and reverse-outline it. On the associated website, you can download a sample chapter, watch explainer videos, read blog posts about book writing and publishing, and sign up to be notified of upcoming workshops. Although this workbook was written with book authors in mind, it’s also proven useful to some dissertation writers who’ve completed most of their chapters and have some time to revise.