Building Academic Credibility as You Work to Conduct and Publish Your Research
Unfortunately, most academics and scientists do not make staggering discoveries that will change the world in a breath and earn them instant recognition. Much more common is a lengthy process of careful research and successful publication that gradually builds a scholarly reputation and the accompanying credibility. However, the research that earns credibility can take a very long time to complete and even longer before it has any effective influence on the scholarly community. The best breakthroughs are usually based on innovative ideas that have a high chance of failing, and even when such ideas succeed, the discoveries may not be taken seriously unless the researcher instils confidence. In addition, credibility is often required to receive the funding necessary for groundbreaking research and the serious attention that leads to publication, and competition for both research grants and the space available in academic and scientific books and journals is stiff indeed in the current scholarly climate. For these reasons and others many early-career scholars are seeking alternative ways of building credibility.
One way in which to begin earning credibility before you have completed your first major research project (your thesis, for instance) and formally written up its results for publication is to release bits of that research in less formal venues such as blogs. This will work for some scholars and some research projects, but not for all. In certain cases waiting until all the results are in, analysed and discussed in detail is preferable or even necessary, but this can create a significant gap in which it may seem like little or no progress is being made towards the development of a scholarly reputation.
Fortunately, today’s researchers are assessed on far more than their scholarship and publications, and as highly educated members of society, scholars can offer their services in a wide variety of ways. Volunteering to share your expertise at high schools and community centres is an excellent strategy and brings many of its own rewards beyond career success, and the same is the case with tutoring students who are having difficulty with your subject area and mentoring teens who are experiencing social or family problems. Perhaps there are research projects or social programmes taking place in your university or community that could benefit from your skills and interests. If so, go ahead and introduce yourself – you might be surprised to learn just how welcome your offer of assistance will be.
Actively participating in your field and beyond it in a variety of ways can attract the attention of people with far more influence than you can muster – people who can help you get your foot in the door, break through the barrier of being an unknown researcher and earn the invitations and recognition you desire. In addition, that recognition will be well deserved because you are not only showcasing your knowledge and abilities and revealing your full potential, but also having a positive impact on others by putting your skills to work for the good of your society. Such activities improve lives and communities and are reliable signs that a researcher is both the kind of person and the kind of scholar who will contribute valuable research and insight for the rest of his or her life – the very kind of scholar funding bodies are hoping to support, universities are aiming to hire and many acquisitions proofreaders are eager to publish.
Why Our Editing and Proofreading Services?
At Proof-Reading-Service.com we offer the highest quality journal article editing, dissertation proofreading and online 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 manuscript 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 dissertation proofreading and manuscript proofreading, offering academics the opportunity to improve their use of formatting and language through the most exacting PhD thesis editing and journal article 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.