Dear All,

The final day of our e-seminar about writing for publication. I am going to start with news - by way of my excuse for this draft not being as 'polished' as it might have been... Last March, I was told I 'probably' had cancer. Two days ago I heard, I don't. Join me, please, in celebrating a present (and a future) I had not counted on being able to enjoy. As you can imagine, my concentration has not been what it might have been at times, especially over the past 48 hours while I have been enjoying life!

So - here is the start of my drafting process, using the guidelines from Routledge I sent through last night...

Three aims for the book I propose are these;

1) Would-be and experienced authors whose business is to educate others have a text that they can refer to and refer others to, when they want to learn more about writing for publication.

2) The accumulated knowledge from teachers in schools and universities as well as other contexts (business and sports, for example) can learn from case studies about others who publish.

3) There is a means to pass on what writing to publish entails for an author, an editor, a reviewer and an audience both in terms of creating a journal article and in terms of writing a book.

The themes and objectives include these;

1) Deciding on a target journal when drafting a manuscript.

2) Understanding distinct requirements that journals have.

3) Drafting your manuscript with the target journal in mind.

4) Using an MA dissertation as a base for writing for articles .

5) Using a PhD thesis as a base for writing a book (or books).

This proposed book is focusing on enabling professional educators to write through a process of peer mentoring integrated with action research. It is geared to the current rise in the number of schoolteachers achieving and seeking to achieve an MA and eventually a PhD, internationally, who discover their research is often left to moulder on a shelf - in other words, what they have created as unique knowledge about teaching is not represented as educational knowledge and it is not disseminated. Too often in the past research into what enables students to learn has been created by those who may lack key experience to understand except through a lens of reported accounts created by educators. It is time for educators in HE and schoolteachers to take an active role in passing on their knowledge to colleagues and to future generations of educators. Policy makers need to be well informed when government initiatives are evaluated which directly influence education. Publication is the means.

There are no competing texts that cover the same parameters as the proposed book. There are books about writing generally. There are books about undertaking research. There are books about mentoring (Fletcher, S. and Mullen, C. 2012, The SAGE Handbook of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, SAGE Publications, London). There are works on self study for educators (John Loughran's work is very well regarded). Books cover enabling teachers to get an MA but not writing for  publication. This book is specifically targeted at all those educators/teachers who are seeking qualifications on the basis of their own research. It will be of use to colleagues in higher education who are supporting students seeking to gain qualifications as well for supervisors who find that they too are under pressure to publish, for the forthcoming Research Excellence Framework and equivalents where publication literally means keeping tenure, keeping one's post in educational establishments, internationally.

There has been a growing interest in the process of mentoring others who are writing for publication in the World of Educational Research, not least because colleagues need to demonstrate they can get their research published but also because there is awareness that as educators we need to create a legacy, an inheritance for those who will follow us. Each Head of Research who finds they have scant time to encourage their colleagues to create publications representing their research can use this book and this will save valuable time. It is suggested that the proposed book is linked to online resources and a CD of relevant commentaries, created by some of those whose case studies appear in the Part II of the book - the 'How to write to publish' section.  Part I will be devoted to explaining what research mentoring is and how it can enable communities of teachers and educators working together to develop new knowledge about how to educate others and raise standards of education in schools and HE.

Well - there we are. I have made a start! Next part of a process to be undertaken in my own time is to respond to section 2 of Routledge guidance for authors; to provide a detailed synopsis and chapter headings with an indication of length and schedule and so all that remains for me to say is to thank you for 'listening in' on this month's e-seminar. I hope that the overview I created in week one will assist you to decide upon your target journal. As I wrote then, I am biased! I hope you submit to IJMCE!

Warmest regards, Everyone,

Sarah