Handbook of Academic Writing for Librarians REVISED EDITION

267 Pages·2014·1.4 MB·English

by  Christopher V. Hollister

Handbook
of Academic
Writing
for Librarians
Christopher V. Hollister
Revised Edition
Association of College and Research Libraries
A division of the American Library Association
Chicago, 2014
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences–Permanence of Paper for
Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992. ∞
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hollister, Christopher Vance.
Handbook of academic writing for librarians / Christopher V. Hollister. --
Revised edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8389-8736-0
1. Library science--Authorship--Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. Information
science--Authorship--Handbooks, manuals, etc. 3. Library science literature-
-Publishing--Handbooks, manuals, etc. 4. Information science literature--
Publishing--Handbooks, manuals, etc. 5. Academic writing--Handbooks,
manuals, etc. I. Title.
Z669.7.H65 2014
808.06’602--dc23
2014030479
Copyright ©2014 by the American Library Association.
All rights reserved except those which may be granted by Sections 107 and 108
of the Copyright Revision Act of 1976.
Printed in the United States of America.
18 17 16 15 14 5 4 3 2 1
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Preface xi
CHAPTER 1: ELEMENTS OF GOOD ACADEMIC WRITING 1
Introduction 2
Academic Writing Motivations 2
Academic Writing Myths 3
1.1 Getting Started 4
Generating Ideas 4
Importance of Being Noteworthy 5
From Ideas to Writing 7
CHAPTER 2: ELEMENTS OF WRITING WELL 9
2.1 Content 10
Focus 10
Originality and Ownership 11
Scholarship 12
Theory 13
2.2 Structure 16
Organization 16
Parallel Structure 18
Length and Breadth 20
iii
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
2.3 Style 20
Clarity 20
Precision 21
Continuity 26
Tone 27
Point of View 28
Personal Style 29
2.4 Mechanics 30
2.4.1 Grammar 30
Verbs 31
Adverbs 35
Pronouns 36
Misplaced Adjectives 40
Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases 41
Conjunctions 43
2.4.2 Punctuation 46
Commas 46
Semicolons 49
Colons 50
Dashes 51
Quotation Marks 52
2.4.3 Spelling 55
2.4.4 Capitalization 56
2.4.5 Abbreviation 57
CHAPTER 3: ELEMENTS OF A SCHOLARLY PAPER 61
Definition 62
Significance 62
Brief History 63
iv
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
3.1 Standard Components of a Scholarly Paper 65
3.1.1 Title 66
3.1.2 Abstract 67
3.1.3 Introduction 70
3.1.4 Literature Review 71
3.1.5 Method 82
3.1.6 Results 85
3.1.7 Discussion 90
3.1.8 Conclusion 94
3.1.9 References 96
3.1.10 Appendices 96
CHAPTER 4: ELEMENTS OF SELECTING THE RIGHT JOURNAL 99
Subject Area and Scope 101
4.1 Types of Journals 106
Nonacademic Periodicals 106
Scholarly (Peer-Reviewed) Journals 108
4.2 Types of Articles 109
Scholarly Articles 109
4.3 Journal Rankings 113
Ranking Systems 113
Journal Prestige 118
4.4 Journal Publishers 120
Types of Journal Publishers 120
Publication Medium and Model 125
Subscription Journals 126
Open Access Journals 127
Publication History 129
Production Quality 130
v
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
4.5 Additional Journal Vetting 130
Target Audience 130
Writing Style 131
Indexing and Dissemination 132
Acceptance Rate 133
Submission Processes 133
Review Processes 134
Copyright 135
Querying Journal Editors 138
CHAPTER 5: ELEMENTS OF THE PUBLISHING PROCESS 143
5.1 Manuscript Preparation 144
5.2 Manuscript Submission 150
Journal Management Systems 151
Cover Message to Editor 152
5.3 Peer Review 155
Single- vs. Double-Blind Review 155
Peer Review and LIS Journals 157
Manuscript Review Process 158
Role of the Editor 160
Role of the Reviewer 162
5.4 Manuscript Decisions 166
Without Peer Review: Accept or Reject Manuscript 166
With Peer Review: Accept, Revise, Resubmit,
or Reject Manuscript 167
Responding to Editorial Decisions 176
5.5 Manuscript Revisions 179
Revising Specific Elements of Manuscript 182
Appendix A. Reviewer Guidelines For CIL 184
vi
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 6: ELEMENTS OF A SCHOLARLY BOOK 195
6.1 Library and Information Science Book Publishers 197
Selecting Book Publishers 198
Querying Book Publishers 199
6.2 The Book Proposal 202
Writing the Proposal 206
6.3 Publisher’s Decision 209
Contracts 210
6.4 Book Writing Advice, Recommendations, and Strategies 214
Writing Preparations 214
Writing Processes 215
Writing Practicalities 217
6.5 Advice, Recommendations, and Strategies
for Edited Volumes 218
Benefits of an Edited Book 219
Appendix B. ACRL Publication Proposal 221
Concluding Notes 223
Notes and References 225
Index 233
vii

Acknowledgements
Any acknowledgements relative to this Handbook of Academic Writing for
Librarians must begin with Kathryn Deiss, Content Strategist for Associa-
tion of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). It is difficult to describe
Kathryn’s importance to this work without bestowing lavish praises. Hope-
fully it will suffice to assert the following for the record: Kathryn is primar-
ily responsible for the idea of this book being realized, and she is equally
responsible for me feeling at home as an ACRL author. Thanks, Kathryn!
Grateful acknowledgement is given to my many friends and colleagues
in the University at Buffalo Libraries for their generous support and count-
less instances of kindness throughout the year that was required to write
this book. In particular, I wish to thank the Head of Public Services, Mar-
garet Wells, and the Vice Provost for the University Libraries, H. Austin
Booth, for their continued and enthusiastic support. Readers should know
that Ms. Wells and Ms. Booth were instrumental in my being granted a six-
month sabbatical, without which the completion this handbook would be
in doubt.
Grateful acknowledgement is also given to the many LIS educators,
journal editors, manuscript reviewers, practitioners, and researchers who
were generous enough to oblige my solicitations and share their expertise
and opinion relative to this work; their contributions helped inform the
overall development of the text. Special thanks are given to my longtime
professional confidantes, Lisa Hinchliffe and Megan Oakleaf, for their par-
ticular expert contributions.
I thank Stewart Brower, who is my dear friend and coeditor with the
journal, Communications in Information Literacy (CIL); he was coura-
geous enough to read through the first draft and provide the necessary
ix