Tips for Writing Quality Journal Articles
Writing should be fun. There are several keys to writing. The first is responsive speed which takes practice. The more we read, the more skilled we will be at writing. There’s also something called precision: it takes a method.
“The last keyword, writing, also needs variation. If you want variety, you need perspective and theory,” said Daniel Susilo, as a speaker at the Journal Writing workshop organized by the Journal and Scientific Work Publication Unit of FPSB UII on December 17, 2021.
This workshop aims to improve the quality of articles included in the UII Communication Journal. All authors who have passed the first stage are invited to this opportunity to improve the quality of their respective manuscripts.
“Writing scientific journal articles with good quality is not an easy matter. There are several factors, including lack of time, writing materials due to lack of research, and perhaps also because of a lack of understanding of strategies in writing scientific journals,” said Puji Rianto, Editor in Chief of the Communication Journal. UII and the Head of the Journal and Scientific Work Publication Unit of FPSB UII on Friday (17/12/2021).
Daniel, also Editor in Chief at the SINTA 2 indexed Journal of Communication Studies, provides several strategies for preparing the manuscript. The main mistake of many journal writers is to transfer the results of research reports just like that, raw. “Unfortunately, the author just transferred the results of the research report to a journal format. It should have been rewritten,” said Daniel.
Manuscript Preparation Strategy
First, make sure the abstract consists of important points such as containing the objectives (This article aims), methods (This research uses qualitative methods), results (it finds that), and conclusions (This article reflects on). Second, the abstract contains significant findings that do not include citations and copy and paste words from the body of the article.
Third, the author should write the title simple, short, attractive, accurate, and unique. “If possible, no more than 12 words,” said Daniel. He then tried to open a direct consultation by changing the title of the two manuscripts written by the UII Communication Journal writer. For example, one author has a title of more than 12 words: “Comparison of health information seeking patterns based on risk perception attitude framework in the case of COVID-19, a study in rural and urban areas of East Java province.” Then Daniel was suggested to be, “Comparison of RPA-based Health Information Search on handling COVID-19 in East Java,” typed Daniel in the chatbox of the zoom application.
Meanwhile, according to Daniel, the writer must make a convincing article in the introduction. Make sure the introduction contains the problem, the significance of the study, the state of the arts and novelty, and the point of view of the problem.
Daniel advises, When the article is done, reread your manuscript. When rereading, make sure the plot has been written with the flow. If you write in English, leave it to a proofreader to help you whose mother tongue is not English. This UMN Communications lecturer then also asked the writers to pay attention to the surroundings of the journal to be addressed. Don’t also forget to check the similarities in the Turnitin application.
