Quick Tips for Writing a Scholarly Journal Article in a Month

[cpburris]

Homework Statement

So this is a rather odd question for this forum, but I really don't know what to do. For the English course at my college we just got an assignment where we have to write an article for a scholarly journal in our field and submit it for publication. We have less than a month to do this. In that amount of time I figure its pretty much impossible that I could come up with an original research topic, do the necessary background research, plan and execute the research, and write the article. I'm desperate here for ideas. Does anyone have an idea of some sort of article that I can produce in that short amount of time? A recommended journal I could look to write for? Anything?

 

[Chestermiller]

Homework Statement

So this is a rather odd question for this forum, but I really don't know what to do. For the English course at my college we just got an assignment where we have to write an article for a scholarly journal in our field and submit it for publication. We have less than a month to do this. In that amount of time I figure its pretty much impossible that I could come up with an original research topic, do the necessary background research, plan and execute the research, and write the article. I'm desperate here for ideas. Does anyone have an idea of some sort of article that I can produce in that short amount of time? A recommended journal I could look to write for? Anything?

Well, Physics Forums Insights is kind of a scholarly journal that you can submit something for publication in. If that's unacceptable, then preparing a paper for a real peer reviewed scientific journal within a month is unrealistic. The articles for Insights don't have to include any experimental research or mathematical modeling, and can just be on a topic that interests you. The articles range in length from a few hundred words to a couple of thousand words. And it's easy to submit them, provided you do a good job.

Chet

 

[berkeman]

Has this instructor given this assignment in the past? If so, can you ask to see what some of the published articles were, and what journals published them?

And if not, perhaps the instructor is not aware of what-all goes into publishing such a paper...

 

[cpburris]

Awesome thanks! I think maybe I jumped the gun a bit on panicking I found journals like Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science that accept "Science Reviews", basically just commentary and explanation on recent scientific discoveries. In my head I was just stuck on "Oh well all physics publications are original research, there isn't anything else." I will definitely consider Physics Forums Insights too. I'll take any other suggestion on types of articles I could write though, as well as possible topics for a "Science Review". All the help is really appreciated!

 

[cpburris]

Has this instructor given this assignment in the past? If so, can you ask to see what some of the published articles were, and what journals published them?

And if not, perhaps the instructor is not aware of what-all goes into publishing such a paper...

That's a great idea. I didn't think of asking the instructor what other physics majors have done in the past. I'm pretty sure this assignment has been used in the course for years, so there is probably something. Thanks!