Special
Convention Update
April
4, 2005
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Insider's Guide
to Scholarly Publishing
Kenneth Henson,
distinguished professor at the Citadel's School of Education, and Jay
Black, an emeritus endowed professor at the University of South Florida
St. Petersburg, will present the panel and open discussion, "An Insider's
Guide to Getting Your Scholarly Articles Published," at the TAA convention
in Las Vegas, Friday, June 24, from 9 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. Henson and
Black are veteran scholars who have hundreds of publications and academic
presentations between them.
Henson, who specializes
in educational pedagogy, writing for publication and grant writing,
has written 31 books and 129 scholarly articles. One of his books has
gone through seven editions. Henson has also been guest editor and manuscript
reviewer for 19 academic journals. Black, who specializes in mass media
and society and professional ethics, has written 10 books (one of which
won a Textbook Excellence Award from TAA) and 62 juried papers. He has
edited the Journal of Mass Media Ethics for 20 years. He is also a member
of the editorial board of several other academic journals and has reviewed
manuscripts for more than 100 conferences.
"For TAA we want
to draw upon, but go beyond, our personal experiences in scholarly publishing,"
said Black. "There are a number of insights and generalizations to be
pulled from the research literature on scholarly publishing which we
hope to share with the TAA conferees. We certainly hope to spark an
interesting give-and-take among all who are there, as we all help one
another understand some of the discipline-specific nuances of getting
published."
Getting enough publications
to gain tenure can be an extremely profitable experience — over
and above the satisfaction of contributing to one's scholarly discipline,
said Black: "Indeed, if one were to get a 10 percent pay raise for getting
that tenure nod based on the 'penultimate' scholarly article, and if
one were to invest that 10 percent pay raise in an account that pulled
six percent interest until retirement, that single article may be worth
many hundreds of thousands of dollars!"
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Step Seven to
Becoming a More Prolific Scholar
Much is known about
the steps scholars can take to become more prolific, said Tara Gray,
who will present her popular writing workshop, "Publish and Flourish:
Become More Prolific," as a 10-hour pre-conference workshop at the TAA
convention in Las Vegas Thursday, June 23, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday,
June 24 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. (Cost is $175 for TAA members before
May 1, $225 after; non-members $225 before May 1, $275 after.) Gray
shares the seventh step in becoming a more prolific scholar (Gray will
be sharing a step in each News Alert leading up to the convention):
Use key sentences as an after-the-fact outline. To examine the organization
between paragraphs, list your key sentences-and headings-so that they
provide an after-the-fact outline, an approach advocated by Booth, Colomb
and Williams in The Craft of Research. In order for your paper to pack
the most punch, you will want your arguments to be in the best order-and
to hang together as best they can. Therefore, you want to check for
logic and coherence. To do so, use the "hidden text" function in your
word processor to hide everything but the key sentences and the headings
and to view your prose without the hidden text. Now, read just the remaining
list of sentences and question yourself about purpose and organization:
• How could
the key sentences better communicate the purpose (thesis) of the paper
to the intended audience?
• How could
the key sentences be better organized? More logical? More coherent?
Once you ask yourself
these questions a few times while viewing your after-the-fact outline
you will see how valuable it is to see your prose through this new lens-a
lens which exposes the organization between paragraphs and shows you
much about how well your paper is serving its purpose. You will soon
discover there is no point in waiting to view your paper this way until
you have a full draft of a writing project. Instead, you will find it
useful to begin your writing session each day by viewing only the headings
and key sentences of the section you worked on the previous day.
Gray shares 12
steps to becoming a more prolific scholar in a special article. Click
here to view the article.
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Preliminary TAA
Convention Schedule Now Online
Check out the preliminary
convention schedule for the 2005 TAA Convention here.
You can find more
information about the TAA convention here.
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Register Now
to Attend TAA Convention in Las Vegas!
TAA is returning
to Las Vegas this year to hold its annual convention. Attending this
year's convention is no gamble, however; new authors will find solid
ideas for getting started in textbook or academic authoring and veterans
will find challenging sessions too! The convention will be held at the
Imperial Palace Hotel, a first-class resort centrally located in the
heart of the fabulous Las Vegas Strip. Just minutes away from McCarran
International Airport and easily accessed from all major highways. The
special TAA room rate is $85 a night. Call the hotel now to make your
room reservations: (800) 634-6441. Convention registration is $75 for
members before May 1, $125 after. Registration for non-members is $125
before May 1, $175 after. Non-member registration includes a one year
membership to TAA. A pre-convention workshop, "Publish and Flourish:
Become a Prolific Scholar," will be held Thursday, June 23, 8 a.m. to
5 p.m. and Friday, June 24 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Cost is $175 for
TAA members before May 1, $225 after; non-members $225 before May 1,
$275 after. To register for the convention and/or pre-convention workshop,
contact TAA at (727) 563-0020 or TEXT@tampabay.rr.com
or download a registration form here.
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