Very random question fueled by the hype about your incoming Laeg paper (also other random question but... Pacific Rim/Iron Widow style reimagining of Laeg and Cu Chulainn when??) but do you have any tips/templates on writing an academic article for publication?
I have never actually seen Pacific Rim, though the concept appeals to me greatly; I have however read Iron Widow and... yes, I am 100% here for this concept. Would love to see someone write that fic.
And... honestly, I don't have too much advice to give on that front. I guess a few generic tips:
Read recently published articles in your field to get a sense of length, style, tone etc. These may vary by journal, so look for one that seems to suit the kind of thing you'd be going for.
It might help to seek out other postgraduate articles, eg in the proceedings of student-run conferences, to get a sense of what other scholars at a similar level are doing. It's hard to always be comparing yourself to the big names in the field – give yourself a break!
An article needs to contribute knowledge to the field, whereas a student essay can just evaluate the knowledge that's already there. So if you're adapting work that you did as a student, consider whether it has something to add that nobody's said yet.
For me, in recent years this has meant working with texts and characters nobody cares about. Before, when I was working more on Cú Chulainn, it was about introducing theoretical frameworks that are under-utilised in my field. You can pick a big topic in the field and go argue with somebody famous, but that's a tough way to start; better to choose a small corner that nobody's looked at in a while and say, "Hey, actually this is interesting." You might even convince them.
In Celtic Studies, editions and translations are useful, so this can be a good place to start, if you have skills in that area: they serve a purpose to other scholars and provide a foundation for future work, which means they're worth publishing. In other fields, there are probably other things that are useful. If you don't already have an article in mind, figure out what would be useful to yourself and others in your field, as it might help you get a foot in the door.
As far as I can tell: Undergrad is when you think, "Huh, odd how nobody's done that." Masters is when you think, "Okay but somebody really needs to do that." PhD is when you go, "Ugh, FINE, I guess I'm doing that." Articles can be this, but on a smaller scale. What is it that you wish somebody else had done or pointed out or emphasised before? That sounds like a niche that needs filling.
Pick your journals carefully. I have very little experience of How To Pick The Right Journal, but you might want to think about things like "is it published online/open access?" or "how complicated are the submission guidelines?" or even "do I get a good vibe from the editor or are they kind of a creep at conferences?"
Conference proceedings are a less intimidating way to tackle a first publication, because you're invited to submit after presenting at the conference, so you already know they're interested. This does mean presenting at a conference, though, but postgrad conferences especially can be very friendly, so it doesn't have to be a huge intimidating big deal.
A well structured article is more convincing than an article that talks in circles for eight pages before getting to the point. Topic sentences are your friend. Make sure the reader knows where each paragraph is going and how one related to the next. Include translations of quotations because no one likes That Guy who randomly sticks bits of Latin in the middle.
"Witty pun or quote: a well-used article title structure" is a legitimate approach to titling.
If you're currently a student, ask your supervisor if they'll read over your article. They might have suggestions for where you could send it, and they'll probably have useful comments.
I don't know if any of that's at all useful. I would say I'm very far from an expert on this front! My articles so far have been:
Adapted from a section of my undergraduate dissertation, but substantially expanded with new theoretical approaches and extra monsters; presented first in greatly abbreviated form at a conference (trans Cú Chulainn article)
More or less directly lifted from a chapter of my MA thesis, just with added introductory material and a few tweaks to make it stand alone; presented first at a conference (Láeg article)
An expanded version of a coursework project consisting of an edition, translation and commentary on a fragmentary text (7 Maines article)
All of them, as you can see, were adapted from work I'd done before, and two were given as conference papers to start with. So I don't have a lot of experience with starting from scratch.
A couple of years back I was googling and I did find a PDF designed for postgrad students that was all about adapting coursework into publications – I think it was from the University of Glasgow. I wouldn't have it to hand and I'm on mobile at present, but perhaps if you Google, you might be able to find something similar, and it might have more helpful advice than me!
