Writing for Research

Raewyn Connell

PART TWO: HOW TO WRITE A JOURNAL ARTICLE -

PRACTICAL STEPS

INTRODUCTION

Part Two of “Writing for Research” discusses how to write a journal article. With some
adjustment, these ideas also apply to writing a chapter of a book or thesis. (But be
careful to make the adjustment.) A journal article is summative writing, one of the five
genres identified in Part One. It comes at a late stage in the project, when the research
is done, the launch writing is complete, and the internal writing is mostly done.

Summative writing, in my experience, involves six main steps: the epitome; the
argument-outline; the first draft; the revising; the presentation; and the publication.
There are real differences between these steps in terms of writing practice. I’ll describe
each in turn.

Remember, throughout, that the journal article is a distinctive form:

1. It’s strongly stylized. There’s a pre-arranged publication mechanism, the journal
   itself, with its own rules about style (usually downloadable from the journal
   website). In media jargon, the writer is just the “content provider”.


2. It’s cramped: it lives and breathes in a severely limited space. Most journals have
   word limits, and often the limits are tight. If you want to report your conclusions in
   a letter to The Lancet , be crisp: you have 400 words.


3. It’s a communication to a limited audience: a knowledgeable professional
   audience, not a wide public. Normally it’s wise to follow the conventions, and use
   the language, which that audience knows. Sometimes you might challenge the
   conventions: but have a very good case for doing so!


4. It’s self-contained. It has to explain itself and complete itself – which is quite
   different from a book or thesis chapter. But unlike self-contained genres such as
   the short story or the literary essay, the journal article explains itself in relation to
   the work of other researchers. Thus it becomes part of a collective process of
   knowledge formation.

My advice is based on the way I do this job myself. Doubtless there are other ways of
doing it; this is what works for me. For simplicity, I’ll assume a sole-authored paper.
Writing with other authors involves extra care and negotiation at each stage. It is
generally slower, though it benefits from the extra minds at work.