I'm new here and just starting to chart my course back to school. I had a pretty weak BS (3.2) and MPA (3.4) and want to do a PhD in Political Science. I'm planning on enrolling in a 1-year master's and really working to go for all a's. I did a bit of research during my MPA with a prof who decided not to award authorship (after I did most of the work) and I've got lots of work experience, but I want to focus getting my name on something.
Lately I've been working with my supervisor at work who's a pretty big name in his field and he's helping me remediate my record. We wrote a paper together and expect it to be accepted and plan to do at least another. I want to try to use the next year to get my name on something independently though. He said that if you co-author something with someone really well-known the presumption is that you did little work on it. I thought previously the opposite - that a big name co-author is positive. I really want to maximize my access to him since he's willing to do multiple projects and give me credit, and he's going way out on a limb to help me, but I don't know what's feasible. One year is not a lot of time, so if it's unlikely to publish alone, it seems like it would be better to just assist as much as possible to get a good LOR.
My program doesn't have a thesis option, although I'm going to try to use my assignments to get started. Is it feasible to write and publish in a peer-reviewed journal in a year/year and a half? I thought about book reviews, but they all require a bio or to prove that your grounding is solid to critique someone and I don't think I fit that criteria.
Any guidance is appreciated!
