Academic Writing?

JSSchley · Jun 21, 2011

So, I know from my year + here that AW is full of academics. When I'm not a novelist, I moonlight as a linguist (or is it the other way around?)

Is there any place on the boards where people are hanging out talking about their academic writing? I'm starting the long uphill slog of the dissertation, and have a couple articles I'm going to try to get published over the next two years or so, and I'd love to find other like-minded folks.

Deleted member 42 · Jun 21, 2011

Non-fiction maybe?

How many M.A. And Ph.D thesis/dissertation writing folk do we have?

Roll call!

tim290280 · Jun 21, 2011

Just getting my science thesis bound at the moment. I actually started taking novel writing seriously the day after I handed my corrections in.

I've got a pile of papers I'm publishing at the moment, hopefully some will actually see the light of day before this time next year. One collaborative paper will be out later this year, but the co-author is aiming too low with the journal.

areteus · Jun 21, 2011

Well, I *used* to be one... got my MPhil about 4 years ago and have two academic publishing credits to my name (though I didn't actually write these, merely did the donkey work

). So, I am experienced in how these things are written if anyone wants any help.

Chris P · Jun 21, 2011

Non-fic sounds like a good place, although I confess I don't hang out there much.

I wrote my MS thesis in 1998 and PhD dissertation in 2001. Writing the results of experiments is my day job. I currently have 54 articles in scholarly, trade, and popular journals, with one in press, two in review, and data from three projects collecting dust until I get to them. Two or three ongoing projects will (hopefully) become papers by the end of the year. I've edited one book and serve as the editor of a small regional scientific journal (I'm the dude with the chainsaw in Tim's cartoon).

Lest you think I'm bragging, let me say that "unlearning" my scientific writing to write fiction has been a challenge. Tech writing skills serve me well in some cases, but hold me back in others. It's been a fun process.

Deleted member 42 · Jun 21, 2011

Ph.D. in 2008.

I suspect that there are quite a few members working on thesis, dissertations and journal articles.

lindseyanne · Jun 21, 2011

I would actually love to see an area here for academic writing. I'm still an undergrad but I enjoy writing a good article when I'm doing an independent research project in lab, and not many of the people at my school (at least not the ones in my classes) are good enough at writing academically to solicit for opinions or feedback. It would be nice to have an area to discuss these things. But nonfiction works too.

backslashbaby · Jun 21, 2011

I'm used to academic writing of the sorts y'all are talking about, but I've been contributing to textbooks recently. I would love to be able to ask questions about writing for an audience like that. It's been fine, but I still sound too technical too often.

So I hope I'm not muddying the waters by asking for textbook authors, too. But, yeah... HELP

veinglory · Jun 21, 2011

Y'all are welcome in Non-fiction.

JSSchley · Jun 21, 2011

veinglory said:
Y'all are welcome in Non-fiction.

I figured that much, but the formal welcome is still appreciated.

I wondered if there were any threads that folks knew of that have already been started but maybe ended up in the graveyard?

Deleted member 42 · Jun 21, 2011

JSSchley said:
I figured that much, but the formal welcome is still appreciated. I wondered if there were any threads that folks knew of that have already been started but maybe ended up in the graveyard?

There are six years of archived threads here.

Go, be free, make a new one

Chase · Jun 21, 2011

Medievalist said:
How many M.A. And Ph.D thesis/dissertation writing folk do we have? Roll call!

Master's thesis on an aspect of evolving modernists. Doctoral dissertation on themed stories within a frame device.

veinglory · Jun 21, 2011

If it gets popular we can talk about finding a spot for it maybe? A sub-room? (for me: PhD 1999, book chapters and articles pretty much constantly since...)

orion_mk3 · Oct 4, 2011

I was just thinking of this today. There are all sorts of places for people to get cathartic and post about their writing successes, but even in Nonfiction I'm not sure I'd be comfortable doing the same with academic writing successes: "Hey, I got a paper in the Journal of Advanced Widgets! It's 2500 words, dry, and has had the soul sucked out of it through revision!"

It's too bad, since the four articles I've published or had accepted this year far outweigh the zero stories, novels, and other bits of fiction I've been able to find homes for.

Chris P · Oct 4, 2011

orion_mk3 said:
"Hey, I got a paper in the Journal of Advanced Widgets! It's 2500 words, dry, and has had the soul sucked out of it through revision!"

Sounds like my kind of paper! I'm all excited because I was able to comment on one paper I'm reviewing about another paper I'm reviewing on a related subject. I won't divulge to one side what the other is doing, but I can tell them to see references by so-and-so quoted in the other paper.

I feel like I've done some good today.

PS - where you at in Miss'ippi? Starkville, here.

strictlytopsecret · Oct 4, 2011

JSSchley said:
I'm starting the long uphill slog of the dissertation. . . and I'd love to find other like-minded folks.

I thank my lucky stars that part of my life is behind me now.

Here's a site you might find very helpful:

http://www.phinished.org/

Best of luck to you in your academic endeavors!
~STS~

orion_mk3 · Oct 4, 2011

Chris P said:
PS - where you at in Miss'ippi? Starkville, here.

Oxford. You'd think that would mean plenty of Absolute Write patrons and NaNos nearby, but they all seem to live downstate.

schamber · Oct 4, 2011

I'm getting my PhD in English at Berkeley. I do research on the very first English language novels.

Red Robin · Oct 4, 2011

MA in Medieval history. I'm in the middle of a second masters in LIS, but no dissertations. Just lots of essays.

Jstwatchin · Oct 4, 2011

I have supervised MA candidates in education for several years. As for comparing academic writing vs. novel writing - they both use words arranged in (hopefully) comprehensible sentences. There often is research involved.

JSSchley · Oct 5, 2011

I so need to get around to actually starting this thread...

<-- suckage

orion_mk3 · Oct 5, 2011

It seems like it's gotten started well enough!

Academics out there: how many papers/books do you have in circulation? (that you're trying to conceal from potential agents and publishers

)

Deleted member 42 · Oct 5, 2011

I'm moving this thread to Non-fiction.

Hang on to your hats.

JSSchley · Oct 5, 2011

Hail Medievalist, fixer of suckage!

JSSchley · Oct 5, 2011

As for me, I have only one article in circulation in a working papers journal, but I'm still at least two years away from my Ph.D. I've got two articles I'm currently revising so that I can submit them later this year or this summer.

The big pieces on my plate are the problem statement for my oral exams at the end of this term and the application for a dissertation-writing fellowship that I hope will come straight out of that problem statement.

And of course, because I like to pile it on, I thought this fall would be a great time to start subbing my novel to agents. Where is the eyerolling smiley?

Academic Writing?

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