19 Drafting a Manuscript Using Coursework

If your graduate studies include course requirements in addition to your thesis or major research project, your coursework can offer a great opportunity to develop projects to submit for publication.

After receiving a course syllabus, consider what types of articles and which publication venues might be interested in publishing the work you will be required to write for your class. Although you should expect to do some revisions between submitting your paper to your instructor and submitting it for publication, keeping the journal requirements in your mind as you write can help you mitigate this work.  Also, consider sharing your plans with your instructor when you submit this work and ask them for feedback; if they know you are planning to try and publish your paper, their grading commentary can serve as a first review you can use to improve your work before submitting.

Recommended Resources:

What Do Graduate Students Publish? in Publish or Perish: Graduate Students’ Guide to Publishing by Kathleen McWhirter on GoGrad: A Guide to Online Publishing

Tips for Publishing in Graduate School by the Office of Graduate Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln