Advice For Economists On Starting, Writing, and Publishing Research

John Creedy of the University of Melbourne has written two very good pieces on the research, writing, and publication process. Here's the abstract from the first, titled Starting Research and Writing a Research Paper:

This paper provides a brief guide for those undertaking a research project and writing a paper or report. It discusses the nature of research and gives suggestions for specifying and planning a research topic. The structure and appearance of a paper are described and suggestions are made regarding the writing process. Emphasis is placed on the need to achieve clarity.

The second, titled From Manuscript to Publication: A Brief Guide for Economists takes up where the first left off:

The aim of this paper is to give a short description of the nature of books and journals, their respective editors, and the difficult process and proprieties involved in publishing papers. It describes some of the main features of the publication process, so that readers may be in a better position to make judgments about published work and writers may be, to some extent at least, prepared to face the difficulties that inevitably lie in their path.

Emphasis is given to the need to deal with rejections and the often substantial revisions requested by editors. While some of the features of publishing are common to all disciplines, this paper is specifically intended for economists.

As the abstract mentioned, the second piece talks at some length about the difference between books and articles. While both are written with economists in mind, there are a lot of similarities across many social science disciplines. So, unless you're in the sciences, they're probably worth printing out and putting in your "academic advice" folder..

HT: New Economist for the links.