Publish Your Undergraduate Research:
Social Sciences & Gerontology
You can publish your academic writing in undergraduate journals that specialize in presenting student research and critical essays. Though these are not the same journals in which professional scholars publish, undergraduate journals maintain a rigorous review process and editorial standards. They are prestigious venues in which to publish a paper, and to have your name appear as an author in a peer-reviewed undergraduate journal is not only a notable achievement, it is a doable one.
You might have written an "A" paper that received glowing comments from your professor, who may even have encouraged you to publish it. Or you might have a passionate interest in a particular topic and want to research and write about it in-depth. If so, you have the beginnings of a published paper!
The benefits of publishing at this stage in your academic career are clear:
Where Can I Publish My Undergraduate Research?
Explore the Undergraduate Journals & Conferences Directory (UJCD) to find possible journals in which to publish. Although the UJCD does not have a category for Social Sciences, you should be able to find a journal listed in the UJCD that will fit your research.
Check out the following journals from the UJCD, and explore others as well, as you begin to plan where to submit your paper for publication:
Gerontology students: examine various journals to see where your research would fit. For example, in the Undergraduate Journal of Psychology, a paper was published on “Successful Aging in the Minds of College Students.” So research on various aspects of aging could conceivably fit in a variety of journals.
Unfortunately, some of the journals listed in the UJCD may accept submissions only from undergraduates at certain institutions. You must read and follow any journal's submission guidelines before sending in your paper. And, if possible, read an issue or two of the journal in which you want to publish: you will learn a lot by reading other students' articles, and you can judge whether your work will fit in with the approach of that particular journal.
Additionally, if you are eligible for membership in UMUC's chapter of Pi Gamma Mu, the International Honor Society for the Social Sciences, then you can submit an article to the society's International Social Science Review.
Note that, depending on the undergraduate journal and the type of article you are submitting, you may be required to have your article reviewed and signed by a faculty mentor, a professor here at UMUC, who is familiar with you and your research. The faculty mentor can also guide you in your research and writing. Again, check the submission guidelines for the journal to which you are submitting to see if you need a faculty mentor.
What Kind of Articles Can I Publish?
Depending on the undergraduate journal you are writing for, you can write various types of articles, such as:
Review articles survey and evaluate research by others on a particular topic. In other words, you are searching library databases and finding current, in-depth information on a topic, and you are analyzing and synthesizing that information to draw conclusions of your own. However, you are not yourself conducting an original study and gathering data. For example:
Post, J., & Kaup, M. L. (2005). Establishing acoustical standards within environments for the aging: What should we be building? Undergraduate Research Journal for the Human Sciences, 4. Retrieved April 15, 2008, from http://www.kon.org/urc/v4/post.html
Research articles report on original research you've conducted, presenting the data you've collected and conclusions you've drawn. Research articles contain references to relevant work by other scholars—the references may even amount to a mini-literature review—but the main purpose is to communicate your original research. For example:
Gunter, K. L. (2007). (2007, August). Emotional understanding and social behavior in school-age children. The Undergraduate Journal of Psychology, 20, 1-7. Retrieved April 15, 2008, from http://www.psych.uncc.edu/UJOP2007.pdf
When your research involves gathering data from human participants, you have to consult UMUC's policy and follow the proper procedures. This is an absolute necessity, even if the paper you are planning to publish is not part of your UMUC course work (see Section IV. item C of the policy page).
Feature articles report on current social science news in a journalistic fashion, in lively, non-technical language; citations sometimes are not used, though there may be links for further reading. This is writing aimed at non-experts, the sort of thing you would see in a popular magazine. For example:
Children of divorced parents are more likely to themselves divorce. (2005, June 27). Journal of Young Investigators. Retrieved April 15, 2008, from http://www.jyi.org/news/nb.php?id=352
Some undergraduate journals may accept other types of writing, such as book reviews, opinion pieces, and so on.
What Resources Are Available to Help Me Write a Social Science Paper?
Here are some resources that will offer you help with writing and other types of scholarly communication in the social sciences. Even if you are not thinking right now about publishing your work, these resources will help improve your college research papers.
In the library's online catalogUSMAI, you can do a basic search on social sciences AND authorship and find lots of guides. Below are just a few: click on a title to access that book's record in the catalog. For help using catalogUSMAI, including how to request books, see the library's guide.
The library's collection of e-books, NetLibrary, has the following title on research and writing in psychology, which should also be helpful for writing in related social science fields. The book even contains a chapter on submitting a paper to a journal.
You can read the book in its entirety online by clicking on the title below and logging into NetLibrary. If you're not familiar with NetLibrary, you can review our guide, How to Use NetLibrary.
You should be able to find other helpful volumes in NetLibrary with keywords searches like this:
JOURNAL OF YOUNG INVESTIGATORS GUIDE
The Journal of Young Investigators has an excellent guide, written especially for undergraduates in a practical, down-to-earth style, on Writing Scientific Manuscripts. Addressing scientific writing in general, the guide applies to social science manuscripts as well. It explains: