The Center for Advancing Faculty Excellence is hosting a three part workshop which will guide participants through the process of producing and submitting an academic blog post relating to their research. This is a great way to promote new publications, raise your profile as a researcher, and increase the visibility of your department. Many journals and publishers now have blogs (see an example here) that provide versions of the work they’ve published in their primary outlets in a format that are more accessible both in terms of content and cost. These blog posts in turn are read by other scholars from a variety of fields, assigned in undergraduate courses, and can even influence policymakers.

Who can participate? Any UMKC faculty member.

When is it? The first meeting is Feb 25 at 3pm. Two subsequent meetings will be arranged to fit participants schedules in the in the following week.

What do I need to do beforehand? All you need to do is register for the workshop February 21 at 5:00 pm. You do not need to know what you want to write about or where you’ll submit it.

What can I expect? The first meeting will be a one-hour introduction to public-facing writing and academic blogs. You’ll get information about choosing a topic and approach, writing style, format, and outlets. For the second meeting, you’ll circulate drafts (800-1100 words) with a small group of other faculty members in advance and receive and provide feedback in the meeting. The third meeting will involve a discussion of where participants have sent their drafts, workshopping of any additional iterations, and discussions of next steps. By the end of the workshop, you will have a complete blog post that is ready to submit or already under review (it really is that easy).