Resources

Author Resources

As a graduate student journal, we provide writing and publication resources to support both first-time and experienced authors.

Selected Readings

• Bernier, A. (2011). Reaching escape velocity and the purpose of SLIS Student Research Journal. SLIS Student Research Journal, 1(1). Retrieved from http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/slissrj/vol1/iss1/2
  In our guiding document, SRJ Advisor Dr. Anthony Bernier describes the steps of preparing a secondary research literature review. He presents an appealing perspective of the deep engagement a researcher has with a particular subject, how students can contribute to progressive LIS scholarship and the importance of and pathway to reaching “escape velocity” in new LIS scholarship
• Lucas Laursen’s article about the academic journal submission process helps authors reframe a determination of “Revise and Resubmit.” Laursen, L. (2008, August 15). If at First You Don’t Succeed, Cool Off, Revise, and Submit Again. Retrieved from https://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2008/08/if-first-you-dont-succeed-cool-revise-and-submit-again
• Often described as the “best book about writing,” The Elements of Style is a useful guide for any and all writers. Strunk, W. (1920). Elements of style. New York: Harcourt Brace. Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/cu31924014450716

SRJ-created Resources

• SRJ Overview (6:39)
  • Former EIC Tamarack Hockin gives a brief overview of the SRJ, how to submit, what editors look for when reviewing your submission, and benefits of submitting. Note: Presentation is from 2016, so while it is still relatively current, we do now also accept Evidence Summaries as a submission option.

Workshops & Webinars

• Joining the Conversation: Tips for Strengthening Your Academic Voice (1:01:11)
  • SRJ’s former Content Editor Emmanuel Te gives an honest, encouraging, specific and detailed deep dive into academic writing. He discusses the differences between a successful course paper and a successful journal submission. He addresses how to adjust your course paper to meet SRJ or other journal guidelines, and why you should consider publishing. He walks viewers through the rubrics that SRJ Content Editors use when evaluating a paper for submission, offers helpful and detailed guidance on how to meet those rubric elements. He explains how editors view submissions, reviews a sample paper, and identifies common “traps” writers can fall into. Clocking in at over an hour, this is a comprehensive and detailed overview directly from an editor’s perspective of how to ensure your paper is journal-ready.

• Publish a Great Book Review (48:13)
  • Devon Lee, a former SRJ Content Editor, and Dr. Anthony Bernier, Faculty Advisor to SRJ and Professor at the School of Information at San Jose State University, present “Publish A Great Book Review.” This webinar workshop guides participants through the process of analyzing an academic work for review and provides an analysis of the structural components of excellent published reviews.

• Target Your Audience: The Art of the Abstract (29:22)
  • Capture the essence of your research or literature review with a well-crafted abstract that holds the reader’s attention. In this online workshop, Devon Lee breaks down the characteristics of a great abstract and help student writers communicate the value of their work. This session is for students looking to get published in the MLIS field, submit a conference abstract, or simply improve their graduate writing.

Quick Tips and How-to

• What’s in it for me? Publishing in the SRJ (1:36)
  • Emmanuel Te talks about the process and benefits of publishing in SRJ as a graduate student.

• Thinking about Presentation: Writing for the Journal (1:19)
  • Former SRJ Content Editor Brooke Heskett covers the basics to consider before submitting your manuscript.

• Altering Your Course Paper for SRJ Publication: Writing for a broader audience (2:57)
  • Emmanuel Te provides guidance and specific direction on altering your iSchool course paper to provide context on the subject, so it becomes appropriate for a broader academic audience.

• From Assignment to Article: Questions and Guidance for Successful Submission
  • Editors Stacy Andell and Claire Goldstein walk you through questions you should ask yourself about your paper when revising it from a class assignment to journal submission. This self-paced tutorial covers everything from thesis to APA formatting.

SRJ Recommends

• The Writing Center at North Carolina, Chapel Hill’s website is an extensive, easy to navigate resource for everything to abstracts to procrastination to word choice. There are a variety of videos and handouts available for student use. https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/
• The Graduate Writing Lab at Yale provides in-depth writing resources for graduate-level students, differentiated for the humanities or science student. https://ctl.yale.edu/writing/graduate/writing-through-graduate-school
• The Purdue Owl’s website has had a recent redesign and offers writing resources to a wide range of authors. https://owl.purdue.edu/
• USC’s Libguide has a variety of resources, including a detailed How-tos for several writing types.http://libguides.usc.edu/writingguide/bookreview
• Writing the Literature Review in 30 Minutes or Less: A straight-forward, step-by-step video about Lit Review content and construction Additional synthesis required.

Formatting

• American Psychological Association. (2011). APA Style Blog – Formatting guidance
• American Psychological Association. (2011). APA Style Guide – More APA guidance
• Purdue University. Formatting Sample Paper
• RefWorks is a useful tool that will help you to organize and accurately cite your sources.

Other Journals

• Evidence-Based Library & Information Practice
• Oral History Review
• Libraries, Culture, History, and Society
• Archeota
• The LIS Publications Wiki offers listings of avenues for publication which graduate students may pursue and contextualizes scholarly journals within the publishing landscape.
• Find scholarly publications for your article at ThinkCheckSubmit

Q&A

• Q: What happens to my paper after I submit?
• A: See this video for a brief but thorough explanation.
• Q: What should I do after I receive my paper’s decision?
• Following a decision of either ‘major revisions required’ or ‘minor revisions required’, submissions are returned to the author for further revision. If the author has questions concerning the CRR, they may communicate with the EIC. Authors then submit their revisions (via bepress) within the timeframe allotted.
  • Manuscripts which received a decision of ‘major revisions required’ will undergo another round of review with content and copy editors as per the initial review process. Editors will be provided with a copy of the CRR from any earlier rounds of editing to determine if the author has made significant progress in revisions. Editors will evaluate the manuscript in light of these previous CRR recommendations. Editors will include any new recommendations for revision as appropriate (i.e., as changes are made, new changes may be required).
  • Manuscripts which received a decision of ‘minor revisions required’ usually proceed to a round of detailed copy editing using the track-changes function in MS Word. Typically this round is performed by one copy editor. The copy editor will be provided with a copy of the CRR in order to evaluate the manuscript in light of the recommended revisions.
  • The suggested edits should bring the manuscript into a publication-ready state concerning APA citation and any Journal style guidelines. The copy editor may additionally comment and make suggestions regarding language and usage throughout the manuscript in order to facilitate greater clarity, specificity, and quality of writing.
  • The final edited manuscript will be returned to the ME who will ensure all identifying information is removed from the MS Word metadata, and that the editor is anonymized (as per double-blind review).

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