Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Helpful Sources for Writing an Academic Paper

By Rebecca Rose, Research Papers Committee Chair

For those contemplating writing an academic paper, numerous print resources are available that can assist with the process. Books targeted for librarians include ALA’s Writing and Publishing: the Librarian's Handbook and Handbook of Academic Writing for Librarians by Christopher Vance Hollister.

Also, the following titles are recommended because they help with establishing structure for any writing project, and answer many questions about the scholarly writing process.

Belcher, Wendy L. (2009). Writing your journal article in 12 weeks: A guide to academic publishing success. Belcher is helpful in specifying the components and styles unique to different disciplines. The book gives guidance on sticking to a writing schedule and keeping you on track.

Bishop-Clark, C and Dietz-Uhler, B. (2012). Engaging in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: A Guide to the Process, and How to Develop a Project from Start to Finish. This book describes creating a project, then gathering and analyzing the data. Authors do a wonderful job of differentiating between qualitative and quantitative research in plain English.

Want more? Do not overlook scholarly articles that discuss writing for academic publications. Did you know there is a Journal of Scholarly Publishing? Subject headings for this topic include Academic Writing, Scholarly Publishing, and Writing for Publication.

Interested in submitting a research paper proposal to the GLA Academic Library Division? More information is available here.

The deadline for submitting a proposal for this year’s research paper for COMO is April 1, 2015.

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