How to Write an Article for a Scholarly Journal

Writing the Title Page

• 1

  Using 12 words or fewer, write a title describing the contents of your paper. Example: "Dismantling the Science Fiction and Fantasy Collections in an Academic Library Setting."

• 2

  Write the authors' or editors' names.

• 3

  Write the institutional affiliations. Examples: University of New Brunswick, Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada; Holland College, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada.

• 4

  Write the date or year in which the paper was written (optional).

Writing the Abstract

• 5

  Using 200 to 300 words, summarize the most important aspects of your entire paper. This should address the purpose of the paper, the methods you used to conduct research for the paper, and a brief conclusion emphasizing your theoretical interpretation of the research you conducted.

• 6

  Using past tense, write in a passive voice and an active voice so that you and the reader get to the point as fast as possible.

• 7

  Check to see if the researched facts you incorporated in the abstract are in line with what you wrote in the entire body of the paper.

Writing the Introduction

• 8

  Identify the subject you researched for your paper. Example: The Withdrawal of Materials from a Library's Science Fiction/Fantasy Collection.

• 9

  Summarize the context of your paper by providing a brief and unbiased overview of the print and/or electronic references you used for your research.

• 10

  State the purpose and/or hypothesis based on the research you conducted for your paper.

• 11

  State the rationale for the problem you studied for your paper by taking on a multifaceted theoretical approach to the subject.

Writing the Results of Your Study

• 12

  Using both illustrations and text, present the results of your research without your own theoretical interpretation of the study getting in the way.

• 13

  For your illustrative component, use bar graphs, line graphs, and/or tables to describe what was studied.

• 14

  Explain your statistical analyses in text format. If the reader has difficulty with interpreting the data you provided in a visual format, he or she will be happy to use this information as a backup.

Writing Your References

• 15

  Using the bibliographic American Psychological Association or Modern Language Association citation guidelines, list your sources in alphabetical order by the first author's or editor's last name.

• 16

  If one of your sources does not have an author or editor in the form of an individual person, state the corporate author or professional association responsible for the work.

• 17

  If some of your sources were found online, state when and where you retrieved them by stating the Uniform Resource Locator (e.g. http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t792303985~db=all) and/or the database programs (e.g. LexisNexis, Gale) you used to locate them.