When to Publish

[Ambermoon24]

Hello Everyone,

 

So I'll be heading off to my MA program in composition and rhetoric in August, but I'm also not wanting to waste precious time in the summer. Over the past month since I've graduated undergrad and been at home, I've been pursuing some independent creative writing projects. I've set a goal to have enough poems finished for a small collection and I have a novel outlined. I believe the poetry collection is a reasonable goal. But I'm also wondering if I should use this time to revise some of my stronger papers from undergrad for journal publications. One of my professors from my undergrad institution recommended I use the summer to expand my papers into articles. I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on when it's an appropriate time to start sending out work for publications.

 

Also, since my undergrad degree was in literature, none of my papers discuss comp/rhet topics. Should I consider reworking these papers to be more comp/rhet focused, or should I revise them and send them off to literary journals? I might be overthinking this, but I wouldn't want any literature publications to somehow indicate I'm not dedicated to my work in comp/rhet. I've had experience writing abstracts and longer papers. My senior honors thesis was about 46 pages, and I've done work with a faculty member for a research scholarship, so I'm used to revising and expanding shorter papers. Any thoughts about developing a publication strategy? Thanks for reading! 

[dr. t]

I don't see any harm in starting to prepare your papers for publication, but I wouldn't rush through it. Edit, read more, modify them as you see fit this summer. Submit abstracts to conferences for the coming year. Read more and improve your technical skills. Workshop them with peers and get feedback from your adviser. If all goes well, submit next summer. 

 

There's no reason to hesitate if you're ready, but make sure you're ready. The learning curve for grad school is quite steep. I know my own work is substantially improved at the end of my MA, and I am much happier with the paper I held on to for a year than I would have been if I submitted it.

[Ambermoon24]

Sorry for the double post! I wasn't sure which forum was best to post, and I forgot to delete the other one. I'll remember that in the future. 

 

 

Thanks ComeBackZinc,

 

 

Yes, I don't want to rush through the process and send out work that just isn't ready. I was tentatively planning to revise this summer, and wait for feedback next year to see if any of my papers could possibly be ready for publication that year or the next. I wasn't planning on sending anything out this year.There are only three papers I completed two semesters ago that I think are potentially publication worthy. One of my professors encouraged me to keep revising one and eventually send it out somewhere when it's ready. So we'll see. 

 

 

I'm glad to hear my instinct was right on the question of literary vs. comp/rhet journals. I could maybe adopt a more comp/rhet approach to one of the three papers, but I'm afraid it would appear forced. I'll take a look at those papers and keep revising. Otherwise, it's been important for me to return to creative writing projects. I know I won't have much time in the future to pursue those projects. I'm interested in applications of composition theory to creative writing, but I haven't found any journals yet that address this. Any suggestions in this area? 

Edited May 28, 2015 by Ambermoon24

[Ambermoon24]

telkanuru,

 

Thanks for your advice. I figured I had nothing to lose revising this summer. I'd hate to send out articles that get accepted only to later find I'm unhappy I sent them for publication. I'm glad I've held off sending some of my creative writing to magazines as well. I've grown so much as a writer just in the last year. I suppose the trick is finding that balance between preparing myself to stand out in the crowd with publications, but also not push too early and either burn out, or end up with a publication I wish I didn't have. 

[Between Fields]

I would honestly hold off on publishing anything until you're well into your MA. Once something is published, it's out there forever, and you might not want your very early scholarship out there, especially if you're moving into a new field. 

[Ambermoon24]

Thanks for your suggestions, Between Fields. 

 

I don't want to send anything out until it's absolutely ready. What's your opinion on a rhet/comp student having some literature publications? I realize those publications wouldn't carry as much weight as rhet/comp papers, but would it be detrimental if I happened to have literature publications as I progress to a PhD or am on the job market? I wouldn't want to appear less invested in my field, or too scattered in my scholarly focus. 

[rising_star]

Ambermoon24, I'm not the one you asked but, I'll just say that it's rare for one person's publications to all focus on the exact same thing. People know that research interests shift over time so it's no surprise that one's publications would too. Here's an example: http://english.la.psu.edu/faculty-staff/rkg3. There are book chapters that are clearly more literary and others that are more rhet/comp. He's a distinguished professor now so it must have all worked out for him. You might want to also take a look at Susan Merrill Squier in the same department at Penn State. You'll note that she lists both "contemporary literature" and "rhetoric and composition" as areas of specialization.

 

I picked Penn State pretty randomly for this just to illustrate the possibility for you. In my own area (social sciences), it isn't at all a surprise that someone's focus would shift between their MA and PhD and to have this shift reflected in their publications.

[Between Fields]

Thanks for your suggestions, Between Fields. 

 

I don't want to send anything out until it's absolutely ready. What's your opinion on a rhet/comp student having some literature publications? I realize those publications wouldn't carry as much weight as rhet/comp papers, but would it be detrimental if I happened to have literature publications as I progress to a PhD or am on the job market? I wouldn't want to appear less invested in my field, or too scattered in my scholarly focus. 

 

It really depends on what sort of job you're looking for at the very end of all of this. Keeping in mind that a publication made at the pre-PhD Student phase (and really the pre-PhD stage in general) won't have as much impact on a job search than one done when you're more established, it's not uncommon for generalists to have publications in a few different areas at once. And I don't mean that term in a pejorative sense--if you're looking for a job at an SLAC or medium-sized university where you might be expected to teach composition, literature, and maybe theory all at the same time, having generalist tendencies is a good thing.

 

That's on top of the fact that there are few rhetoric and composition master's programs compared to English and Literature programs, so few people going into rhet/comp PhD programs have an MA in that subject. There are also very few bachelor's programs in rhetoric and composition, so people going into rhet/comp MA's also rarely have a BA in that same subject--the point being that everyone's making a transition at some point, and it's usually from literature, so almost all rhet/comp scholars have at least a few vestigial interests in literature.

 

Publishing something now and then later publishing in rhet/comp wouldn't really make you look un-focused because of that transition that most people make from literature to rhet/comp. It's publishing something on Shakespeare after years and years doing work in composition that might raise an eyebrow, but even then, that's not a given. I'm in an English Studies department where interdisciplinary work is encouraged--my work looks at one problem from several different perspectives, and so my publications will likely end up in several different kinds of journals.

 

Basically, you're not far enough along to appear scattered. Publishing in more than one sub-field of English could help you in generalist job searches. And, again, I'd be cautious of publishing anything that didn't emerge from graduate-level work.

[serenade]

Not to hijack a thread, but I have a question: I submitted a paper to a graduate journal last summer and got a revise and resubmit request a few months later. I resubmitted the paper last December. To make a long story short, I learned a few days ago that the original grad student editor is no longer editor and the department never replaced her with another editor, meaning my paper will probably stay in purgatory for a long time (the end of this month will be a full year since original submission). Anyway, I'm considering withdrawing it from the graduate student journal I sent it to and sending it to a top tier journal instead. Although the rate of acceptance at said journal is generally low, I'm curious just to try. Has anyone had experience getting accepted or rejected at top tier journals as a grad student? Is it worth even submitting? 

[rising_star]

serenade, I would definitely withdraw the paper. You'll probably need to significantly up the quality of the work to get it into a top tier journal though.

[Ambermoon24]

rising_star,

 

Thanks for your comments and the link; it's reassuring to see a faculty member with interests in literature and comp/rhet. I think I've been operating on the incorrect assumption that MA students will have an edge with precise research interests. It's good to know I'll have a little more freedom than I thought. I think in some ways I've been swayed by faculty pages that seem to have area-specific publications. But these professors also have PhDs, and have had long academic careers. Lately, I've been thinking of ways to interweave composition theories with literary construction/publication history. Coming into my comp/rhet program from a creative writing and literature perspective has got me thinking about ways I can merge these theories/experiences into potential research.

[Ambermoon24]

Between Fields,

 

Thank you for your advice. If it will help any, I have in mind a career teaching at small state universities. I transferred from a community college before I finished at a large state university, so I was used to seeing full-time community college faculty teaching both FYC and introductory literature classes (this also sometimes happened at my state school). Like you said, it doesn't appear having a generalist perspective is negative depending on the institution. Ever since my sophomore year in undergrad, I've been interested in pursuing interdisciplinary work in comp/rhet, which probably is due to the fact that I started college as a health sciences major. I guess that's how my mind works. 

 

I do agree that these papers need to be vetted at the grad level before I even think of sending them out. I suppose they must have some promise, since I don't think my undergrad professors would have encouraged me to revise over the summer and plan on sending them out if and when they're ready. 

 

I did have one question though. This may be crazy to ask, but I'll ask anyway. Feel free to call me crazy.   If I pursued research on the intersection of creative writing and composition theory, do you think it's a possibility that work could translate into a job teaching introductory creative writing? Or is that work solely confined to faculty who have MFAs? 

[Between Fields]

The only rhet/comp person where I got my BA also taught creative writing and children's literature. It doesn't seem likely that a PhD or MA in rhet/comp would translate into an actual instructorship or professorship in Creative Writing exclusively. I suppose if you also had a strong record of published work in both creative and academic circles, it could be possible. But you'd be competing with MFA applicants, and an MFA is a terminal degree, while an MA isn't. There are also PhDs in Creative Writing, and all of these programs are over-producing graduates for the available openings, so it'd have to be a position specifically tailored to your research background.