Getting started in writing up pedagogic research for publication

Often when we think about writing for publication in an academic setting we think immediately of the gold-standards – a book or an article in an international peer reviewed journal. However these are not the only options and, if you are starting out in writing up pedagogic research, it may be more useful to start with something a little more manageable.

A book (or resource) review
Many journals, both online and paper-based, carry reviews of new books or other resources such as software. It is worth visiting the websites of journals in your discipline or HEA Subject Centre to view the list of publications that they have waiting for review. They are often happy for you to recommend a book/resource that you have located.

Reviews are substantially shorter than an article, and you can keep the book/resource. Writing a review also serves to structure your reading. You will need to give a balanced and informative account of the book, considering the audience it is written for.

Many journals will have a template or guidelines for writing a review so you should browse the website and contact the reviews editor before starting to write.

A case study of your practice
Encouraging practitioners to write case studies of their practice, particularly innovative aspects of practice, is popular. The HEA Subject Centres collect, and sometimes pay for case studies. As with book reviews there is often a template or set of headings for you to use, which might include for example a discussion of obstacles and difficulties you encountered and how you gathered feedback on what you did.

Case studies are a good way to contribute ideas to the teaching of your discipline and to make contacts with other practitioners. You will not be expected to have extensive reference to literature but will be expected to give an honest and balanced account.

A new item or brief report for a magazine:
If you are involved in a project or working on something you know is innovative then you might consider writing a news item or brief report. This is going to be less formal than an article and much shorter but could raise the profile of your work and assist in making connections with others working in the same area. Before volunteering to do this it would be worth reading a number of examples to ensure that you get the tone and depth right.

A working paper:
These are not as common as in the past because they they do not have the same status as a regular article. Some journals however have a section for submitting a shorter ‘work in progress’ piece and this offers some benefits. It raises awareness of your work and can lead to contact with people working on similar projects. It also helps you to think through where you are going with your work and to ‘get it out there’.

A presentation at a conference and a write up in conference proceedings:
Presenting your work at a conference has many advantages: it is a good way to disseminate your work; it will help with networking and making connections; and it will probably lead to more feedback from the audience than you will get with a written publication. You should choose your conference well, balancing a larger, more general gathering which might bring a bigger audience of less specialised colleagues against a smaller conference where you may reach fewer people but get more engagement.

Many conferences invite submissions for conference proceedings and these may or may not be refereed. Proceedings which come out in print form will be more prestigious than those which are put onto a CD supplied to members of the organisation or simply posted to the website.

Publication in conference proceedings will be less prestigious than a journal article. However it is still classed as a publication. It is worth remembering that if you write up a project for proceedings then you would need to make substantial changes if you wanted to submit to a journal in the future due to the requirement for originality.