by Hilary Dow
What is the process of researching and publishing a piece of writing? And how do you start?
I am in the early stages of writing a research paper that I will later attempt to publish. I am writing the article on Suzy Lake’s artwork and its relationship to Feminist critiques of the Beauty culture industry.
Suzy Lake, Beauty at a Proper Distance, 2002. Artwork © Suzy Lake.
Here’s a countdown of the lessons I have learned about writing an article.
#5. Structure Your Article Like an Essay
Seeing as you could write your piece and submit it to an academic or popular publishing company, you should begin by writing your piece in essay format. You may decide to submit the paper for a class project, an essay-writing contest, a magazine article, or a scholarly article. If you begin writing a larger, solidified text, you can then efit and customize your piece to suite your needs. For my article, I am aiming to write roughly 20 pages, so if I write this bulk of text with the main points now, I condense it at a later point.
#4. Find a Research Guide
Researching is tricky: it is difficult to know what the scope of your research is. How much do I need to research this topic? How do I specify my topic?
When I start a research paper, I (more often than not) research too much. I try to find every article, book, and morsel of information on the general topic.
Thankfully, I got some direction on this project when I received a research guide from Professor Brown. In the guide, I was able to learn how to find a research question. Articulating what you want to study and prove in a condensed question is a great tool to narrowing down a research focus for an article. You can find other research guides on University websites and library sites.
Another approach is to brainstorm ideas using charts, diagrams or free-writing to decide what research question you want to answer. Whatever topic you choose, make sure it is specific!
#3. Find out the Submission Guidelines of the Publisher
This is a crucial step in preparing what you have to do for publishing a work of writing. Finding out how to submit an article to a publishing company is (surprisingly) simple. One of the publishing companies that I wish to submit to is C Magazine.
I turned to Google, and typed “C Magazine submission” in the search engine. The simple search resulted in this link, http://cmagazine.com/about/submissions. After reading their guidelines, I realized that for this particular publisher, I can send an e-mail in advance to ask if the magazine is interested in my essay topic. I was certainly happy to know this before I began writing! The rules vary from publisher to publisher, so be sure to check companies’ websites and company guidelines about submissions.
C Magazine, Canadian Contemporary Art periodical. Image © C Magazine.
CanadianArt Current Issue, Winter 2017. Image © CANADIANART
Journal of Canadian Art History. Image © JCAH.
October, one of my favourite Art History journals. Image © OCTOBER.
#2. Set a Timeline
If you are writing a piece for a personal project, it is likely that you will be leading a self-directed study. In order to establish milestones and goals, it is important to set dates for completing certain tasks of your project.
I have selected dates for the following tasks:
1) Picking a Research Question: January 30
2) Annotated Bibliography and Outline: February 7
3) Rough Draft: February 27
4) Final draft: March 13
#1. Consult Your Supervisor/ Professor
I can’t stress this point enough! I was lost until I met with Professor Brown about the direction of my essay. Sometimes all one needs to improve their research is a conversation with an expert in the field. Professor Brown specializes in American History and Gender Studies, so having feedback and suggestions from an expert was extremely helpful. Make sure you also regularly check up with you Supervisor to make sure that the list of sources, style, and content of your paper are appropriate and historically valid.