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Article Development—Worksheet

Title: Be sure that your title has as key words that suggest the content of your article. You want your article to be found by search engines that search the title and then the abstract.

  • Try to have an interesting title.
  • Avoid long titles.

When you begin your article, create new folder on your computer. Then, within the folder, develop a separate Word file for each main part of your article:

  • Abstract
  • Introduction
  • Literature Review
  • Discussion
  • References
  • Figures

You can combine files as you develop your projec. For example, you can insert figures as you need to do so.

Introduction

Type the following headings and boldface each one.

  • Title
  • Topic
  • Problem with which your research and this paper deals*
  • Contribution your paper makes
  • Plan of the paper

Insert information as you work on your paper. You can change/edit as necessary.

*As you write, answer (in your mind) the questions: “SO WHAT? Why should anybody read my paper?” If you paper does not interest the reviewer by the end of the introduction and certainly by the end of the literature review, the reviewer may not read the rest of your paper. REMEMBER: You don’t have a captive reader with any reviewer.

Literature Review

Make an index card for each article/source you read. Be sure that each source relates to your article/research. Note: You want to focus on what has been done and then show that your research fills a gap or extends knowledge.

  • As you collect your cards, you can arrange/rearrange them easily.
  • Write a one- or two-sentence summary of the article.

Contribution

Explain the contribution your paper makes to the topic or research area. Be clear and specific.

Discussion

List the plan for your paper—the ideas you have stated in the introduction.

Segment 2: Name of the segment. Each one may become a heading in the article.

Segment 3:

Etc.

Conclusion

As you have information for each part of your plan, insert that information under each segment. Leave plenty of space before/after each insertion

References

Keep a list of references that correlates with your literature review! If you use Endnote, this task should be easy. Reviewers do not like papers in which citations are not all included in the References.

Figures

You may want to develop your figures as you develop your paper. For each figure, explain what the figure means. Don’t expect your readers to understand your figures. Some may; others may not.

Abstract

This segment of your paper is critical. You may want to draft is as you work on your article.

  • Make a template with the following headings:

Purpose

Problem

Research Methods

Findings

Conclusions (if you have any)

Recommendations (if you have any)

  • Insert information under each heading. You can remove the headings when you have completed the abstract, but please do not remove them until you are satisfied that your abstract states each point clearly and within the word limit specified by your journal.

Value of This Method

You can add/delete/revise as you work on your paper. You can also write notes to yourself with the Word comment tool.

You can keep track of your ideas as you plan, write, and revise. You can see what’s missing and see each item in isolation.

The Writing Process

  • Planning
  • Writing/revising
  • Editing

Planning and revising can be done with the procedure discussed on pp. 1-3.

Editing—the final process--has to be done several times while you look for different kinds of errors.

Read your paper several times: Each time you read, focus on one of the following. Don’t try to focus on all items at one time!

  • Correctness in content
  • Spelling—spell-check won’t catch everything
  • Sentence structure
  • Punctuation
  • Usage/grammar

Look at your figures again. Do they make sense to someone who has never seen them?