Details

<p>Foreword xi</p> <p>Acknowledgements xiii</p> <p>1 Introduction to Writing 1</p> <p>2 Publication Diversity 7</p> <p>3 Theses 11</p> <p>4 Books and Monographs 15</p> <p>5 Invited Chapters for Books 19</p> <p>6 Peer?–Reviewed Research Papers 23</p> <p>7 Short Notes 27</p> <p>8 Discussions of and Replies to Published Papers 31</p> <p>9 Book Reviews and Book Reviewing 35</p> <p>10 Conference Abstracts 39</p> <p>11 Papers for Non?–Peer?–Reviewed Publications 43</p> <p>12 Field Guides 47</p> <p>13 Title 51</p> <p>14 Abstract 55</p> <p>15 Key Words 59</p> <p>16 Introduction 63</p> <p>17 Materials and Methods/Localities and Horizons 67</p> <p>18 Results 69</p> <p>19 Discussion and Conclusions 71</p> <p>20 Acknowledgements 75</p> <p>21 References 77</p> <p>22 Why Write? (1) 81</p> <p>23 Line Drawings 85</p> <p>24 Maps 89</p> <p>25 Photographic Plates 93</p> <p>26 Tables 101</p> <p>27 Co?–authors and Others 105</p> <p>28 Cover Letters 109</p> <p>29 Submission 113</p> <p>30 Editors 115</p> <p>31 Reviewers 119</p> <p>32 Why Write? (2) 123</p> <p>33 Reviews 127</p> <p>34 Revision: Corrections and Resubmission 131</p> <p>35 Acceptance 135</p> <p>36 Rejection 139</p> <p>37 Copyright 143</p> <p>38 Open Access 147</p> <p>39 Offprints and Pdfs 151</p> <p>40 Reading 157</p> <p>41 Reviewing 161</p> <p>42 Why Write? (3) 167</p> <p>43 Productivity 171</p> <p>44 Space and Time 175</p> <p>45 Writer’s Block 179</p> <p>46 Plain English 183</p> <p>47 The Native English Speaker 187</p> <p>48 Why Write? (4) 191</p> <p>49 Editing Journals 197</p> <p>50 A Space of Your Own 201</p> <p>51 Contracts, Agents, Publishers and Your First Book 205</p> <p>52 How Did I Write This Book? 209</p> <p>Appendix: Book Proposal 213</p> <p>Index 221</p>

<p><b> Professor Stephen K. Donovan</b> has been publishing on such diverse subjects as Caribbean geology, palaeontology, the history of science, ichnology and academic publishing for over 30 years. He loves research, writing and publishing. This book can be read from cover-to-cover, dipped into when an answer to a specific question is needed or both. The aim is to help all geologists to write improved papers – both better organised and more readable – and to get them published.

<p><i> The time has come. You are an Earth scientist. You've spent weeks, months, years working on this project – now is the time to pull it together for publication. You might be writing an undergraduate or graduate thesis, a research paper for a leading journal, a note for the newsletter of the local amateur scientific society, a book review or an abstract for a specialist geological conference. How do you make the transition from promising unpublished researcher to established academic author? Of course, the phrase 'academic publishing' covers a multitude of sins; monographs, research papers, book reviews, conference abstracts or whatever each requires a different approach. You have to decide what it is you are going to write and where to publish it. There are co-authors, supervisors of your degree, peer reviewers and editors to deal with on the way. But the only way to write like an academic is to write like an academic. . . where do you start? You could do much worse than start here. </i> <p> There are many books on how to write and be published aimed at research students and other aspiring academics. Many of these are readable, comprehensive and provide good advice. This book is composed of numerous short chapters on this subject, all directly relevant to one or more aspects of academic publishing and aimed particularly at the Earth scientists in the broadest sense. Geologists will be encouraged to use the book as much as a reference as a reader, 'dipping in' to the chapters that contain relevant tips, hints and comments to enable them to improve the paper that they are currently writing. The book is intended to be informative, readable and, above all, of practical application for all readers. In summary, the volume will be a readable compilation investigating many facets of academic publishing relevant to the Earth sciences. It will be of particular interest to postgraduate students, postdocs and new academics.

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