This week, October 23-29, 2017, marked the tenth annual Open Access Week. The articles collected this week include information on open education, Open Access textbook publishing, starting an Open Access journal, requirements for a sustainable knowledge commons, the editor’s role in a changing publishing industry, and equity and inclusion in scholarly publishing. As this month comes to a close, we are also preparing for Academic Writing Month (AcWriMo) starting next week. Be sure to check out the last link with information about AcWriMo events co-hosted by TAA next month. According to Amit Kalantri, “The most difficult thing about writing; is writing the first line.” This week, start something. Write that first line.
6 strategies to help you secure ‘impactful publications’
In part 2 of his two-part TAA webinar, “A 30-Step Guide to Publishing in Scholarly Journals“, Dr. Anthony J. Onwuegbuzie, a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at Sam Houston State University, and distinguished visiting professor at the University of Johannesburg, shared several strategies for helping authors secure “impactful publications”—those that advance the field.
The following are six of those strategies.
For doctoral students – Your relationship with your chair: Too chummy or too distant?
If you’re at the dissertation writing stage, your most important relationship (other than the one with your chocolate/peanut butter cups stash) is that with your chair/advisor/first reader. Your chair can be your best friend or worst nemesis. But there’s no getting around it; if you want to get done, finally, and graduate with those proud letters after your name, you need your chair.
When your chair is friendly, forthcoming, and responsive, you may be tempted to become friends. When your chair is too formal and standoffish, you may be tempted to ignore him or her entirely, or as much as the required paperwork allows. Either extreme is a mistake, and you’ll likely regret it later.
Member Spotlight: Victor P. Maiorana
TAA member Victor P. Maiorana is both a textbook and academic author in the disciplines of curriculum & instruction, education, linguistics, literacy, and college textbook psychology.
He has written three textbooks published in the last three years, all by Rowman & Littlefield, including Teach like the mind learns: Instruct so students learn to think, read, and write critically (2017), Preparation for critical instruction: How to explain subject matter while teaching all learners to think, read, and write critically (2016) and Fixing instruction – Resolving major issues with a core body of knowledge for critical instruction (2015).
The most useful textbook & academic writing posts of the week: October 20, 2017
H. P. Oliver shared that “Writing is more than a craft; it is a way of life. Everything you see or do becomes part of what you write.” While you have been busy writing this week, we’ve kept record of some noteworthy articles you may not have seen. Below you will find articles from the past week on understanding research metrics, when to write a press release, the future of Open Access publishing, considerations when writing a conference paper, barriers to research collaboration, peer review systems, and the ongoing discussion of traditional vs digital textbook materials. As you enter the week ahead, I hope you find ways to improve your writing, and therefore, your way of life.
Time management step 4: Dealing with setbacks
So you’ve done everything right. You’ve cleared time in your busy schedule by identifying the activities that didn’t move you forward. You set long-term goals that were SMART – Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-specific. You filled the newly available time slots with productive habits that push you in the direction of your goals. You even found ways to make the most of your time.
But…things don’t always go as planned.
So now what?