5 reasons why journal articles get rejected and how to avoid them:
❌ Article not a "good fit" for a journal
💡 A journal focuses on postcolonial writing and you submit a paper on a 19th cent. American novel
✅ Read the aim and scope of your target journal. Also read back issues from the last two years to learn about the "hidden curriculum."
💡 A journal focuses on postcolonial writing and you submit a paper on a 19th cent. American novel
✅ Read the aim and scope of your target journal. Also read back issues from the last two years to learn about the "hidden curriculum."
❌ No clear argument
💡 You either don't have an argument or you bury it under dozens of citations.
✅ Learn about frontloading your argument. Example: Benedict Anderson's "Imagined Communities." He presents his whole argument in the first seven pages of the book.
💡 You either don't have an argument or you bury it under dozens of citations.
✅ Learn about frontloading your argument. Example: Benedict Anderson's "Imagined Communities." He presents his whole argument in the first seven pages of the book.
❌ No engagement with recent scholarship
💡 You don't engage with scholarship published during the last 2-5 years.
✅ Read latest scholarship in your field. Situate your argument with respect to other scholars' recently published works.
💡 You don't engage with scholarship published during the last 2-5 years.
✅ Read latest scholarship in your field. Situate your argument with respect to other scholars' recently published works.
❌ Submitting a student paper
💡 You get an A on a seminar paper and submitted it to a journal thinking it's cutting-edge research. It isn't.
✅ Seek feedback from your professors. Revise/rewrite your seminar paper thoroughly before submitting it.
💡 You get an A on a seminar paper and submitted it to a journal thinking it's cutting-edge research. It isn't.
✅ Seek feedback from your professors. Revise/rewrite your seminar paper thoroughly before submitting it.
❌ Descriptive not analytic
💡 Your want to write about a novel and start by giving its plot summary.
✅ Analyze, don't describe. Always foreground your analysis and argument. This, of course, requires patience, training, and multiple drafts.
💡 Your want to write about a novel and start by giving its plot summary.
✅ Analyze, don't describe. Always foreground your analysis and argument. This, of course, requires patience, training, and multiple drafts.
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1. Scroll to the top and press the "Like" button on the first tweet.
2. Follow me @MushtaqBilalPhD for more tips on academic writing.
3. Sign up for my free newsletter if you want academic writing tips delivered to your inbox. Link in my bio ☝️
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