What do you think?
Rate this book
Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks: A Guide to Academic Publishing Success
“Wow. No one ever told me this!”
Wendy Laura Belcher has heard this countless times throughout her years of teaching and advising academics on how to write journal articles. Scholars know they must publish, but few have been told how to do so. So Belcher made it her mission to demystify the writing process. The result was Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks, which takes this overwhelming task and breaks it into small, manageable steps. For the past decade, this guide has been the go-to source for those creating articles for peer-reviewed journals. It has enabled thousands to overcome their anxieties and produce the publications that are essential to succeeding in their fields.
With this new edition, Belcher expands her advice to reach beginning scholars in even more disciplines. She builds on feedback from professors and graduate students who have successfully used the workbook to complete their articles. A new chapter addresses scholars who are writing from scratch. This edition also includes more targeted exercises and checklists, as well as the latest research on productivity and scholarly writing.
Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks is the only reference to combine expert guidance with a step-by-step workbook. Each week, readers learn a feature of strong articles and work on revising theirs accordingly. Every day is mapped out, taking the guesswork and worry out of writing. There are tasks, templates, and reminders. At the end of twelve weeks, graduate students, recent PhDs, postdoctoral fellows, adjunct instructors, junior faculty, and international faculty will feel confident they know that the rules of academic publishing and have the tools they need to succeed.
Wendy Laura Belcher has heard this countless times throughout her years of teaching and advising academics on how to write journal articles. Scholars know they must publish, but few have been told how to do so. So Belcher made it her mission to demystify the writing process. The result was Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks, which takes this overwhelming task and breaks it into small, manageable steps. For the past decade, this guide has been the go-to source for those creating articles for peer-reviewed journals. It has enabled thousands to overcome their anxieties and produce the publications that are essential to succeeding in their fields.
With this new edition, Belcher expands her advice to reach beginning scholars in even more disciplines. She builds on feedback from professors and graduate students who have successfully used the workbook to complete their articles. A new chapter addresses scholars who are writing from scratch. This edition also includes more targeted exercises and checklists, as well as the latest research on productivity and scholarly writing.
Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks is the only reference to combine expert guidance with a step-by-step workbook. Each week, readers learn a feature of strong articles and work on revising theirs accordingly. Every day is mapped out, taking the guesswork and worry out of writing. There are tasks, templates, and reminders. At the end of twelve weeks, graduate students, recent PhDs, postdoctoral fellows, adjunct instructors, junior faculty, and international faculty will feel confident they know that the rules of academic publishing and have the tools they need to succeed.
427 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2008
201 people are currently reading
1889 people want to read
About the author
Wendy Laura Belcher
12 books20 followersProfessor Wendy Laura Belcher is an associate professor of African literature with a joint appointment in the Princeton University Department of Comparative Literature and the Center for African American Studies. Working at the intersection of diaspora, postcolonial, and eighteenth-century studies, she has a special interest in the literatures of Ethiopia and Ghana and a multi-book comparative project demonstrating how African thought has animated British and European canonical literature. This includes the widely reviewed book that was a finalist for the Bethwell A. Ogot Award for best book on East Africa: Abyssinia’s Samuel Johnson: Ethiopian Thought in the Making of an English Author (Oxford, May 2012), which theorizes the discursive possession of English authors and texts. The next part of the project is in progress, a book titled The Black Queen of Sheba: A Global History of an African Idea, about the circulation of Ethiopian thought in Europe from 1000 to 2000.
(from https://complit.princeton.edu/people/...)
(from https://complit.princeton.edu/people/...)
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews
July 3, 2012
One of the reasons I rated this book so highly was the fact that I had the opportunity to use it as a part of a graduate class on revising writing. It was the most useful class of my doctoral work and I wish I had taken the course earlier! The book is well-organized, clear, direct, and gives structured guidelines for revising a piece of work for submission for publication. As a novice writer in the academic sense, I found the book helpful for making sure one starts writing and keeps writing through to completion and submission. I also appreciated the acknowledgement of the craft of writing as a challenge for all levels of learners and scholars - which helped me to overcome my own doubts about writing. If you are interested in becoming a more prolific writer or need motivation to get working on that article, thesis, or dissertation, this might be a good tool for your arsenal!
November 30, 2014
Belcher’s book is a wonderful reference that can be used for anyone looking to publish for the first time in the social sciences, humanities, and education. However, the resources provided in the text such as the weekly writing schedules and the tips for macro and micro editing are relevant and useful even to those authors publishing for the tenth time. With the help of Belcher, writing and editing has become a habit where only a few hours a week blossom into completed texts ready to be sent out for peer review in 12 weeks. Her unapologetic lists of “if this, then cut that” force writers to take a much harder look at their work to avoid unnecessary (though often present) side trips in their writing as well as making sure that default phrases such as “however”, “showcased”, and “demonstrated” do not appear 50 times…per page. She instills those long forgotten grammar rules about the actual use of the semicolon, the splitting of infinitives, and reminds authors that their they’re often don’t belong there. Belcher’s book goes beyond just the writing, and editing and takes you into the world of peer review, rejection letters, revise and resubmits, into journal backlogs, query letters, and the sigh of relief to finally be “in press”. I’m giving this text 5 stars because Belcher made publication in 12 weeks possible and this book will undoubtedly leave my shelf whenever I have a manuscript that I think is ready to become a published piece.
November 24, 2009
I used this book, with some adaptations, to teach MA students in my department how to write a thesis proposal. At the same time I used it to revise and resubmit an article and shared my process with the students. My article was accepted before the quarter's end, and this book helped that happen.
December 22, 2020
This is not a book you read just once, it's a book you keep next to you during your academic life. I used it as part of a class, but I had my own article written and ready to be published. However, it's worth to be noted that Belcher herself addresses the book as a guide for those who already have the research done a pre-draft of the article. The book is not a guide for writing from scratch, but it can work as a good motivator for starting to write in a more consistent manner. I'll certainly come back to it when I'll write other articles.
Read
July 2, 2024Well the proof will be in the pudding let’s see what happenings lmao
June 7, 2013
Keep in mind that when Belcher says 12 weeks, that's not 12 weeks from scratch but 12 weeks to take an essentially written project and convert it into something publishable. My take is that this is largely geared towards people who have little to no publishing/writing experience and who don't seem to have mentors/supervisors/advisers who are invested in teaching their students about writing and publishing in their area. So if you have writing experience and/or a solid advisor to coach you along, this book might not be all that helpful.
I did like the part about turning writing into a social process - very true, and often overlooked/understated. Frankly, most of this material is also covered in Silvia's How to Write A Lot, which is also more condensed.
I was a little puzzled by the order of the writing steps suggested, but that could be a difference between fields for all I know. Particularly, coming up with arguments preceded a discussion of a lit review. Now, true, this is meant to turn an already mostly-written piece into publishable material, so I'm assuming a lit review was done done at some point. Nonetheless, lit reviews should happen really early in the process, and will go a long way to shape an argument. And picking a journal oddly preceded the lit review. Often you get an idea of what sort of journal will take your work based on where cited works have already been published, and you can't really pick an appropriate journal until the shape and flavour of the article has been sufficiently established.
I did like the part about turning writing into a social process - very true, and often overlooked/understated. Frankly, most of this material is also covered in Silvia's How to Write A Lot, which is also more condensed.
I was a little puzzled by the order of the writing steps suggested, but that could be a difference between fields for all I know. Particularly, coming up with arguments preceded a discussion of a lit review. Now, true, this is meant to turn an already mostly-written piece into publishable material, so I'm assuming a lit review was done done at some point. Nonetheless, lit reviews should happen really early in the process, and will go a long way to shape an argument. And picking a journal oddly preceded the lit review. Often you get an idea of what sort of journal will take your work based on where cited works have already been published, and you can't really pick an appropriate journal until the shape and flavour of the article has been sufficiently established.
September 10, 2010
Overall, the book is definitely highly structured and good for those who need a great deal of help managing their time in what is always an onerous task. Found lots of confirmation about what I already teach while coaching graduate students. Good description of the academic journal landscape introduced throughout her lesson plan, which can be helpful for first time writers.
Fantastic example of original version, plagiarized version, borderline plagiarized and correctly summarized text which should stop many graduate students and researchers in their tracks. (Should I cite it as an example for my students? I'm lazy about creating one myself, I admit).
Overall good reference. It is expensive, I think, but it is cheaper than attending a 12-week writing workshop/support group.
February 3, 2011
Super disappointed. This book should be title "REVISING Your Jounal Article in 12 Weeks." It is completely based on the assumption that you have an existing paper you want to turn into a journal style article and doesn't provide help with the actual writing process (when starting from scratch). I'll come back to this book when I'm ready to revise I guess, because I do think it would be useful for that.
September 17, 2013
A helpful guide to taking a rough project or paper and polishing it into a publishable journal article in three months. I'm a little skeptical that the distribution of work over 12 weeks is reasonable - there are some weeks that could be accomplished in an hour or two, while there are others that will eat up most of your week. But it's nevertheless a nice guide, and I'm hoping it will give some shape and drive to the sorts of projects that can tend to linger unfinished for months on end.
(Sorry I haven't been around to comment on what I'm sure are lovely reviews, Goodreads friends! This semester is eating up all of my time...)
(Sorry I haven't been around to comment on what I'm sure are lovely reviews, Goodreads friends! This semester is eating up all of my time...)
August 28, 2011
Had to stop reading this, it was too easy to procrastinate on reading over writing. Finally got some articles written and now to an APA editor. The deadline approaching did the magic. This book is really geared more toward editing an idea or article that is already written rather than starting from scratch.
April 30, 2010
This book has helped me begin to work through my writing-paralysis! I think I will refer to it often in the future.
December 12, 2022
I haven’t wanted to write, let alone publish, any of my academic writing for years. Wendy Belcher’s workbook makes me want to change that. Based on her years of experience helping both students and professionals write academically, Belcher provides a detailed and comprehensive plan for turning that random essay into an article that will actually get published. Literally a workbook, Belcher provides helpful exercises and daily assignments that move you toward completion.
I originally picked up this book as a guide for other students in my writing program, and intend to use some of Belcher’s exercises in class as well. She includes helpful assessments like determining how you know you have an argument and good supporting evidence; ingredients of a good abstract; how to keep up to date in your field (including a journal-reading club, fun!); and how to give and receive thoughtful feedback about your work. I intend to assign and use this book regularly, both to teach students how to write and publish, and to get some of it done myself.
I originally picked up this book as a guide for other students in my writing program, and intend to use some of Belcher’s exercises in class as well. She includes helpful assessments like determining how you know you have an argument and good supporting evidence; ingredients of a good abstract; how to keep up to date in your field (including a journal-reading club, fun!); and how to give and receive thoughtful feedback about your work. I intend to assign and use this book regularly, both to teach students how to write and publish, and to get some of it done myself.
April 11, 2025
Ihanan konkreettinen kirjoitusopas joka demystifioi artikkelinkirjoittamisen taidetta, lopulta se on vaan sarja erinäisiä to-do-listan asioita :—)
August 5, 2025
a lot of books tell you "what" to do, but this book walks you through how to go about revising writing so it is journal-ready in a reasonable manner. the second edition is flexible - not restricted to 12 weeks. this is a really great work book
December 3, 2023
Luin kirjan samalla kun pidin väitöskirjatutkijoille siihen pohjautuvaa kurssia, johon Belcher tarjosi tuntikohtaiset suunnitelmat, joita saattoi hyvin soveltaa omaan opetukseen. Kurssi toimi vertaistukena ja tarjosi oivalluksia artikkelin rakenteeseen ja argumentointiin liittyen. Se painottui pahasti yhdysvaltalaisiin näkemyksiin, enkä ole likikään kaikesta sanotusta samaa mieltä. Mutta väitöskirjatutkijoiden artikkelit etenivät hienosti.
October 26, 2012
This was one of the most thorough and clearly laid out books on academic writing I've seen. Belcher is not only encouraging (emotionally), she also provides pragmatic and realistic advice for how to prepare articles for publication. She is especially good at explaining what makes article writing different than writing for other genres, and she provides clear examples for modeling. Highly recommended.
February 4, 2020
This book is good because it provides a guideline for tasks that will improve your chance of publishing an article. However, the "12 weeks" timeline is unrealistic. Some parts of the writing process will take a short time, others will take much longer, and then there is the exchange with editors that usually takes several months all by itself. At any rate, this is a good book to remind you of each step that can help you to get published with a somewhat efficient use of time.
May 14, 2012
A decent read for anyone who has never read about academic writing before. If you have, it is skim-worthy.
Probably the strongest aspect of the book concerns argumentation in an academic article. Another strong section discusses how to weed down your reading for your article so that you are not buried under mounds of books and articles.
Probably the strongest aspect of the book concerns argumentation in an academic article. Another strong section discusses how to weed down your reading for your article so that you are not buried under mounds of books and articles.
February 10, 2011
This is a very useful book. It is written as a handbook that walks you step-by-step through writing an article for publication in an academic journal. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is currently writing or needs to write an academic article.
June 10, 2012
Some good advice if you can ignore the initially funny, but later quite ugly US-centrism. I don't know whether it tells more about the ignorance of the author or US academia, but there is actually some OK research done elsewhere in the world as well.
June 27, 2013
Very useful and easy to read and follow.
April 22, 2024
This book’s intended audience encompasses graduate students who are first learning to write and publish papers. It starts with the scenario in which a graduate student wrote a work for a class and needs to revise it for publication in an academic journal. It walks through a twelve-week process to spruce it up for publication. Its approach leans heavily towards the humanities and social sciences, but it attempts to address those of us in the sciences and other quantitative fields as well. Author Wendy Laura Belcher, literature professor at Princeton University, seems to teach lessons she conveys to her graduate students. She does an excellent job in communicating high-quality insights for a large readership.
I, however, do not fit her mold as an ideal reader. I have self-trained in my academic field after leaving medical school because of a disability. Although not aspiring to faculty status, I want to publish the results of my technological work. I appreciate the benefit of learning from someone in the humanities because prior experience has taught me that they possess a deeper understanding of human perspectives. The process of publication in any field has human hands all over it. Some of what she wrote frankly doesn’t work for the sciences, especially in my field of biomedical informatics. Fortunately, she explicitly recognizes this, too, in the book.
In a short appendix, She addresses those who are starting an academic work from scratch. Another appendix explores how to revise an article after it comes back from peer review, a time fraught with emotion. Reading this book cover-to-cover, I did not follow the author’s advice to practice its writing procedures while I read. I did so because I already have a good discipline of writing and rather need to understand the larger view of how to accomplish this. Her task-analysis helped me see how I need to organize myself over coming weeks. She also helped me fight through some of the inevitable emotions that will come my way. For that, I am grateful. Now, it’s off to polish my looming work before submission…
I, however, do not fit her mold as an ideal reader. I have self-trained in my academic field after leaving medical school because of a disability. Although not aspiring to faculty status, I want to publish the results of my technological work. I appreciate the benefit of learning from someone in the humanities because prior experience has taught me that they possess a deeper understanding of human perspectives. The process of publication in any field has human hands all over it. Some of what she wrote frankly doesn’t work for the sciences, especially in my field of biomedical informatics. Fortunately, she explicitly recognizes this, too, in the book.
In a short appendix, She addresses those who are starting an academic work from scratch. Another appendix explores how to revise an article after it comes back from peer review, a time fraught with emotion. Reading this book cover-to-cover, I did not follow the author’s advice to practice its writing procedures while I read. I did so because I already have a good discipline of writing and rather need to understand the larger view of how to accomplish this. Her task-analysis helped me see how I need to organize myself over coming weeks. She also helped me fight through some of the inevitable emotions that will come my way. For that, I am grateful. Now, it’s off to polish my looming work before submission…
June 7, 2023
Uno de los mejores libros que he leído sobre técnicas de escritura, especialmente para la redacción de artículos académicos. A muchos nos parece difícil esta tarea, pero la autora Belcher ayuda mucho a quienes tenemos problemas. Creo que lo más valioso de este libro, para mí, son sus consejos para la elaboración del argumento del artículo, el cual permite al autor inexperto tener en claro lo que pretende demostrar en su escrito y cómo hacerlo. Asimismo, valiosísima es la forma como ayuda a trabajar la estructura y la presentación de las evidencias de los artículos. Estos tres pilares considero que son los más importantes.
Belcher diseñó el libro para que sea leído rápido, de tal modo que en 12 semanas pueda terminarse además un artículo digno de ser enviado a una revista de ciencias sociales o humanidades. Sin embargo, yo me tardé más de un año en leerlo, porque se me hizo algo extenso, aunque nunca me pareció tedioso. No obstante, en ese trayecto, redacté tres artículos siguiendo los consejos de la autora y me llevó a resultados muy satisfactorios ¡Esto, sin haber terminado la lectura total del libro! Dos de esos artículos ya fueron publicados y prácticamente sin cambios. El tercero aun no sale, espero que tenga los mismos resultados. Sin duda este material lo releeré muchas veces porque los consejos de la autora serán mi compañía a la hora de escribir más artículos en el futuro.
Recomiendo mucho este libro, porque además de las técnicas de escritura, brinda información valiosa sobre los motivos que llevan a las revistas a aceptar o rechazar los artículos. Del mismo modo, enseña sobre las manera de atender las revisiones de los dictaminadores. Incluso, ayuda a valorar las opciones de revistas para posibles envíos y tiene valiosos tips de trabajo para dar y recibir retroalimentación.
Sin duda esta es una de mis lecturas más valiosas en el presente año... y en el anterior.
Belcher diseñó el libro para que sea leído rápido, de tal modo que en 12 semanas pueda terminarse además un artículo digno de ser enviado a una revista de ciencias sociales o humanidades. Sin embargo, yo me tardé más de un año en leerlo, porque se me hizo algo extenso, aunque nunca me pareció tedioso. No obstante, en ese trayecto, redacté tres artículos siguiendo los consejos de la autora y me llevó a resultados muy satisfactorios ¡Esto, sin haber terminado la lectura total del libro! Dos de esos artículos ya fueron publicados y prácticamente sin cambios. El tercero aun no sale, espero que tenga los mismos resultados. Sin duda este material lo releeré muchas veces porque los consejos de la autora serán mi compañía a la hora de escribir más artículos en el futuro.
Recomiendo mucho este libro, porque además de las técnicas de escritura, brinda información valiosa sobre los motivos que llevan a las revistas a aceptar o rechazar los artículos. Del mismo modo, enseña sobre las manera de atender las revisiones de los dictaminadores. Incluso, ayuda a valorar las opciones de revistas para posibles envíos y tiene valiosos tips de trabajo para dar y recibir retroalimentación.
Sin duda esta es una de mis lecturas más valiosas en el presente año... y en el anterior.
June 18, 2020
Highly recommended title.
I rarely give 5 stars. I am generous - not only when I really like the book (that is 4 stars) but when I also find it useful for others too. That is my criteria for 5-stars.
It's a detailed and step-by-step guide to publishing. The book means publishing. Period.
Publishing is a life-blood of academic life.
In the doctoral journey, we write term-papers, collect a lot of data, file ideas for next research, read a lot, and have a size-able amount of multiple literature reviews. And then the pinnacle of the graduate/doctoral journey is the thesis that we write. So How do we go about publishing this all raw material?
The answer is Wendy Belcher's guide.
This book will take you through the process, step-by-step, with a perfect day-wise plan. It's like a workbook or hand-holding coach. You can fully rely on it. Just follow instructions for that day and continue writing. At the end of 12 weeks, your article will be ready in almost close to submission format!
That's a great claim. And every academic understands this.
Many thanks to my classmate, who gifted me a copy (She was working in Sage Publication at that time). I have a book in my collection. I can anytime go back and read. Certainly, I plan to use the book as a workbook or coach/motivator/guide to complete one of the articles...
You should certainly give it a try.
In addition, the author has a wealth of information on her website, worth visiting.
I rarely give 5 stars. I am generous - not only when I really like the book (that is 4 stars) but when I also find it useful for others too. That is my criteria for 5-stars.
It's a detailed and step-by-step guide to publishing. The book means publishing. Period.
Publishing is a life-blood of academic life.
In the doctoral journey, we write term-papers, collect a lot of data, file ideas for next research, read a lot, and have a size-able amount of multiple literature reviews. And then the pinnacle of the graduate/doctoral journey is the thesis that we write. So How do we go about publishing this all raw material?
The answer is Wendy Belcher's guide.
This book will take you through the process, step-by-step, with a perfect day-wise plan. It's like a workbook or hand-holding coach. You can fully rely on it. Just follow instructions for that day and continue writing. At the end of 12 weeks, your article will be ready in almost close to submission format!
That's a great claim. And every academic understands this.
Many thanks to my classmate, who gifted me a copy (She was working in Sage Publication at that time). I have a book in my collection. I can anytime go back and read. Certainly, I plan to use the book as a workbook or coach/motivator/guide to complete one of the articles...
You should certainly give it a try.
In addition, the author has a wealth of information on her website, worth visiting.
August 5, 2023
Goodreads tells me that I started this book on January 24, 2019. In fact, having finished this book today (August 5, 2023), this is actually the third time I’ve tried to read this book. The first two times I read the book slowly and completed the activities according to the workbook structure that Belcher has created but in the long run as a full-time professor with a high teaching load, this was not helpful for me. I spent all the little time that I had to research on going through the workbook reading and reflection activities and not enough time on my journal articles themselves.
I went back to this a few days ago because I’m sitting on a revise and resubmit, so instead I read through the whole book and took notes, specifically creating a list of distinct tasks to do each time I aim to revise an article for publication. Given the time I have to work on research while also balancing high teaching and service loads, I think this checklist will be more helpful for me in the long run. So in sum, this book has a lot of useful tips and guidance for how to revise journal articles for publication, but don’t feel bad if you end up not using the book as it was designed to use.
I went back to this a few days ago because I’m sitting on a revise and resubmit, so instead I read through the whole book and took notes, specifically creating a list of distinct tasks to do each time I aim to revise an article for publication. Given the time I have to work on research while also balancing high teaching and service loads, I think this checklist will be more helpful for me in the long run. So in sum, this book has a lot of useful tips and guidance for how to revise journal articles for publication, but don’t feel bad if you end up not using the book as it was designed to use.
July 2, 2025
A detailed guide that lays down the steps for publishing an article. It begins with planning the project and ends at submission to a journal. The importance of writing a good abstract, identifying an appropriate journal, organizing the microstructure and macrostructure and other nuances are well explained. What's great is that the author cites paper and makes claim backed by science. Fun little statistics like only 20% of the people who cite a particular article read the paper front to back was an eye opener. She also provides wonderful tools (like Belcher journal evaluation form) and recommends readings and blog posts that can be helpful to the new academician. I feel confident after going through and feel ready to actually start writing a paper since I did not read it as a workbook but as some initial groundwork information. I've made extensive notes and I'll be going back to this in my academic career in the future. Freaking awesome!
October 20, 2025
Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks: A Guide to Academic Publishing Success was an incredibly valuable read for my professional development. As I wait on a response from a journal, the book offered me a structured and practical roadmap for approaching academic writing with confidence. I appreciated how the weekly exercises and clear guidance broke down what can often feel like an overwhelming process into manageable, actionable steps.
Reading this felt like having a mentor by my side—someone guiding me through revising, refining, and polishing my work while also encouraging me to think critically about my arguments and presentation. It not only helped me reflect on my current projects but also inspired me to plan ahead for future publications. I’m motivated to continue exploring academic writing strategies, and I can see myself returning to this book as a resource for years to come.
[Read for professional development]
Reading this felt like having a mentor by my side—someone guiding me through revising, refining, and polishing my work while also encouraging me to think critically about my arguments and presentation. It not only helped me reflect on my current projects but also inspired me to plan ahead for future publications. I’m motivated to continue exploring academic writing strategies, and I can see myself returning to this book as a resource for years to come.
[Read for professional development]
reference
December 30, 2020Comes highly recommended by people I trust so I pass on this recommendation. This is a handbook with proposed week by week plans for revising a rough draft or conference paper into a submittable journal article. The 2nd edition also includes a section on starting from zero, and on revisions after peer review.
This approach will be useful to those new to scholarly writing and publishing. I would also recommend for experienced writers. Decisions take a lot of energy and cognitive capacity that you could be using to do your research and other work. The basic plan laid out here makes some basic decisions about process for you, and guides the decisions you need to make in a way that should save you energy (and probably time). Definitely a good basic template for a process that you can then adapt to your own needs.
This approach will be useful to those new to scholarly writing and publishing. I would also recommend for experienced writers. Decisions take a lot of energy and cognitive capacity that you could be using to do your research and other work. The basic plan laid out here makes some basic decisions about process for you, and guides the decisions you need to make in a way that should save you energy (and probably time). Definitely a good basic template for a process that you can then adapt to your own needs.
June 17, 2024
This is an indispensable reference guide for junior faculty. Senior academics (of social sciences and humanities) also benefit from this book, particularly when advising a graduate student writing a thesis/dissertation. The book should not be mistaken for a methods guide. It has zero references to research design, data collection, etc, but it is a productivity guide. The section (Week 1) lists the major obstacles that authors have in sight and suggests how to defeat them. Grad students are full of those anxieties that prevent them from working on their papers. Advisors often do not care about that part of the research, and they(we) are not trained to do so. Yet, this book inspires a lot about encouraging the student towards their work. Highly recommended.
July 29, 2021
I haven't read it thoroughly, only the chapters that I'm interested in. It's a fantastic resource for doctoral students who, like me, feel we haven't received enough information on the whole process of doing a PhD. It's a great resource to learn about the publishing process and gives excellent advice for novice researchers like me. I'm also reading it with a colleague doctoral student to comment on the chapters we've been reading.
I would give it 4.5 (d*mn Goodreads for not allowing half stars) because I think it may be too long sometimes. I wish there are more summaries throughout the book and a clearer structure on the different subsections of each chapter.
I would give it 4.5 (d*mn Goodreads for not allowing half stars) because I think it may be too long sometimes. I wish there are more summaries throughout the book and a clearer structure on the different subsections of each chapter.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 77 reviews