Sharing Academic Articles Online

I've recently realized that making academic work available and visible is just as important as creating academic work. This is probably pretty obvious to most scholars and writers, but other than publishing in academic journals, I haven't focused a lot of effort on getting my academic work in front of other scholars and practitioners. Sure, having the article actually published in an appropriate peer-reviewed journal is vital, but there are many other things that can be done to get work out there.

I recently made the effort to share pre-publication drafts of most of the academic articles that I have written and had published in academic journals. I want to disseminate my scholarly work as broadly as possible, and while I've shared some of these articles in the past on this blog, I thought it would be a good idea to share them in a more systematic, comprehensive way.

So, here is how I now share my academic articles.

1. My Professional Site.  I had already linked to a couple of my articles, but I updated the list and shared nearly all of the articles that have written or coauthored that have been published or accepted for publication. I used WordPress to create the site, and it was surprisingly easy to create the page and import the documents.
   
2. Academia.edu. I created a profile and shared most of these same articles on that profile. The advantage to this (and similar sites) is that it allows you to tag your articles, which makes it a lot easier for people to find the article. In addition, others using the site follow those tags and follow one another, which facilitates sharing between affinity groups. The site is easy to set up and it is surprisingly easy to share new articles on the site.
3. Twitter and LinkedIn. I have already shared many of my recent articles using these media, but I plan to also share the other articles. I'll also link back to the profile on academia.edu so that the articles get increased exposure. Again, very easy ways to share knowledge.
4. This Blog. I have shared several of my papers here at this blog and use it as a way to share my current ideas and thoughts related to learning, instructional design, and success. I get a lot of traffic to this site, and one of my articles, Applying Merrill's First Principles of Instruction, has been viewed over 2000 times in the last year and a half. It has definitely been a good way to get my work out there. I use blogger for my blog, and it has worked really well.

I think this will be a good start. And another benefit is that I now have specific online locations to share my new articles when they are published, which will make it easy to access and share them with other interested individuals. Any other ideas on how to share academic work?

Related Post: Day 3 AECT 2012: Part 1 - Sharing Your Work as an Academic

Confessions of a Boring Academic Writer

The other day I was looking back at some of the academic articles I have written and I had a somewhat disturbing realization:  I have become a boring academic writer. I recently looked back at some of my writing on this blog, and although there have been flashes of interestingness, I largely use the dry, third-person, detached approach.

I'm not as worried about myself in other areas of life- I really like people, I think I am reasonably humorous, and I think (hope) that the classes I teach are pretty engaging and perhaps even fun for my students. But somehow my writing has become abysmally dry.


I Blame My Academic Training
Why has my writing become so dry? I blame my academic training. As scholars we are taught to be "objective" in our research and therefore we are often taught to write in a formal, objective tone. We are taught to detach ourselves from what we are observing, to be systematic, to be methodical. If you want an example of detached, third-person sort of writing, read my dissertation. Better yet, don't. Unless you are really excited about instructional design or research methods, you will find it really boring.

Now, I am not attacking academic research and writing. In fact, I believe it is extremely important because it provides knowledge that can be used to improve the human condition. I believe that my experience in graduate school was absolutely transformational, and would never trade that experience away. But one unfortunate byproduct is mind-numbingly boring writing, something I would like to change in my own writing.

Sometimes Interesting
I feel like every once in a while I put out something interesting and engaging - I enjoyed writing this post on My Irritations When Flying, for example - but most of the time I worry that I am altogether to detached and scholarly-sounding.

How to Write Less Boring?
So, how can I break free of this serious, academic, dry approach to my writing? (Feel free to view this as a cry for help. Not that I am going to go crazy or gain 50 depression-induced pounds or anything weird like that - just that I am open to suggestions on how to improve my writing). I feel like I need to break free of the boring academic structure that my mind finds itself trapped in.

Any advice from interesting writers?

How to Structure Academic Writing

To access a PDF copy of this blog post and other articles, visit my Academia.edu page. 

Introduction

In academic settings, writing is the most fundamental method for sharing knowledge. This is true for scholars who share their work through peer-reviewed journals, and it is also true for students writing in learning settings. However, many students (and even scholars) often fail to provide coherent structure to their academic writing. This is a problem because using an appropriate structure allows the writer to express ideas more effectively. In addition, using appropriate structure aids the reader in understanding what is written more easily. As an instructor of graduate courses at several universities, I have found that many of my students have benefited from guidance on how to structure their papers; therefore, in this post, I will share a useful, basic reasoning structure for writing academic papers. I will also share how to structure academic papers using this thought structure. I will then provide a set of tips for making a paper more structured and more readable. Finally, I will share examples of how I have used this structure. 

The Basic Reasoning Structure for Academic Writing

In my experience, the basic reasoning structure for academic writing has three basic components. (1) A general description of the context or situation being discussed. This orients the reader to the topic of the paper and helps the writer focus on that context while writing. (2) A description of the problem or need being discussed. This helps the reader understand why the paper is relevant or useful and helps the writer keep focused on the specific needs. (3) A description of the solutions that are being proposed or reported. This provides the reader with something that they might use or apply themselves. The image below summarizes this basic reasoning structure.

Structuring Academic Papers

The basic reasoning structure described above should be used as part of a coherently structured academic paper. An academic paper typically has five main sections:

1. The Abstract summarizes the entire paper in one paragraph. These abstracts are typically somewhere between 150 and 500 words and are not included in the main body of the paper. Student papers often do not require an abstract.
2. The Introduction introduces the topic being discussed, briefly describes the problem that is being addressed and previews the solutions being discussed or described in the body of the paper.
3. The Body of the paper discusses in detail the problem being discussed, as well as the solution being proposed or presented. If research was performed, this section includes a description of the methods, procedures, and results of the research. The body of the paper can include several sub-sections.
4. The Discussion attempts to interpret the findings the paper or of the research and discusses their significance and/or meaning.
5. The Conclusion summarizes the paper and provides recommendations for future actions and research.

***Here is an important point: The reasoning structure described above (context, problem, solution) should be followed in the abstract, in the introduction, in the body of the paper, and in the conclusion. The reader needs to have continuity between each section of the paper, and using this same structure will provide that continuity. Applying this kind of structure should also help the writer stay focused on the key issues of the paper.

A Note on Evidence and Critical Thinking
Good academic writing is based on evidence. This evidence can come in many forms - research, well-document experiences, or verifiable information are all good sources of evidence. Not only should the assertions in an academic paper be based on evidence, but the reasoning should be clear and reflect critical thinking. With both of these elements in place, an academic paper has a strong foundation and the structure of the paper becomes more clear.

Tips for Making a Paper Readable

In my experience, using the following tips can make an academic paper more readable and well-structured. I try to follow these tips when writing my own papers and blog posts.

• Use headings and sub-headings - this provides further structure to text and orients the learner to what is being discussed.
• Share figures and images - well-designed images can clarify important points and help to summarize what is being discussed in the article.
• Use tables to organize complex information - well-designed tables can summarize complex information effectively and help learners see the relationships between concepts being discussed.
• Use bullet lists to summarize key points - bullet lists of key concepts can help learners to organize what they are learning more effectively.
• Use bold or italicized text to further organize and structure the text. This helps learners to focus on what is important in the paper and can help students further mentally organize what they are reading.

Examples of Structure in Academic Papers

Example 1 - This Blog Post

The first example of structure in academic writing is this blog post. If you look back at this post, you will see that I have attempted to apply the strategies and tips I describe in the post. Here is how:

1. The Reasoning Structure - In this blog post, I've tried to follow the basic reasoning structure.
1. Context or Situation- In the introduction, I describe how academic writing is a fundamental way that we share knowledge in an academic environment.
2. Problem or Need - In the introduction, I describe the how students (and some scholars) often have a hard time structuring their papers effectively.
3. Solution - In the introduction, I previewed how I would provide structures that students can use in their writing. Then in the body of the paper, I provide several tools a student might use to structure their papers effectively.
2. Structuring the Blog Post -  In this blog post, I also follow the basic structure of an academic paper, though I did not provide an abstract.
1. Introduction - I described the context or situation (writing in academic settings), share a specific problem (students struggling with structuring their papers) and preview how my blog post might provide solutions to that problem (giving a reasoning structure and a paper structure). 
2. The Body of the blog post - In this section, I share my solutions to the problems identified in the introduction. You will note that I didn't reiterate or expand on the context or the problem- this is often done in academic papers but for the purposes of this blog post, I keep it succinct. 
3. The Summary of the blog post - In this section, I summarize the situation, the problem or need,and the solutions I am proposing.
3. Using the Tips - In this blog post, I also attempt to use the tips that I described above. I used italics and bold text, provided an organizing image, used bullet lists to summarize concepts, and use headings and sub-headings to structure the paper. 

More Examples

Below I link to some of the articles and academic papers I have written in the past. These articles should serve as examples of the strategies described above. I begin with a simple example and move to more complex examples to show the variety of ways these structures can be used.

• Article: Applying Merrill's First Principles of Instruction - This article describes how to easily apply some foundational principles of instruction. The article follows most or all of the structure strategies described in this paper.
• Article: A Conceptual Framework for Organizing Active Learning Experiences in Biology Instruction - This article is much more complex, but it again demonstrates the strategies discussed in this paper.
• Dissertation: Testing the Efficacy of Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction in Improving Student Performance in Introductory Biology Courses. This very large publication uses the same strategies discussed in this blog post. It is fairly complex but still follows the basic structures.

Summary
Because academic writing is crucial in an academic setting, it is vital that students can understand and apply basic strategies for structuring their academic writing. I have found that using the strategies above for structuring the reasoning of a paper, structuring the paper itself, and using strategies for making the paper more readable can help students create papers that are more organized and readable. I've provided examples that students can review to see how the structures can be applied in meaningful ways. In further posts, I plan to provide a general template that students can download and use in their academic writing.