Need help

[pinoysoc]

Hi everyone!

I recently contacted a journal for information (because their writing guide was broken) and got this as part of the reply:

In general, when preparing your post-thesis manuscript, I would encourage you to work to locate the piece outside of the genre of thesis writing, to forge critical bridges on the basis of what I imagine might be your nuanced, detailed, timely Guam based case study, to the regional domain of comparable concern, and to locate one of more critical hinges between whatever your disciplinary background might be and the trans- multi- or inter-disciplinary space of Pacific Studies.

Can anyone help me interpret what they're saying? I'm so stressed from all the applications that my brain cells are having a hard time figuring this out. 

 

Thank you

[smallaxe]

Usually, the main goal of a thesis is to contribute to the discipline for which it is written - in your case, sociology. A thesis is also a long piece where you can draw out connections and explain nuances specific to your research and analysis (e.g. regional specificities, historical context, theoretical framework, etc.). The editor is reminding you that the journal is interdisciplinary, so the main goal of an article published in the journal should be to point to its contribution to Pacific Studies overall, irrespective of discipline. The questions you want to keep in mind while rewriting is What should my readers know about X in Guam and why is that important to people interested in the area of Pacific Studies?, where x = nationality, race, education, gender, or whatever your paper's topic is.

TL;DR: He/She was saying, "While you should not generalize, your paper should speak to the implications of your research on our understanding of X in Pacific Studies, not a highly specific paper that explains how sociology informs the way you analyzed X in Guam."

[fuzzylogician]

A thesis is one genre of writing, a journal paper is another. It seems to me that the editor is reminding you of that. The gist: tell us about your case study and why we should care about it (how your study is situated in the context of related theories and how it informs the greater picture of the area your case-study fits in). Don't give us as much lit review as you might for a thesis. If there is anything you included because the school required it, remove that for the journal submission. Tighten the language if needed. If your thesis is long, make sure you pick out just the relevant/strongrst argument(s) and make it digestible within the journal page-limit. That kind of thing. 

[DataCrusader]

While this might seem obvious, it’s important to remember that the thesis is also much longer than a journal article. First step to writing the latter is to plan honestly - what will actually fit in 10000 words? Then work backwards to fit your necessary development from the body of your thesis.

[pinoysoc]

On 12/19/2017 at 3:43 PM, smallaxe said:

Usually, the main goal of a thesis is to contribute to the discipline for which it is written - in your case, sociology. A thesis is also a long piece where you can draw out connections and explain nuances specific to your research and analysis (e.g. regional specificities, historical context, theoretical framework, etc.). The editor is reminding you that the journal is interdisciplinary, so the main goal of an article published in the journal should be to point to its contribution to Pacific Studies overall, irrespective of discipline. The questions you want to keep in mind while rewriting is What should my readers know about X in Guam and why is that important to people interested in the area of Pacific Studies?, where x = nationality, race, education, gender, or whatever your paper's topic is.

TL;DR: He/She was saying, "While you should not generalize, your paper should speak to the implications of your research on our understanding of X in Pacific Studies, not a highly specific paper that explains how sociology informs the way you analyzed X in Guam."

Thank you for clariying, @smallaxe!  I understand what you're saying now. I was thinking about it that way, but I'm so engrossed with work that I felt lost at that moment... Well, even up to now.

On 12/19/2017 at 4:40 PM, fuzzylogician said:

A thesis is one genre of writing, a journal paper is another. It seems to me that the editor is reminding you of that. The gist: tell us about your case study and why we should care about it (how your study is situated in the context of related theories and how it informs the greater picture of the area your case-study fits in). Don't give us as much lit review as you might for a thesis. If there is anything you included because the school required it, remove that for the journal submission. Tighten the language if needed. If your thesis is long, make sure you pick out just the relevant/strongrst argument(s) and make it digestible within the journal page-limit. That kind of thing. 

Hi, @fuzzylogician! That was my plan. I'm just having a hard time figuring out what I need to include and exclude from this. I haven't had help from my adviser before graduation and just kept pushing me to publish without thinking about the differences both. 

On 12/23/2017 at 1:36 PM, DataCrusader said:

While this might seem obvious, it’s important to remember that the thesis is also much longer than a journal article. First step to writing the latter is to plan honestly - what will actually fit in 10000 words? Then work backwards to fit your necessary development from the body of your thesis.

Thank you, @DataCrusader! I'll keep this in mind as I work on it!