ENGL 5390:
Writing for Publication
Fall 2016
Section 001: W 2:00 - 4:50 pm in 202
Course Description
Expected Learning Outcomes
Required Texts
Belcher, Wendy. Writing Your Journal Article in 12 Weeks. ISBN
978-1-4129-5701-4.
Your previously prepared critical essay of 5,000-7,000 words.
Additional readings available through
course
website or library databases
Required Work
Article abstract: This brief account of your essay should, in 250-300 words, summarize your argument and clarify its contribution to the field. | 10% |
Journal review forms: Identify four journals in your field that might be appropriate venues for your article. Using the form on p. 127 of Belcher (also available online at www.wendybelcher.com), evaluate each of the four journals. In addition to the questions on the form, you should also identify each journal’s scholarly approach/orientation. (This means you will have to add to to each of the four forms you hand in.) | 3% |
Journal issue analysis: From the four journals you studied for the comparative analysis, choose the journal to which you will submit your essay. Building on the previous analysis, analyze one recent issue of the journal in depth in about 1500 words (including reading the essays). What do the articles in this issue reveal about the journal’s focus and critical preoccupation? How might your essay relate to this focus? How might you tailor your essay to suit this journal? Consider the submission requirements as well as any other relevant information, and conclude by arguing why your work would be a good fit for this journal. | 10% |
CFP report: Find three current calls for papers for conferences that seem appropriate for your essay, and paste the original descriptions into a single document. Comment briefly on each to explain why you chose it (2-3 sentences), and identify the one to which you will submit your work, noting why you chose it as the most appropriate. | 3% |
Conference presentation: You will present your work as part of an in-class panel in the form of an academic conference paper. Your presentation should be at least 15 minutes but no longer than 20; since the average reading time is two minutes per page, this means that the conference version of your essay will need to be significantly shortened from the article version. Treat this presentation as a professional conference presentation: dress appropriately, behave professionally, keep to the time limit, prepare a handout or PowerPoint if you wish, and be prepared to take questions from your audience. | 15% |
Peer comments 1 and 2: Throughout the semester, you will work with a small group both in and outside of class to offer thoughtful, constructive criticism on each other’s work. When short assignments are due, class meetings will include time for peer groups to discuss each other’s work. On two occasions (for essay drafts 2 and 3) you will provide formal (typed) commentary to your group members. Please bring both sets of comments you receive to your second conference with me. You may, of course, also choose to meet more frequently outside of class. The feedback you offer should address all levels of the essay, from argument, thesis, and research to paragraph and sentence structure (as needed, of course) and should be aimed at helping the writer improve the essay. | 4% |
Book review: You will write a book review for a scholarly book in your field published in 2014, 2015, or 2016. You should select a specific journal for which you are writing the review and follow their book review guidelines or requirements for length, et cetera; you must include these guidelines when you turn in your review. You may review a single book or write a review essay covering several books. | 10% |
Cover letter: Compose a cover letter addressed to the editor of the journal to which you will submit your essay. The letter should briefly introduce your essay and suggest why it might be particularly new, valuable, and fitting for this particular journal. | 3% |
Article-length essay: This is the major project of the course, and you will be working on it
throughout the semester. You will submit 4 different versions of the essay at
different points during the semester. Each draft should reflect the progression
of your learning from class discussions, from your peers’ feedback, and from my feedback
as well as your continual revision over the course of the semester. Note that all drafts must be submitted; failure to submit one of more of the
drafts will lower the essay’s final grade by a full letter grade. The essay
should be 5,000-7,000 words (subject to the specific requirements of your chosen
journal) or about 20 pages.
Essay Draft 1 is due to me in Dropbox by 14 September and will be the subject of our first conference. This version may be very close to the version you submitted in the original course. Please name the file "Lastname Draft 1." Essay Draft 2 is due to your peer group on 12 October and should be revised based on your conference with me. Essay Draft 3 is due in Dropbox and to your peer group on 9 November and should be revised based on your peers’ feedback. Please name the file "Lastname Draft 3." The final essay is due to me in Dropbox by 5pm on 9 December and should be the culmination of your revisions throughout the semester. Please name the file "Lastname Final." A note on the grading of the final essay: I will grade the final version as if I were reviewing the piece for a journal, and you’ll receive a ‘publication decision’ just as you would from a journal. Each decision will correlate to a letter grade as follows: Accept = A; Accept with revisions = A-; Revise and resubmit = B or B+ (depending on specifics and scope of needed revision); Reject = C. |
40% |
An important note about faculty mentors
: As you work on your essay --- and indeed throughout your graduate career --- it will be important for you to have a faculty mentor in your field whom you can ask for advice and help. This is important not just in the limited sense that it'll help you improve your paper, but also in the broader sense that building such relationships can significantly help your career. But as you seek to build such relationships, it is crucial to be aware that faculty members have many demands on their time, demands that have direct and significant effects on their own careers. Most faculty are genuinely kind and generous people who want to help students --- but they also need to protect the time they have to do research and meet their other professional obligations because those things allow them to keep their jobs. Therefore it behooves you to respect their time as you build relationships with them. It is rarely a good idea simply to drop your paper on a faculty member and ask them to read it. A better approach is to arrange a specific meeting time and arrive with specific, focused questions about particular elements of your essay. This will pay off in the short term because it makes it more likely that you'll actually get the help you're seeking, and it'll pay off in the long term because behaving professionally with your faculty members will help create the foundation for a better relationship.Schedule
(subject to change)W 8/31 |
Introduction to the course; what’s an abstract? and how to write one |
W 9/7 | Critical approaches, target
audiences, clarity and style Belcher week 3 Eliza Haywood, Fantomina (available online via Course Readings page) Margaret Case Croskery, “Masquing Desire: The Politics of Passion in Eliza Haywood's Fantomina” (2000) Helen Thompson, “Plotting Materialism: W. Charleton's The Ephesian Matron, E. Haywood's Fantomina, and Feminine Consistency” (2002) Melissa Mowry, “Eliza Haywood’s Defense of London’s Body Politic” (2003) Emily Hodgson Anderson, “Performing the Passions in Eliza Haywood’s Fantomina and Miss Betsy Thoughtless” (2005) Jonathan Brody Kramnick, “Locke, Haywood, and Consent” (2005) Charles H. Hinnant, “Ironic Inversion in Eliza Haywood’s Fiction: Fantomina and “‘The History of the Invisible Mistress’” (2010) see course readings page for links to most of these readings; search the library for articles not posted there Questions to consider for each article Due: Article abstract |
W 9/14 | How journal editors evaluate submissions Guest speakers: Dr. Alison Rukavina and Dr. Jennifer Snead “Confessions of a Journal Editor” Looser, "How Your Journal Editor Works" Handout of readers’ reports Belcher week 4 Due: Journal Review Form (in Belcher) for 4 journals Essay Draft 1 (to Dropbox) |
W 9/21 | Individual conferences; no class |
W 9/28 |
Submitting and publishing scholarly articles |
W 10/5 |
Writing, structure, and style; or, things
you thought you didn’t have to worry about any more (thesis, structure,
introductions, conclusions, revision, etc.) |
W 10/12 | Conference papers: writing and performing Kvande, "Samuel Richardson’s Clarissa: Between Print and Manuscript." 42nd Annual Meeting of ASECS, Vancouver, BC (17-20 March, 2011). Kvande, "Printed in a Book: Negotiating Print and Manuscript Cultures in Fantomina and Clarissa." Eighteenth-Century Studies 46.2 (2013): 239-57. (via library) Belcher week 9 Morrison, “Keynote: Tips for presenting to a big crowd” "Ten tips for presenting a conference paper" Due: Essay Draft 2 to peer group |
W 10/19 |
Conference presentations: (presenters' bios and titles due by
Sunday 10/16 at 5pm) |
W 10/26 |
Conference presentations: (presenters' bios and titles due by Sunday 10/23 at 5pm) |
W 11/2 |
Writing and publishing scholarly books |
W 11/9 |
Editing a collection of essays |
W 11/16 |
Individual conferences |
W 11/23 |
Thanksgiving holiday; no class |
W 11/30 |
Grantwriting for the humanities |
W 12/7 | Professor at conference; no class |
F 12/9 | Due: Final essay and cover letter in Dropbox by 5pm |