The one and only how- to- write- publishable- papers- guide
Last weekend I got the news that the article I submitted to JEIT (Journal of European Industrial Training) is accepted. That's cool! But what I just discovered on their website might even be better... It is the how-to-write-publishable-papers-guide.... And it is worthwhile reading! Take for instance the 'four good reasons to publish your work'. The lesson that nobody can write without focus is illustrated with this quote:
"If you told me to write a love song tonight, I'd have a lot of trouble. But if you told me to write a love song about a girl in a red dress who goes into a bar and is on her fifth martini, and is falling off her chair, that's a lot easier and it makes me free to say anything I want."
Stephen Sondheim
And then there are the 'four even better reasons not to publish your work'. One very good reason is because it is not good enough yet... of course! It is adequately illustrated with the following quote:
"There are only two types of articles; those that are perfect and never get published and those that are good enough and do."
I once heard that the same is true for dissertations... There are perfect dissertations and there are the dissertations that get done. Well... It might be time for some writing aids. Some good/funny ones:
- Surviving Your Dissertation: A Comprehensive Guide to Content and Process (Paperback). A good book, it even has a chapter on how to present data!
- Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day: A Guide to Starting, Revising, and Finishing Your Doctoral Thesis (Paperback). The illusion that the title creates will be blown away already in the introduction of the book. The author says that "I've given this book the title Writing your dissertation in fifteen minutes a day because I thought it would get your attention (...) I don't actually know anyone who's done it in only fifteen minutes a day". Still the book is a great help.
- Robert Schulman and Virginia Cox wrote an article on 'How to Write a Ph.D. Dissertation' with some comforting news: "Your committee members aren't going to waste their time asking you about your research, because you know more about that than anyone else in the world. Instead, they will ask questions that are really about their research or--if they are in a particularly punchy mood--about fundamental mathematics". Or what about this: "There should also be at least one committee member who will never read the thesis, and who will therefore ask only general questions at your thesis defense. The other graduate students who attend your defense will often bet on which professors read your thesis".
Well, the article was written in 1997. Maybe times are changing?! - Writing and presenting your thesis or dissertation
