Syllabus

Title
5625 Academic Writing I - Business and Economics
Instructors
Prof. Dr. Dominika Langenmayr
Contact details
Type
FS
Weekly hours
2
Language of instruction
Englisch
Registration
03/01/23 to 03/06/23
Registration via LPIS
Notes to the course
Subject(s) Doctoral/PhD Programs
Dates
Day Date Time Room
Thursday 03/09/23 10:00 AM - 01:00 PM D3.2.243
Thursday 03/09/23 01:00 PM - 06:00 PM D2.0.330
Friday 03/10/23 08:30 AM - 04:00 PM D3.0.218
Contents

Session 1: Academic Journals and the Publication Process

Publication process, journal rankings, which journal is the right one for my paper?, submission strategy, working paper series & when to submit there, conference submissions

Session 2: Title

What is a good title?

Sessions 3 & 4: Abstract

What belongs in the abstract? We’ll look at good abstracts and identify what they have in common. We’ll also spend some time re-writing and discussing abstracts.

Session 5: Storyline

What belongs in the paper? How do I tell a coherent story? What should I cite? Plagiarism

Session 6: Introduction

Elements of a good introduction, examples

Session 7: Main body of the paper

Structure of a theory/empirical paper, what to keep in mind with tables and figures

Session 8: Conclusion and Appendix

Session 9: Referee Reports

How to deal with rejections, revising a paper, response letters, how to write a referee report

This session outline is subject to changes!

Learning outcomes

The course is part of the Doctoral Program in International Business Taxation (DIBT). During the course, students learn best practices for writing an academic paper in accounting, economics or psychology. After the course, they are familiar with the publication process and know how to choose the best outlet for their papers. They know how to structure a paper and how to write it to maximize their publication chances.

Attendance requirements

> 80% attendance requirement

Teaching/learning method(s)

Students receive material in advance and will prepare for the course. In particular, each student should select 2-3 favorite papers from their field (at least 1-2 of which should be published in top journals).  We will use these papers to figure out best practices for academic writing. Besides the group work, there will be lectures on each of the topics mentioned above.

After the first part of the course, students will have about three weeks to re-work a piece of their own writing (ideally, abstract and introduction of a research paper). They will then give each other feedback on this text (in writing). They have to hand in their writing sample three weeks after receiving feedback.

Assessment

The course consists of lectures by the professor, group work and discussion in class. Weighting of the course assessment will be:

50% own writing sample (abstract + introduction of a research project)
25% for active participation
25% for written feedback on someone else’s writing

Prerequisites for participation and waiting lists

Participation in the DIBT Program - Doctoral Program in International Business Taxation

Readings

Please log in with your WU account to use all functionalities of read!t. For off-campus access to our licensed electronic resources, remember to activate your VPN connection connection. In case you encounter any technical problems or have questions regarding read!t, please feel free to contact the library at readinglists@wu.ac.at.

Availability of lecturer(s)

By email at Dominika.Langenmayr@ku.de

Additional (blank) field

Bellamare, Marc (2020): How to write applied papers in economics. http://marcfbellemare.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/BellemareHowToPaperSeptember2020.pdf

Berk, Jonathan B., Campbell R. Harvey and David Hirshleifer (2017). How to Write an Effective Referee Report and Improve the Scientific Review Process. Journal of Economic Perspectives 31 (1), 231-44.

Cochrane, John (2005): Writing Tips for PhD students. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e6033a4ea02d801f37e15bb/t/5eda74919c44fa5f87452697/1591374993570/phd_paper_writing.pdf

Faff, Robert (2020): http://pitchingresearch.com/guide.html

Glaeser, Ed (2003): How to write a theory paper. https://www.princeton.edu/~reddings/tradephd/Glaeser_Lecture_11.pdf

Harvey, Campbell R. (2012). Reflections on Editing the Journal of Finance. https://faculty.fuqua.duke.edu/~charvey/Research/Working_Papers/W111_Reflections_on_editing.pdf

Kachelmeier, Steven J. (2004). Reviewing the Review Process. Journal of the American Taxation Association, Supplement 2004. 

McCloskey, Deirdre (2019): Economical Writing. 3rd Edition, University of Chicago Press.

Schimel, Joshua (2011): Writing Science: How to Write Papers That Get Cited and Proposals That Get Funded. Oxford University Press

Schwabish, Jonathan (2014). An economist’s guide to visualizing data. Journal of Economic Perspectives 28 (1), 209-234.

Thomsen, William (2011): A guide for the young economist. 2nd Edition, MIT Press

Last edited: 2022-12-01



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