Publishing Opportunities for Academic Writing

written by Melody Pujols and Laurie McMillan

One of the hallmarks of a college career is learning how to conduct research that matters. You might have had some introduction to it in high school or even earlier, but chances are that college is most people’s first introduction to scholarship that contributes to a disciplinary field.

Of course, the point of conducting research is to acquire more knowledge and knowledge should ideally be shared. If you’re ready to take that step, here are some venues to consider as a potential home for academic writing that you’re really proud of—academic writing that others would like to read.

Multidisciplinary Journals

Journal of Undergraduate Research and Scholarly Excellence

Perspectives on Undergraduate Research and Mentoring [articles co-authored by faculty and students]

Lethbridge Undergraduate Research Journal

Reinvention: A Journal of Undergraduate Research

Pittsburgh Undergraduate Review

SURJ: Stanford Undergraduate Research Journal

Rhetoric, Literacy, and Writing Studies

Young Scholars in Writing: Undergraduate Research in Writing and Rhetoric

Xchanges

Queen City Writers

Other Discipline-Specific Journals

The Journal for Undergraduate Multimedia Projects (also known as The JUMP…not really discipline-specific, but it’s the perfect place for digital and other multimedia projects!)

International Undergraduate Journal for Service Learning, Leadership, and Social Change

Critique: A Worldwide Student Journal of Politics

The Dialectics: Journal of Law, Leadership, and Society

Inquiries Journal: Social Sciences, Arts, & Humanities

Undergraduate Research Journal for the Human Sciences

And a few tips before you submit….

If you’re not certain whether a specific journal is the right home for your writing, spend some time reading past issues. If you find some subject areas that interest you and if the writing seems similar to yours in terms of style, quality, and content, your chances of publishing with that journal increase.

Make sure you review all the submission guidelines. They are there to avoid wasting the time of the people who submit their writing as well as the people who will review the writing. You should take those guidelines seriously.

You should be prepared for rejection, which is often part of the publishing process. You should also be prepared to revise your work so that it meets the standards and guidelines of a particular journal.

While anything less than enthusiastic acceptance and praise may be challenging, please know you are in good company. Most people who publish their writing tend to experience a good amount of rejection and do more revising of their work than most of us like to even imagine!

Why even bother if it’s not easy? Because you’ve made some discoveries in your work that other people might be interested in or benefit from. Why keep your discoveries to yourself? It feels fantastic to have your writing out in the world where others will read it and appreciate it.

Good luck! and if you know of other good venues for undergraduate research and writing, give us your tips in a comment!

Laura Toffler – A Talk On How To Get Your Writing Published

By Melody Pujols

This past week, Professor Laura Toffler gave a professional talk on the process of getting your writing published. She is the author of works such as The Life and Opinions of Amy Finawitz and My Totally Awkward Supernatural Crush.

As you can probably imagine, her talk comes at a very opportune time. We’re very much in the second half of the semester at this moment and, as numerous students prepare to finsih their final assignments and get ready to graduate, upcoming projects are on everyone’s mind.

In a department such as ours, it is only expected that numerous creative minds should be at work. Whether it’s for academic purposes or for leisure, many students within the English and Modern Langauges department have some form of creative writing that they have recently worked on. It is only natural then that many might have the possibility of publishing in mind.

Professor Toffler’s talk definitely touched on some key points; such as the importance of understanding one’s writing process, the purpose of having a literary agent, and just why we need to pay attention to trends within the publishing industry.

Just to give you an idea of some of the details gone over, below are some quotes from several of the student’s present:

1. TJ Combs

“Sometimes it’s luck as much as talent when it comes to being ahead of literary trends as an author.”

2. Nick Neuner

“I enjoyed the idea of writing about what you relate to. It’s the idea of being genuine and invested in your work. For me, identity and gender have been a central idea of my writing and have allowed for me to write in genres I never anticipated.”

3. Briana Michas

“Publishing is a lot of work and is definitely hard! However, if you have a good idea, an audience, patience, perseverance, and a tough skin, you will make it.”

Photo Credits to Dr. Jane Collins

Reading Into Professor Laura Toffler

Faculty Profile: Professor Laura Toffler
by Caroline Migliaro

Background

Professor Laura Toffler is not only an English professor here at Pace University, but she is also a published author as well. Growing up Professor Toffler loved to read and write and always wanted a career that involved writing. As a child she never wanted to go to sleep at night—all she wanted to do was stay up and write.

When she was in middle school, she and her friends would always write funny stories and letters with each other in their spare time. Doing something that makes you feel good and welcoming the responses of others helped her to find her passion and stay motivated. 

Methodology and Inspirations

Reading and writing is essentially everything in Professor Toffler’s career. In order to be a writer, you need to read regularly and enjoy it. Finding inspiration to write can be very hard and when something doesn’t click it can be very discouraging. After a while, she says, everyone begins to develop a critical sense of what’s working and what’s not. When it comes to writing stories professionally it is essential to know what’s selling in that specific market and to be very aware of the current trends. It’s important to live life from a certain point of view and to understand your voice.

Professor Toffler says that writers are constantly changing, learning, and growing. It’s important to set new goals and even adjust your older goals; being open-minded is key. For example, Professor Toffler’s agent just suggested that she should do a picture book. She never considered getting into picture books until it was suggested.

Finding inspiration from other people helped her on her journey to becoming an author. A faculty member that inspired her in her past was Patricia Reilly Giff. Professor Toffler used to take workshops taught by Giff and found them to be very helpful and made her feel a sense of excitement about writing. Giff was very generous and well established which made her a perfect mentor. Due to Giff’s brilliant advice and teaching methods, everyone from that specific class that Patricia Reilly Giff taught has gotten published. Professor Toffler also took inspiration from very well established writers and their pieces. Two of professor Tofflers favorite authors are JD Salinger and Kurt Vonnegut. 

Her Career Today

Although she found success in becoming an author it wasn’t an easy road getting to where she is today. She wound up, in the end, acquiring an MFA from NYU in dramatic writing. Today Professor Toffler is the author of two books called The Life and Opinions of Amy Finawitz and My Totally Awkward Supernatural Crush.

Being a writer allowed Professor Toffler to meet other friends within her industry with whom she is able to relate to and give/receive advice about the industry. To this day she is still surprised she is lucky to have a career within this industry and is surprised she was able to stick with it. She says, in the beginning, you always start out hoping you will be successful when the truth is nothing comes easy in the arts.

It’s important for new writers to be on their toes, understand that the industry can be very complicated, and to understand that the industry is ALWAYS changing. Overall she is very happy to be teaching and writing. She says that her students are what inspires her and that combining family with teaching and socializing with work means the world to her.

Advice To Students

At the end of my interview with Professor Toffler, I asked her if she has any advice for current English majors, education majors, college students, etc. She proceeded to give me a long list of advice that she would have for these students here at pace. Here is some of the advice she has:

• Find your own unique writing voice.
• Read and write often.
• Start to take workshops and see what’s working with your writing.
• Join some sort of professional organization for writers and authors.
• Begin to research the industry of writing.
• Find ways to interact with other new writers, whether it’s connecting with people virtually and/or in workshops.
• Know that everyone has an equal chance and connections in the industry don’t necessarily matter.
• Keep trying and don’t give up.