Interstitial Text and the Scholarly Author
There is considerable talk these days about interstitial text specifically designed for consumption in the brief moments that exist between the primary activities that fill our busy days. Instead of leafing through whatever magazines happen to be available for those waiting in line at the supermarket or in an uncomfortable plastic chair at the doctor’s office, most people now reach for their smartphones and exercise more choice in the content with which they fill these gaps. Publishers and other content providers, such as academics and scientists, who can produce informative and compelling material for readers and viewers to consume in five to ten minutes have a niche already cut out for them.
Admittedly, many smartphone owners are already filling these gaps in their days with email, Facebook and Twitter, all of which provide the sort of media that can be easily digested in a short period of time, and many scholars are taking advantage of these platforms to message, post and tweet about their research. LinkedIn provides a more professional network than Facebook for sharing ideas, links and short chunks of text, while groups within the platform ensure an audience of like-minded and potentially participatory readers. Academia.edu allows scholars to upload and share entire articles, but shorter excerpts are also common, and users can easily scan new contributions and activities in their subject areas, quickly previewing and bookmarking anything of interest for later attention. Many online platforms intended for sharing information are similar, and the blogs and websites authors and scholars design and maintain themselves tend to consist of short stand-alone postings on their research and writing that can be read in a few minutes.
The purpose in most cases is dual: to communicate information about research done and still in progress, and to tantalise interested readers so that they will be inspired to find (ideally via links provided by the scholar) and make use of the more complete or formal versions of the work. Such writing makes different demands upon the scholarly author than, say, an academic or scientific article does, and, depending on the content and audience, can be more akin to writing a letter, lecture notes or a presentation. Perhaps, most accurately, it is a combination of all three, blending a personal tone with educational intent, compelling content and an engaging style. Too casual an approach will give a less than professional impression, particularly to fellow scholars, so it is essential to treat such interstitial writing as seriously as you do more formal writing. On the other hand, text too dense and formal will lose many readers, so a careful balance must be maintained, and paying close attention to the comments you receive will help you get it right.
Writing of this kind can be unexpectedly challenging, but there is no doubt that interstitial text is popular with scholarly readers, and given that it can increase the readership and citation of formally published research, it can prove well worth the effort.
Why Our Editing and Proofreading Services?
At Proof-Reading-Service.com we offer the highest quality journal article editing, phd thesis editing and proofreading services via our large and extremely dedicated team of academic and scientific professionals. All of our proofreaders are native speakers of English who have earned their own postgraduate degrees, and their areas of specialisation cover such a wide range of disciplines that we are able to help our international clientele with research editing to improve and perfect all kinds of academic manuscripts for successful publication. Many of the carefully trained members of our expert editing and proofreading team work predominantly on articles intended for publication in scholarly journals, applying painstaking journal editing standards to ensure that the references and formatting used in each paper are in conformity with the journal’s instructions for authors and to correct any grammar, spelling, punctuation or simple typing errors. In this way, we enable our clients to report their research in the clear and accurate ways required to impress acquisitions proofreaders and achieve publication.
Our scientific proofreading services for the authors of a wide variety of scientific journal papers are especially popular, but we also offer manuscript proofreading services and have the experience and expertise to proofread and edit manuscripts in all scholarly disciplines, as well as beyond them. We have team members who specialise in medical proofreading services, and some of our experts dedicate their time exclusively to PhD proofreading and master’s proofreading, offering research students the opportunity to improve their use of formatting and language through the most exacting PhD thesis editing and dissertation proofreading practices. Whether you are preparing a conference paper for presentation, polishing a progress report to share with colleagues, or facing the daunting task of editing and perfecting any kind of scholarly document for publication, a qualified member of our professional team can provide invaluable assistance and give you greater confidence in your written work.
If you are in the process of preparing an article for an academic or scientific journal, or planning one for the near future, you may well be interested in a new book, Guide to Journal Publication, which is available on our Tips and Advice on Publishing Research in Journals website.
