If you spend most of your time teaching, you might struggle to find the bandwidth to write. And even if you block out writing time on your calendar, how can you generate the material to fill those pages? Maybe the problem is the solution: using your teaching responsibilities to generate scholarship and publication.
In this blog post, I highlight three new articles that can help you write and publish, especially if you are an educator. The first two articles are written, in part, by my friend and colleague Dr. Anthony Artino, a medical educator and a prolific writer, researcher, and academic journal editor. Anthony unofficially specializes in creating collaborative writing teams and I had the privilege of co-authoring an article with him in JPAE called Finding Success in Scholarship: How Physician Assistant Educators Can Overcome Barriers to Publication.
Anthony and his colleagues recently published two articles in the Journal of Graduate Medical Education that are worth your attention. A third article, published in Inside Higher Ed, offers an interesting perspective on “self-publication” for educators. More on all three of these articles below:
1. Writing Strategies and Writing Groups
The first article, Less Angst and More Fun: Writing Strategies and Writing Groups for Scholarship, written by Dr. Gail Sullivan et al (including Artino), highlights some great general academic writing advice. I like this article because it focuses on specific (and relatable!) barriers to writing that many of us in healthcare and/or academia face. Sullivan and company address each barrier with specific, actionable advice; some of the best advice comes in the form of using our friends and colleagues for accountability in the writing process.
2. Turning Education Work into Scholarship
The second article, Translate Your Education Work Into Scholarship: A 5-Step Approach, will really help educators looking to publish. Written by Dr. Lalena Yarris et al., it provides an easy framework to turn the teaching you already do into original articles for publication. Their systematic approach allows you to transform your existing educational effort into a research question that addresses a gap in the academic literature. This focus on addressing an existing research need is likely to catch the eye of journal editors when it is time to submit your manuscript.
3. “Self-Publishing” for Our Own Courses
A third article, published in Inside Higher Ed, also focuses on writing projects for educators. In “Rethinking Academic Publication for Lecturers“, the author Andrew Fogelman argues that sometimes an educator will produce writing projects for their own classes that are far more valuable, at least in the short term, than writing a book or article for the masses. I think this perspective of “produce what you need when no one else will” is a great philosophy and was part of the mindset that launched my own writing website.
I hope you find these articles useful as you attempt to wear the many hats of an academic, educator, and writer. If you need some help getting started on your first article, download my free guide here:
