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11,220 Words on:
Writing
Articles for Publication
This is a very
short e-book that deals with how to get your articles published
Website Created in
August 2008
By David Alderoty
Phone (212)
581-3740
E-mail is
RunDavid@Verizon.net
Scroll down to read
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using the
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Read All The Instructions First How
To Use This E-Book
This
Book Contains Sound Recordings Of The Text
This e-book contains narrations of the text,
which is recorded in audio files. If you
want to listen to the sound recordings, left
click on the hyperlinks that appear on the first page, and on Part 1, Part 2,
Part 3, and Part 4 of the book. (When the hyperlink appears in the table of
contents, you must left click twice, once to get to the page with the hyperlink,
and once again to open the sound file.) The
following is an example of one of these hyperlinks.
Left click on these words
to hear a sound file of the following:
Click on
only one link at a time. (Note, in some
cases, it can take one or two minutes for the sound files to download, after
you click on the hyperlink, but they usually download in a few seconds.)
Incidentally, the sound recordings
were produced with text-to-speech software, but the voice you hear sounds like
a professional announcer. However, you
might occasionally hear a slight pronunciation error.
Instructions On How To Open Footnotes
To
read the footnotes in this book, left click on the numbers that appear in the
sentences with footnotes. To return to
the main text after reading a footnote, see the instructions below.
Instructions On How To Return To The Main Text
After Reading A Footnote Or Viewing Another Website
To return to the main
text of this book, after reading a footnote, or viewing another website, click
on the left arrow
The
The
ideal way to use this e-book is to read the topics of your choice, and then do
an Internet
search with Google, or Yahoo, to determine the latest expert
opinions about the topics. If you want
to access information from the academic journals, do your searches with Google
scholar. To access the three search
engines mentioned above, click on the following hyperlinks.
Sophisticated
Internet Searches
If
you want to carry out sophisticated searches for websites and Internet videos,
the following web link will be very helpful for you. When you left click on this web link it will
take you to one of my websites that contains a number of unique search
strategies, many conventional and specialized search engines, directories, and
search pages, including Internet videos.
However, most of this material is focused on the psychological sciences,
but the search strategies, and search engines are usefull
for any subject, incouding writing.
Some of the material in this
e-book is in a rough draft format, and portions are study notes that I created
for college studies. This material was
modified and converted into a website in August 2008.
The Table Of Contents Consists Of A Series Of Hyperlinks
The following table of contents consists of a series of hyperlinks,
and it serves as a good outline of this book.
Left click with the mouse on the link to go to the section of the book
you are interested in reading.
Table of Contents
Read All The Instructions
First How To Use This E-Book
This Book Contains Sound Recordings Of The Text
Instructions On How To Open Footnotes
Instructions On How To Return To The Main Text After
Reading A Footnote Or Viewing Another Website
The Best Way To Use
This E-Book Is With Internet Searches
Sophisticated
Internet Searches
The Table Of Contents Consists Of A Series Of Hyperlinks
The Purpose Of
This E-Book And My Related Research
Left click on
these words to hear a sound file of Part 1
How To Deal With
The Style Related Requirements Of Magazines And Journals
The Article
Should Appear to be a Single Unit
The Focus of
Magazine and Journal Articles
The Lead of a
Magazine Article
Left click on
these words to hear a sound file of Part 2
How to write a
Technical Article for a Journal
The Writers Who
Are Most Likely to Get Published
The Emotional
And Logical Judgments Of Editors
Left click on
these words to hear a sound file of Part 3
How to Increase
the Chances of Getting Published
if You are a
Beginner and have no Special Qualifications
that would
Influence an Editor.
Writing Many
Articles From the Same Information
Left click on
these words to hear a sound file of Part 4
The
Purpose Of This E-Book And My Related Research
I wrote this paper in my effort to find
answers to a number of questions about article writing for magazines and
technical journals. Some of the
questions I wanted answers to are: How
can a beginner get published? What is
the best way of writing a magazine article?
What is the proper way to write a journal article? How can a beginner get published in a
technical journal? Is it possible to
earn money from writing articles? How
can a beginner break into this business?
To answer these questions, and many others, I studied a number of books,
some of which are listed in the reference section of this paper. I coupled the information I learned with some
creative thinking, and my answers are written in this e-book.
Left
click on these words to hear a sound file of Part 1
Most people that write articles for
magazines and newspapers consider themselves reporters. The information article writer,
as the phrasing is used in this booklet, is not a reporter. He or she is an individual who is presenting
information as a teacher. That is, their
writing usually represents ideas that they either created themselves or learned
as a result of many months or years of study.
These individuals may get their articles printed in magazines,
occasionally in newspapers and perhaps more often in technical journals.
Article writing for magazines is very different from writing for
technical journals. However, there are
some common elements and problems to both types, which will be seen throughout
this booklet. The purposes of the two
types of articles are not the same.
Magazine articles are written to attract and entertain the reader. These articles try to involve the reader
emotionally in the text. They are
sometimes written like a story. Some of
these articles put the reader into the scene.
However, the type of magazine article writing that is discussed in this
booklet also teaches the reader something, such as how to build a bookcase, the
latest theories in physics, or how to solve a difficult problem. The journal articles are also written to
teach the reader, but the readers are people who have technical expertise. These articles are not written to be
entertaining. The journal articles
provide information, which might be interesting, but that is not the primary
goal of the article. Journal articles
often present new theoretical frameworks, experimental results, and critical
evaluations of other journal articles.
There is a third type of article, which is essentially a hybrid between
the typical magazine and the technical journal.
Good examples are Scientific American, and the many computer magazines
found in bookstores and newsstands.
Before I continue this discussion it will be helpful if some
distinctions are made between several types of writing. Many people, who had a minimum exposure to
the study of writing, believe there is only two types of writing, good and
bad. The very basic rules for all types
of writing are the same, but there are rules that differ from one style to
another. A very brief discussion of six
types of writing is as follows:
· Magazine
Articles: These
articles are written to entertain and
inform the reader. Magazine articles are
written with a lead (the beginning words of the article) that is intended to
attract readers. Informal language is
often used in magazine articles.
· Newspaper
Articles: Articles
that report the news in daily papers are written also with a lead that attracts
the reader. However, the most important
information is placed on top. Less
important information is placed further down.
That is, as one descends the column the information tends to be less
important. Informal language can also be
found in this type of writing.
· Formal
Academic Style: This type
of writing is the most restrictive. Every grammar rule is adhered to. Sentences generally do not begin with BUT,
AND or any other type of coordinating conjunction. Technical terminology is generally not used
in this type of writing, unless the terms are carefully defined. As the name implies, only formal language is
used with this type of writing.
· Technical
Journal: Journal
articles are written with technical terms.
The sentences may be longer than other types of writing. The passive voice is usually quite
acceptable, and when describing certain procedures, such as an experiment, it
is preferable. Split infinitives are
sometimes considered acceptable in this type of writing. The grammar and style rules are essentially
slightly looser than the formal academic style, but they are also somewhat more
restrictive than magazine and newspaper writing in most, but not all
areas. Formal language is usually
utilized in this type of writing. The
advantage to this writing style is it offers the flexibility needed to write
very difficult descriptions in precise ways.
Informal technical writing: This type of writing is similar
to the above, except the language used is less formal. Sentences might begin with a coordinating
conjunction, such as BUT, OR, AND, etc.
The words YOU and YOURS might be used, when instructing the reader. This type of writing is often used in popular
books that teach something. Most of the
books I read on magazine article writing were written in this style. In fact, this entire booklet is written in an
informal technical writing style. This
writing style is more flexible than any of the other styles on this list. It permits the most precise descriptions and
allows for very detailed instructions.
A hybrid of technical and
magazine article writing: This type of writing involves technical
words. The material in this category is
written primarily for hobbyists, semi-experts and technically minded amateurs. It has some of the qualities of the formal
technical writing used in journals, combined with the style used in
magazines. These articles are written to
inform and entertain the reader. Such
articles are written with a lead that is intended to attract the reader. Examples, of this type of writing are found
in the computer magazines, National Geographic, Scientific American and many
other specialized publications.
However, things are not as
simple as implied above. Each magazine
and each technical journal usually has its own unique style. (This can be thought of as a sub-style.) This is discussed under the next heading.
How To
Deal With The Style Related Requirements Of Magazines And Journals
What makes magazine and journal article
writing difficult is that each periodical has its own writing style. This style includes such factors as the
perspective of the article, such as an article written from the point of view
of a young single person, housewife, a feminist, a professional chemist, a biologist,
etc. This point of view, in the literature dealing with magazine articles, is
called the slant of the article.
Each magazine essentially accepts articles with approximately the same
slant. For example, a feminist magazine
will usually only accept articles that support the feminist movement. The same term (slant) can be applied to
technical journals, which have articles slanted for specific types of experts.
Other style related elements are the configuration of the article, type
of vocabulary used and many other factors.
Thus, the ideal way of writing for a magazine or journal is to study the
periodical extensively, over a period of months. In this time the subtleties of the articles
it publishers will become apparent.
However, it will be necessary to analyze the style consciously, and
duplicate this style in your article(s) you send to that specific
magazine. Under ideal conditions the
writer should be able to answer most, if not all of the following questions
about a magazine he or she studied: (The questions that come first on the list
are generally more important than the questions that follow.)
1) What are the types of articles published by
this periodical?
2) What types of people are most likely to read
this periodical, and what kinds of articles are likely to interest them?
3) From what point of view are the articles written
from? (What is the slant of the articles?)
4) What type of vocabulary is used in the articles?
5) Are technical terms used?
6) What is the average grade level of the articles?
7) How many words long are the average articles in
this periodical?
8) How many words are the longer articles?
9) How many words are the shorter articles?
10) What is the overall configuration of the
average article? (Such as how long is
the lead or introduction? How long is
the main text? How do the articles
conclude? Does the sentence length very
from the beginning of the article to the end?)
11) What are the overall configuration and length
of the paragraphs?
12) How selective is this magazine? (This can be estimated by finding out how
much they pay for an article, the higher the price the more selective they will
generally be. In the case of a technical
journal the estimate can be made by asking the editorial staff. In general, the more prestigious a magazine
or journal the more selective they will be.)
13) What percentage of the writing is in the
passive voice?
14) What is the average sentence length?
15) How long is the average paragraph?
Some of these questions can be quite difficult to answer simply by
studying the magazine. There is a very
easy way of answering the questions that relate to mathematics, such as what is
the length of most of the articles or what is the average grade level of the
text in the magazine. The easy method
consists of the use of an optical scanner, text conversion software, a
computer, and good quality grammar checking software. The optical scanner is a device that copies
any material on paper and places it in the computer's memory. The text conversion software translates what
the optical scanner copied into standard text, which allows the user to store
it in word processing software. This
translation process allows the use of grammar checking software. Such software does a lot more than check
grammar. Most high quality grammar
checking software can automatically perform the calculations needed to answer
all of the following questions[1].
(The questions that follow were taken from the above list. The remainder of the questions on the
original list must be evaluated with human faculties.):
6) What is the average grade level of the
articles?
7) How many words long are the average
articles in this magazine? (You would
get the total word count of all the articles you placed in the system. Then you would have to divide by the number
of articles you put in the system to get the average. This also applies to the two questions that
follow, if more than one article is used for an average.)
8) How many words are the longer articles?
9) How many words are the shorter articles?
13) What percentage of the writing is in
the passive voice? (This is given in a precise percentage with the software I
use, which is called Correct Grammar.)
14) What is the average sentence length?
15) How long is the average paragraph?
(With the software I use you have to divide the number of words by the number
of paragraphs manually to get the answer.)
Good grammar checking software can answer a
number of additional questions as can be seen below.
The computer evaluated the text in this
booklet as follows:
Note this e-book was edited slightly when
it was converted into a website. The statistics you see below are for the
original material.
Correct Grammar Readability Analysis for:
C:\WP51\DOCUMENT\AWRITE
Paragraphs: 161
Sentences: 566
Words: 9679
Syllables: 15933
Sentences / paragraph 3.5
Words / sentence 17.1
Letters / word 5.1
Syllables / word 1.64
209 passive sentences 36%
Long sentences 0
Misspelled words 0
Other errors corrected 0
Sentences hard to read 0
Flesch Reading Ease score 50.2 Standard
Grade level required 12.9
%
Flesch‑Kincaid grade level 10.5
Gunning Fog index 13.9
Under ideal conditions computer analysis of your article should match
the average computer analysis obtained from the articles in the magazine you
are sending your work to. (And of
course, the human evaluations should also match.) If there is not a match, it is advisable
that you emphasize your willingness to rewrite the entire article to meet the
requirements of the editor.
The
Article Should Appear to be a Single Unit
The main body of the article should
generally consist of paragraphs that appear to be connected into one unified
verbal structure. This generally applies
to both magazine and journal articles, as well as most types of writing. That is, the good article writer wants to
avoid a string of paragraphs that do not appear to be a single unit. However, in the writing process paragraphs
are often written as separate units and then placed into specific sections of
the article. This writing method has
many advantages, especially when you are not sure how to write certain sections
of the article when you start the work.
Thus, the problem is how to connect the paragraphs into a single unit,
which we call the article. In the
following paragraphs there are a number of techniques that can be used to solve
this problem.
To connect two paragraphs change the last sentence of the first
paragraph and/or the beginning sentence of the second paragraph, in such a way
as to create a connection between the two paragraphs. Other paragraphs can be added to this two
paragraph unit in the same manner as described above until the entire article
is a single unit. The advantage to this
method is it allows you to write the article in sections. It gives the writer the freedom to think out
his ideas in separate fragments on the computer screen, and then edit and
rearrange the text with the cut and paste functions of the computer. This method also allows the writer to make good
use of outlines. There is only one
disadvantage with this technique; it is time consuming.
Another method that can be used to connect paragraphs is to use
transitional paragraphs as connecting links.
This method has all the advantages of the above. But what is a transitional paragraph? A transitional paragraph is a paragraph that
is usually short, and its beginning sentences are written so it connects
directly with the paragraph above it.
The last few sentences or words of a transitional paragraph are written
to connect the paragraph below it. The
disadvantage to this method is it may require more words to write your article
and it is time consuming.
One method of getting paragraphs that fit together perfectly is to start
writing, ideally at the beginning of the article, and continue writing until
the end of the article. In this writing
process each sentence is carefully written to relate to the previous sentence
until the article is completed. With
this technique you may find that the entire article is only one to three excessively
long paragraphs. This can easily be
corrected by breaking up the large
paragraphs into smaller ones. The result
of this writing method is the entire article generally appears that it was
created from the ground up as a single unit, which is precisely the way it was
built. Another advantage to this method
is it is very efficient. Very little
editing is needed. Thus, much time and
effort is saved. The disadvantage of
this technique is it takes a considerable amount of skill and you must have a
very good idea of what you want to write about.
With this technique you do not rearrange the paragraphs because that
would interfere with the connecting links of the paragraphs.
A modified version of the above is to write portions of the article that
are several paragraphs in length as single units. Then these units must be connected into a
single article by modifying the last sentence and/or the first sentence of each
unit so they appear to be a single structure.
The individual units can also be connected with transitional
paragraphs. Another way of connecting
these multiple paragraph blocks of text is to place a subtitle, which relates
to the entire article, on top of them, but this might not be acceptable to all
editors. (Most of this booklet was
written with the ideas described in this paragraph.)
Paragraphs that present different aspects of the same basic idea can be
connected with an introductory paragraph, which contains one general unifying
statement, such as a thesis. This format
is used in certain basic essays. It was
used to connect the above six paragraphs.
The
Focus of Magazine and Journal Articles
There are two basic types of articles, with
respect to the concept of focus. One is
the general article that has a broad focus.
A good example of this is found in encyclopedia entries[2].
These articles cover many different points of a topic. Magazine and journal articles generally
should not be written with a broad focus, like encyclopedia entries. Magazine articles generally should be
narrowly focused on a specific idea. For
example, in stead of writing an article on how to build furniture, write an
article on how to build a specific piece of furniture, such as a bookcase. The broader topic, how to build furniture,
might be fine for a book.
The focus of the article will be considered more interesting by most
editors and readers of magazines, if it includes one or more individuals. (This generally does not apply to journal
articles, where such a focus might be considered highly inappropriate by the
journal's editorial staff, unless the article was about a case history
involving psychology or a related field.)
For example, instead of writing how to build a bookcase, you can write
how you solved your problem with storage space, by building a wall to wall
bookcase. In this case you are the
person. If you write about a major
scientific discovery, it will be considered more interesting by magazine
editors, if you write about the scientist and how he or she made the discovery.
Of course, it is not always feasible or appropriate to involve a person
in an informational article. However, if
there is a person involved, in a way that is appropriate to the text, the
article will probably have a better chance of getting published. An alternative method is to use the reader as
a person. An example is: writing an
article on how you and your family can solve your storage problems by building
a wall to wall bookcase in a team effort.
(The word you refer to the readers.) Another way of involving people in your
writing is to use hypothetical individuals, which is only appropriate for
certain types of articles, which usually involve human behavior science. In such cases, you must clearly indicate that
the individuals are hypothetical and give them names. Then the hypothetical individuals are used in
explanatory examples. Of course, this
would not be considered as interesting as discussing real people.
It should be noted, that in most highly intellectual and textbook
related writing, people and theories are often kept separate, unless the
subject involves human behavior science.
For example, if you look up the theory of relativity in the encyclopedia
the article is generally totally focused on the theory, with a brief
acknowledgment about Einstein. On the
other hand, if you look up Einstein, very little is explained about his
theories. But keep in mind this is not
the way to write magazine articles; it is the way to write encyclopedia
entries.
Titles are important because they encourage
the editor and ultimate purchaser of the periodical to read the article. In journals the title can inform the reader
what material is contained in the article.
Titles can help people find the article, after it has been published, by
means of a library or computer search.
This is more true with journal articles, which have longer and more
precise titles. With magazines the title
is often changed by the editor, if the article is published. However, the primary purpose of the title for
a magazine article should be to encourage the editor to read your work, which
is a primary part of getting your manuscript published.
Magazine and journal titles are generally quite different. Magazine titles are usually short and
catchy, and might not totally indicate what is in the article. They sometimes present a mystery to the
potential reader. They are often
designed to stimulate the curiosity of any one who sees the title. Journal titles are essentially just the
opposite. They are long, and often
precisely describe what is in the article.
Journal titles can be quite clumsy, but they serve very specific
purposes quite well, which are informing the potential reader of what is in the
article and they facilitate library and computer searches.
The one way to create a title for an article is to create a preliminary
title first, and as you write you might think of a better title. The final title should be only considered when
the entire work is completed. Sometimes
creating a number of titles, such as in a brainstorming effort, can produce the
best results. The title for a magazine
article should stimulate curiosity, be fairly short, and describe some
interesting aspects of the article. The
title for a journal article should precisely reflect what is in the article, or
at least come close to this ideal. This
is not too difficult to achieve because the title can be quite long.
The
Lead of a Magazine Article
The lead of the article is the first
introductory words, which are written to attract the reader. These words also attract the editor who
decides whether or not the article gets published. Thus, in magazine articles the lead can be
quite important. The questions that you
should ask yourself about your lead are as follows:
· Does
your lead stimulate curiosity?
· Does
your lead stimulate interest?
· Does
your lead indicate why it is important for the potential reader to read the
article?
· In
general will your lead encourage the potential reader to read the entire
article?
There can be a single introductory
paragraph in a very short article, which can also be thought of as the
lead. In longer articles there may be
several paragraphs that introduce the article.
The introductory paragraphs should do just what the term implies. The reader should have a good idea about what
the remainder of the article is about after reading these paragraphs. Just like the title and the lead, the
introductory paragraphs should stimulate interest in the remainder of the
article.
(This applies to both magazine and journal
articles.) The body of the article is
the section that comes after the introduction and before the conclusion. It contains most of the information of the
article. In this section the ideas,
relationships, examples and other related information is presented. The main body can be thought of in terms of
sections, which introduce different aspects of the topic.
(This mostly applies to magazine articles,
but in some cases it can apply to journal articles also.) It is difficult to describe what constitutes
a good conclusion, because it depends on the specific article and the style
requirements of the magazine. Max Gunther states in his book (Writing the Modern Magazine
Article, fourth edition, 1982, pg 133) that: "There is only one law about
the endings of magazine articles: they must be satisfying." Writing conclusions is partly an art, as
writing is in general. Thus, there is no
precise set of instructional steps that can convey precisely how to write a
good conclusion. The general thinking
pattern needed to write good conclusions can possibly be conveyed with one or
more of the statements on the list that follows at the end of this
paragraph. Note, the statements on the
list do not have a precise instructional meaning, because we are dealing with
an art. The idea is for the writer to
follow these statements in a creative sense.
This means he or she must more or less create his own meaning, and see
if the thinking flowing from that meaning helps him write good
conclusions. If one statement does not
work try the next one on the list. If
they all do not work for you modify the wording and/or your thinking in such a
way that the modified statement helps you produce good conclusions. The statements might also help with other
aspects of writing, and are as follows:
· Think of the beginning of your article as a question, the main body as
information, and your conclusion as an answer to the question. While keeping this idea in mind write your
conclusion. (I used this to write the
conclusion to this booklet. The
conclusion that resulted suggested an excellent description of the booklet in
terms of questions, which was presented on the first page.)
· Think of the very first words of your article as a starting point in
physical space, imagine that the main body is the distance you traveled, and
think of the conclusion as your final destination. Then, describe your final destination in such
a way that it produces a satisfying ending for your article.
· Think of your article as a set of statements that logically results in a
conclusion. What conclusion do the
introductory and middle paragraphs logically lead to? Thus, you can write a conclusion with this
idea in mind.
· Think of each sentence in your article as a series of sequential
steps. When it comes time to write the
conclusion, ask yourself what are the remaining steps. Then try to develop a conclusion with this
thought in mind.
Another technique, which can be used with the above method, is presented
in this paragraph. Writing a good
conclusion can be done by following one of the statements (suggestions) on the
list at the end of this paragraph, in such a way as to convey a satisfying
ending to your article[3] Keep in mind that you are dealing with an
art, and you can create poor quality conclusions with any of these suggestions,
if you are not careful and artistic in your efforts. Of course, the idea is to select the
suggestion on the list that is appropriate to the article you are writing. The suggestions for writing conclusions are
as follows:
· Summarize
the information you presented in different wording
· Suggest
corrective action to a problem
· Show
that there is hope
· Indicate
that it is necessary to be realistic and except a problem or human limitations
· Restate
the primary point of your article
· Introduce
a new fact that connects the information you already presented into a unified
whole
· Tell an
antidote
· Restate
your lead in different words, perhaps with some reinforcement.
· Connect
your closing statements to the previous paragraph
· Wish
the reader luck on the do it yourself project that you explained in the main
body of your article
· State
that we (the scientific community, social scientists, the human race, etc.) are
still searching for answers
· Say: in
conclusion
· State
your hopes for the future
Left
click on these words to hear a sound file of Part 2
How to
write a Technical Article for a Journal
It is not easy to explain precisely how to
write a technical article, which is often based on some type of experiment or
review of published experimental literature.
First there are different types of technical articles, such as in
chemistry, physics, psychology, etc. In
the following paragraphs a special method was created to explain how to write
the various types of technical articles. This method consists of a list of questions,
with some directions, that guide the writer precisely through the steps needed
to write the article. The irrelevant
questions are ignored or modified to relate to the article that is being
written. (Some questions will generally be irrelevant because the list was made
for many different types of disciplines.)
The questions are answered in writing.
The answers to the questions should be written in such a way that it
produces the desired article, in the style requirements of the journal that you
plan to send your manuscript to. This
should be done in a deliberate way.
Alternatively the questions can be answered without thinking about the
final article, if a computer is used with word processing software. Then, after the questions are answered, the
resulting text can be modified by, correcting errors, removing unnecessary
sections of text, providing additional written information, and rearranging
with the word processor's cut and paste functions, with the aim of producing
the desired article. Whatever method is
used it is necessary to check the style requirements of the journal and edit
the text to meet the requirements.
There are seven sets of questions in the list, which can be answered in
any order, but the layout of the completed paper is as indicated by the layout
of the headings under each set of questions.
The easiest method of writing the paper is to follow the numbers next to
the word step. If you do this the
first step will be the materials and methods section, which is the fourth item
on the list[4].
1) "title of the article and
name of the author" a)
What is the title of the article? (The title should be detailed enough to
describe the article, if possible.) b)
What is the name(s) of the author(s)? c)
What affiliation(s) and title(s) does/do the author(s) have? All of the above can be easily written at any
point. The title can be changed at the
end of the work if necessary, but all of the above is listed here as Step 7.
2) "abstract" How can you describe or summarize the
article in roughly 80 to 170 words? (Describe or summarize your article in
approximately the number of words indicated.) Step 6
3) "introduction" How can you introduce your topic, in terms
of defining the problem, providing background information, which can include a
short review of already published literature?
(The introduction can be several paragraphs long, if necessary.) Step 5
4) "materials and methods" a) What materials were used? (Describe all
relevant details about the materials.) b) Who was the subject? (If there was one or
more individuals or animals involved as experimental subjects, describe all the
relevant details about them.) c) What
equipment was used? (Provide the relevant information about the equipment,
which in some situations includes the model numbers of the devices.) d) What methods were used? (Explain the methods in detail and provide
all relevant details.) Step 1
5) "results" a) What were the results? b) How can the results be described?
(Describe the results in detail.) Step 2
6) "discussion" a) What factors and/or dynamics caused the
results to turn out the way it did? b)
What theory or hypothetical model explains the results? c) How accurate are the results? d) What does the results mean? e) What does the results suggest as far as
future research is concerned? f) What
does the results mean in terms of potential applications to practical
situations? g) What would be good concluding
words for your article? (The concluding words should relate to the ideas
appropriate for the discussion section.) Step 3
7) "references"
What references did you use? Step 4
111111
The
Writers Who Are Most Likely to Get Published
The people that are most likely to get
published are famous and/or are considered to be experts by the general
public. In addition, people who have an
established reputation as a professional article writer in the minds of editors
have an excellent chance of continued success.
These people usually have a degree in journalism and built their
reputations with years of hard work.
Another category of writers that may have a moderately good chance of
getting published are individuals with formal academic qualifications. Their best chance of getting published might
be found in technical journals. If they
can write in a simplified manner they might also get published in a
magazine. However, most Ph.D. theses do
not get published. Formal degrees do not
guarantee the individual that his or her articles will be published. Thus, these people have less of a chance than
the individuals that fall into the first categories mentioned.
Writers that are most likely to get only rejection notices are
individuals who do not have formal qualifications and are not well known by the
general public or by editors. Even if
their work is excellent the editors will most likely not interpret the work as
such. This will be explained under the
next heading, and later on in the text methods will be presented to overcome
the difficulties of getting published.
The
Emotional And Logical Judgments Of Editors
Editors are human beings and the dynamics
that are likely to be activated in judging an article are partly emotional as
well as logical. When people make
judgments there is often one of two psychological dynamics that are
activated. One is called the positive
halo effect and the other is the negative halo effect, also called the
forked tail effect[5]. This is explained along with other dynamics
of the editorial selection process in the following paragraphs.
When an editor sees a manuscript from a highly successful expert or a
famous person, he is likely to interpret the material as good for
publication. If there certain minor
errors they will be ignored and left for the copy editor to correct. The high status of the writer results in a
favorable bias and the entire article is judged more favorably than it would be
otherwise, which is an example of a positive halo effect. In general, there is a tendency[6]
to judge higher status people and their work more favorably, than work of
similar quality done by lower status people.
Of course, there is a definite limit to this positive bias. If the work of a high status writer was truly
of poor quality, it would most likely be sent back for major revision or
totally rejected.
Editors are also quite logical.
He or she knows that an article written by a famous person will sell
magazines, simply because the public is interested in that individual. Thus, a poorly written article by a famous
person certainly might justify the investment of time and effort in the
rewriting process, which might have to be done by the editorial staff. Such an investment in time would generally
not be justified for an article written by a novice writer, without any fame.
Most articles that come into a large magazine are quickly rejected. The number of articles received by a magazine
can be excessively high. Part, but
certainly not all, of this rejection process is most likely psychological. That is, the negative halo effect, (forked
tail effect) might be activated in the editor's psyche. This results in a general negative bias based
on the appearance of undesirable factors, which can be lack of formal
qualifications, a typical unpublished writer, a sloppy manuscript, a
couple of grammar errors, etc. The fork
tail effect can be activated even if the manuscript is excellent, which
is likely to happen when the writer is an unknown. What tends to happen when the forked tail
effect is activated, is the person, in this case the editor, senses the unique
qualities of the manuscript and interprets them as errors or deficiencies in
writing or reasoning ability. This
interpretation would be just the opposite if the writer was of high social
status, and/or had advanced degrees. The
unique qualities may be interpreted as an act of creativity, or even an act of
genius. In general, people who are of
modest social status and achievements are evaluated at a lower level, then
higher status people, even when their work is at the same level of
quality. If an editor gets to know and
like a skillful writer, of modest status, the forked tail effect can most
likely be partly or even totally neutralized over time. However, in actual practice this might be extremely
difficult. Most editors (especially editors of major publications)
will simply want to get to know established writers that proved themselves with
other magazines.
There is some practical logic here.
Established writers may have editorial judgments that are just as good
as the editor, if the writer is familiar with the magazine. The editor knows this. Some established writers also worked as
editors at certain points in their career.
Thus, the editorial staff of a magazine might wisely consider the
established writer's articles over other writers, simply because they trust his
judgment.
When the established writer's work is rejected, it might be return for
revision, or the writer might sell it to another magazine. Actually these writers might get a
considerable amount of rejections but they also get many highly paid
acceptances.
Another very important factor that the editor considers is the
appropriateness or inappropriateness of the article for his magazine. The article can contain very interesting
ideas and be very well written and still be rejected, for reasons that are
quite logical. The information the
article contains may be of no interest to the typical reader of the magazine. In addition, there can be an excess of similar
articles that have been widely published, which may certainly reduce the
interest of the readership. Another
reason for rejection is even if the writing is excellent, it might not be
appropriate for a specific magazine. For
example, if an article was written in the academic style of a typical term
paper, most popular magazines would reject it, even if the work was
excellent. If the writer was established
or famous they might request that the entire article be rewritten with a style
that is appropriate for their magazine.
(How to deal with the style related requirements of magazines and
journals was already discussed under a separate heading.)
Left
click on these words to hear a sound file of Part 3
How to
Increase the Chances of Getting Published
if You
are a Beginner and have no Special Qualifications
that
would Influence an Editor.
In the following paragraphs there are a
number of ways that a beginner might be able to get his or her work
published. Some of the methods presented
are quite realistic, other methods are quite expensive, and some of the
suggestions would be of a modest amount of help in getting published.
Submit your work to small publications and work your way up the
latter: One of the most
realistic ways of getting published is to submit good articles to small local
publications, such as college news letters, club publications, local
newspapers, small magazines, etc. Some
of these publications might have a readership of a couple of hundred or less. The smaller the size and the poorer (in terms
of money) the greater the chances of having your work published. However, these publications usually cannot
pay for an article. Those that can pay,
will only give a tiny amount, which would not justify the time investment from
a financial perspective. Of course,
people submit articles to these small publications for non-financial
reasons. However, by starting with the
smallest publications it might be quite possible to graduate to larger
publications over a period of time. The
earlier material that was published can be used to persuade editors of slightly
higher levels to publish your work or give you a job writing. Thus, beginners can very possibly work their
way up the ladder from the smallest to the largest over a period of years; by
showing editors there published work.
This is a very important principle and if it is combined with prolonged
study of writing and one or more specific specialized subjects, such as,
journalism, psychology, sociology, the hard sciences, it is likely to lead eventually
to a financially successful occupation.
Realistically such an endeavor would probably take years to achieve,
which is true of most professions.
Incidentally, the dynamics described in the first part of the above
paragraph (starting with a small publication) is based on competition that
exists between publications. Each
magazine is in effect competing for the writers they believe are the best. They will pay as much as they can afford to
get the writers they want. The highest
paying magazines will be able to attract writers who are famous or who have a
long history of success. The medium size
publications will usually attract writers with lesser status. The lowest level publications might accept
any article that is well written, even if the person is a layman or a student,
simply because they cannot compete for the higher status writer, who is too
expensive for them.
Start your own news letter: Another way of getting published is to start
your own news letter, which is not necessarily a practical idea for all
writers. However, it is easy to produce
a news letter on a home computer with word processing software. It is relatively easy to make several hundred
copies with offset printing, photocopying methods, or even with a home printer. Of course, the difficulty would be in
distributing the publication. This can
be done more effectively if the news letter is associated with a club or
organization. It is relatively easy to
start such a club in some college environments.
This method can be quite feasible if there are a number of individuals
working together on such a project. And
of course, there is not likely to be any significant financial gain directly
from such an effort, but it might lead to future opportunities that are financially
rewarding, through the method already described.
co-author work with a formally qualified person: If you do not have the academic degrees in a
field that you are writing about the chances of getting published are
reduced. The way to get around this is
to write your article with an individual that has formal qualifications. For example, if you are writing an article on
psychology, you can write it with a psychologist that has a Ph.D. In reality, you will probably be doing most,
if not all, of the writing and research.
If the basic ideas you are presenting are the result of your creativity,
you will have to convince the formally qualified person that your ideas are
valid. The formally qualified individual
will check your work. He may make corrections,
or changes in relation to his opinion.
He might modify your creative ideas or add his own to the text. Your work must represent his opinion as well
as yours because he is a co-author. When
the formerly qualified individual makes changes you will most likely have the
responsibility for rewriting the paper.
This is not necessarily a negative, because most likely you have much
more writing expertise than he. This is
also a highly practical idea if you can find a qualified person that is willing
to work with you, but there are some disadvantages to this idea. The individual with the formal qualifications
will probably get most of the credit for the work. If you received money for the article from a
publisher part of the money would go to the formally qualified person that
worked with you. In most cases probably
one fourth to one half of the money should go to the formally qualified
person. The actual amount should be determined
by the amount of effort and or time he or she put into the article.
A modification of the above idea, which is probably more appropriate for
a book, is to use the formally qualified person as an editor. His name would have to appear on the work as
an editor. This modified method would be
probably less effective than the above, but you would get more credit for the
work if it was actually published.
Another method that is also related to the above, is to have the expert
(such as a psychologist) check and correct your work if necessary. Then have him or her write a letter
confirming (certifying) that your work is accurate from the perspective of the
profession involved. If the article is
submitted to a publication along with the certifying letter of accuracy, there
is a better chance of getting your work published.
Co-author your work with a well‑known writer or famous person: If you happened to know a well‑known
writer or famous person you might be able to persuade them to co-author an
article with you. This would greatly
increase the chances of getting published, especially if the person was truly
famous. In the real world it is highly
unlikely that you could create such a relationship, if one does not already
exist, unless you have some unusual qualifications. Famous people and writers who are well known
are usually overwhelmed by offers.
Submit many articles:
The more articles you submit the greater the chances of getting
published. Sometimes it is simply a
matter of luck, which article gets accepted.
If the editor happens to need an article of the type you submitted, he
may decide to publish it. If your style
happens to stimulate his interest, he might decide to put it in the next
issue. Generally only a small percentage
of articles are accepted for publication.
The percentage for people that are not famous or well‑known
writers are even smaller. Thus, the more
you submit, the better your chances.
Indicate a willingness to write or rewrite the article to fit the
editors requirements: Add a
cover letter with your article, explaining your willingness to rewrite the
article to fit the requirements of the magazine. This willingness should be emphasized, but
you should indicate in a very subtle way, if feasible, confidence in your
current draft. The cover letter should
also try to sell the idea in the article, if that can be accomplished in a
tactful way. Most of the selling will be
done by the article itself. However, if
you have any qualifications or have published some articles, it should also be
put in this letter. This method is
probably much better than sending a quarry letter if you are not an established
writer, who is known by the editor.
Use photography with your writing when appropriate: And still another way of increasing the
chances of getting your article published is to learn photography. If you can produce near professional quality
photographs and use this material with your writing, you have a better chance
of getting published. This skill will
not necessarily help all types of articles.
The skill is most useful in articles that instruct the reader on how to
do something, such as how to build a book case.
This skill might be useful also for some types of journal articles. There are certain types of experimental
results that can be documented with photographic methods. Journal articles discussing microscopic
entities will be enhanced by photographs taken through a microscope. Of course, such skills can only be developed
with many hours of study and practice, which might be a good investment of time
for some writers.
Use computer sketching in your writing: If you can use a CAD (computer aided design)
program or drawing software to make diagrams to accompany your writing you will
probably have a better chance of getting your writing published. This of course, only applies to situations
where drawings and sketches are needed to help illustrate the ideas in the
text. This skill will probably be most
valuable in writing certain types of articles for technical journals.
Use the internet to advertise your work: There are a number of ways that published
material can be advertised on the internet.
One method involves a special service, which cost $300 to $500 a year. If there are 100 or more orders for your
work, which should be put in book form, the material is published and the
author receives 20 percent of the money earned from the sale. Unfortunately, advertising on the internet is
equivalent to advertising on your home telephone answering machine. It is highly unlikely that many people will
log into that specific number where your book is advertised.
Publish the articles yourself: Another way of getting articles published is
to publish them yourself in book form.
There publishing companies that will publish and distribute your work
for a fee. There is a chance that the
books will sell at a profit, but it is not likely that this would happen in
most cases. However, having a published
work might facilitate a person's career,
which could lead to financial reward.
Unfortunately, this is a very expensive option, one company, Vantage
Press, gave me an estimate of approximately $15,000 for 500 to 1000 copies,
which included distribution costs.
Is it possible to make money selling
articles? The answer is it is possible,
but quite difficult unless you can develop an established reputation as a
professional writer. If you are
perceived as some type of expert your chances are better. This was already discussed in the preceding
paragraphs.
The fees that are paid for most articles
are rather modest, roughly from $75 to $250.
Some publications even pay as little as $25 and there are some that may
pay more than $250. The major magazines,
which are highly selective, may pay established
writers $1000 to $3000 for one article.
Keep in mind the length of these articles can range from a few hundred
words to approximately 6000 words, with a rough average of about 1400 to 1800
words. There can be a considerable
investment in time writing articles in the precise way needed for
publication. Also many of the articles
are likely to be rejected or require major revision before they are accepted by
an editor. Much of the time investment
will be spent trying to sell articles, which can involve mailing out hundreds
of letters to publications all over the
However, according to Duane G. Newcomb, as his ideas were expressed in
his book A Complete Guide to Marketing Magazine Articles, it is quite
possible to make a business from selling articles. The primary idea is efficiency. Newcomb suggested that you figure an hourly
rate by estimating the time it takes to write and sell an article. To make a satisfactory income you would have
to develop a considerable level of efficiency, which could involve producing
thirty or forty articles a month. He
recommended at most of your sales should be aimed at medium size publications,
as opposed to the few major magazines.
The major magazines pay considerably more, but the articles they demand
often require much more time to produce and there is a very high probability
that your article will be rejected. The
idea is to focus on the markets that pay much smaller fees, but there are a
large number of such publications. They
are much less selective than the major publications. Articles for these publications can often be
produced in a few hours, if you are an experienced magazine writer.
If you are not a published writer your primary goal must be to get
published, and not to think about efficiency or money. Then after you have published a number of
articles then your focus should switch to efficient article production and
sales, with an emphasis on a good hourly rate of financial return.
Under the following headings there is additional information that can be
used to develop the business of magazine article writing.
What Are the
Different Types of Informational Articles
There are a number of types of informational articles, some of which are
presented in the following list:
The general
hard science article This is any type of article that deals with
technological or natural science.
Examples are articles on: astronomy, biology, chemistry, nature, physics
and technology. If you have a degree in
any of these fields or can work with someone who has a degree, these articles
can be a good choice to write for possible sales.
General social science article These are articles that deal
with human behavior science, such as anthropology, sociology and
psychology. Ideally, if you are writing
in this area you should have a degree in the field or be working with someone
who has.
Self-improvement articles These articles teach various
ways of improving oneself. Examples are
articles on: applied psychological principles, better methods of communicating,
physical exercise, social skills and weight reduction. Once again you have a better chance of
selling these articles if you have a degree in the field or if you are working
with someone that does.
Health articles These articles deal with health
problems, and methods of maintaining good health. If you can work with a physician when writing
such articles, there will be a better chance of getting published.
How to articles These articles explain how to do
something, such as how to build a table, how to improve your multimedia
computer, how to bake a cake. These
articles can be quite short. If good
quality photographs are provided the chances of selling these articles are
better and the amount you get will probably be greater.
List articles These articles give a number of
ways of improving something, such as ten ways to improve your health, five ways
to improve your writing, eight ways to improve your income. List articles can also be quite short, and
relatively easy to write.
The technical article for the
amateur These articles deal with technical subjects,
such as computer technology, photography, electronics, mechanics, etc.
Technical articles for
professionals These articles are written for
professionals. They contain information
on experimental research, the development of new theories, and critical
evaluations on previous research. The
articles in this category may become part of the established literature, which can eventually appear in
textbooks. Generally there is no fee
paid for these articles, but getting such articles published can advance your
career.
Articles
for trade journals[7] These journals are in certain ways similar to
the above, and sometimes the professional journals are even considered to be
trade journals. The distinction is
articles that appear in most trade journals are not the result of experimental
research. They are essentially articles
that relate to a trade in some way. A
fee is usually paid for these articles.
Providing photographic material will increase your chances of selling
your work to these publications.
Photographs will also increase the value of your article.
Business articles These articles deal with
problems of business, management, economic and other factors that can affect business.
Writing Many Articles From the
Same Information
It is possible to write a number of
magazine articles from the same information.
(This technique is outlined in detail in the Handbook of Magazine
Article Writing edited by Jean M. Fredette,
1988.) For example, if you write an
article on problem solving for a family magazine, you can produce a second
article on problem solving for a business oriented publication. The lead and slant of the various articles
produced with the same information is of course different. That is, the articles must be written to meet
the needs of the publication that you are sending the manuscript to, but the
article can contain essentially the same information you use to write other
articles. The advantage of this
technique is a saving of time. Once you
have mastered the knowledge to write a specific type of article, such as an
article on problem solving, you can write a second third and fourth article in
much less time. This saving in time is
important for those who engage in magazine writing for a living. The technique simply means making more money
in less time.
A modified version of the above is to add some additional data to the information you already used to
write articles. For example, if you have
written several articles on problem solving, you can add some information to
your knowledge about problem solving and write a new set of articles such as
how to solve very difficult problems.
Left
click on these words to hear a sound file of Part 4
Many books on writing recommend that a quarry letter describing the
article that you plan to write be sent to the editor. This includes journal articles. Thus, the editor will instruct you on what
he or she wants. If the editor is
not interested you saved time, which would have been spent writing an article
that would have been rejected. It is
easy to write dozens of quarry letters, especially with a computer. The same letter can be used with a different
name for the editor. Thus, you could
make hundreds of offers in a very short time to find an editor that is
interested in a specific article you plan to write. And when you find an editor that is
interested, you can tailor the article to his precise desires.
My opinion is quarry letters would only work for well known writers who
have been widely published and for established Ph.D. writers for technical
journals. The method would also probably
work for less prominent writers, if the editor knows them and already published
some of their work. If you fall into the
above category then quarry letters are extremely useful, if not then the above
is not good advice for you.
Much of the published advice on writing articles comes from highly
successful writers that are well known to editors. Most of their advice is quite useful for
anyone who writes. However, some of
their suggestions would only work for individuals that are more or less similar
to themselves. This is especially the
case with the quarry letter. A busy
editor will probably quickly reject almost any quarry letter from an individual
who is unknown to him or her.
An alternative method to the quarry letter was presented earlier in this
text. Basically the idea was to send a
cover letter along with your manuscript indicating your willingness to rewrite
the entire article to meet the precise specifications of the potential
publisher.
Since the quarry letter is useful when you reach a certain level of
establishment in the field it is worth knowing how to write these letters,
which is explained under the next heading.
A quarry letter can be written by answering
the questions at the end of this paragraph in writing. Ignore or modify the questions that are
irrelevant to you and your article. When
answering these questions keep in mind that your answers are intended to sell your
idea to the editor. Your final answers
should be edited in such a way as to produce a one or two page formal business
letter making your offer. During the
editing process it might be necessary to remove some text or add additional
information. It is better to keep the
letter to a single page if possible. The
questions for this letter writing process are as follows:
· Your opening statement: What would you like to write about? (Tell the editor what you would like to write
about and ask him if he is interested.)
· Te summary of the article you plan to write: What are the primary points of
your article? (Give a brief summary of your article. This summary should be as interesting as
possible.)
· Your Qualifications a) What are your qualifications to write this
article? b) Do you have any formal degrees? c) What articles did you publish in the
past? d) What are the most impressive
magazines that published your articles?
Try to answer these questions in such a way as to convince the editor
that you are qualified to write the article.
Add any other information to persuade the editor of your ability to do
the job.)
· The closing statement What is your closing statement? (Ask the
editor, if he or she is interested in your article to contact you at a specific
phone number and address.)
Thus, the answer to the question, can you
get published, is yes, but there is some type of price involved, which can
involve time, effort and money. If the
time and effort investment is low, the money investment might be high (as can
be seen from the fees of Vantage Press) or the editor that accepts your work
might be from an insignificantly small publication, who cannot pay any
fee. If the time and effort investment
includes both years of study and building a reputation as an established
article writer, there may be significant financial rewards for your
effort. However, you must keep in mind
that in the article writing field being good or even excellent by itself will
not get you published. You must convince
editors and readers that your efforts are truly valuable.
Jean M.
Fredette editor Writer's Digest The
Handbook of Magazine Article writing, 1988
Max Gunther Writing the Modern Magazine Article,
1982.
Editor
Kirsten C. Holm 1997 Writer's Market, 1996.
Michael
H. Markel Technical Writing Situations and Strategies, third edition,
1992.
Duane G
Newcomb A Complete Guide to Marketing Magazine Articles, 1975.
[1] I analyzed many of
my own documents with grammar checking software. I did not apply the technique described to
magazine articles because I do not own an optical scanner. To use computer analysis without a scanner
would require typing articles into the computer manually, which is not feasible
because of the time required.
[2] Max Gunther, in his book Writing the Modern Magazine Article,
emphasized this point, and he used the encyclopedia article as a comparison
with the magazine article.
[3] Note the wording: in
such a way as to convey a satisfying ending to your article The actual way is not stated, because this
will be different for each person and article.
That is, writing conclusions is an art.
[4] The words in
quotation marks come from Technical Writing Situations and Strategies by
Michael H. Markel, third edition, 1992, page 479.
[5] The positive halo effect and the forked
tail effect, are widely known
concepts that come from social psychology.
The positive halo effect is a favorable bias based on one or more
positive traits, with the positive trait often being irrelevant to a sensible
evaluation. The forked tail effect
is an unfavorable bias based on superficial or irrelevant negative traits. The theoretical ideas behind these concepts
have been experimentally verified, in a
wide range of situations. I do not know
if there was any experimentation done with article writing and editors, but it
is most likely that editors have the same psychological responses as the rest
of the human population.
[6] There are most
likely exceptions to this tendency.
There are situations where there are greater expectations of a high
status person. If they deliver average
work, they may be criticized for the same work that a lower status person might
receive a compliment for. However,
generally the tendency is to unconsciously interpret the higher status person's
work more favorably, even if it is average, which reduces the chance of such
criticism.
[7] According to
Writer's Market (edited by Kirsten C Holm 1996) suggests that trade journals
are a good market that is often overlooked by writers, until they become aware
of the many opportunities in this area.
Incidentally, this publication should be carefully studied by anyone who
is hoping to get published.