Publication Assistance: Medium Articles

Broader
Audience
Reach

Instant
Publication

Creative
Freedom

A natural next step after completing a dissertation is to seek publication. Adapting the dissertation for publication in one or more peer-reviewed journals is an excellent way to get your research to be a part of the current literature in your field, but another option to consider is publishing one or more articles about your research on Medium. This is an open platform that accepts submissions from writers around the world, and it can be a great way of sharing your research with a public audience. In addition to our journal article support, Precision also provides assistance with reshaping dissertations and theses into articles for publication on Medium's platform. Here are some key benefits of this option to consider:

Reach a Broader Audience

Publishing articles on Medium is a great way of publicly sharing the products of your dissertation research, and an advantage to Medium over peer-reviewed journals is that it reaches an audience beyond just academia. Although it is certainly important to share the findings of your research with your fellow researchers through peer-reviewed journals, there is a much broader segment of the public who might truly appreciate learning about your study and the significance of your findings. Medium is a great platform for reaching that audience.

Unlike most other online forums that center around image-based content, Medium is specifically dedicated to written pieces. This means that by publishing on Medium, you have instant access to a large audience of readers who are perusing the site because they are genuinely interested in reading others’ work. After investing so much of your time and energy into your dissertation, it is gratifying to have others invest a little of their time to learn about your research. You can also reach readers outside of academia who connect with your research topic on a personal or professional level, which can lead to new networking opportunities.

No Peer Review – Publish Immediately

In contrast with peer-reviewed journals, Medium does not require that your article submission weather the scrutiny of a group of fellow researchers (i.e., peer review) in order to be published, and there are no specific formatting or content requirements for articles submitted to Medium. With peer-reviewed journals, publishing is contingent upon peer approval and that is by no means an easy feat to obtain. Even if your submission is ultimately approved, jumping through the hoops of the peer review process can be stressful and time-consuming, and the delay to actual publication is typically 3 to 6 months.

Publishing on Medium, however, is not slowed down by such an approval process, and publication is instant. Although there is no formal approval process, submitting a piece of high-quality writing is still highly recommended, as well-written pieces tend to attract more readers on Medium than poorly written works. Our team will ensure that your article is impeccably written so that you can make the best possible impression on your readers.

Greater Freedom With Format, Style, and Content

The comparatively relaxed submission guidelines on Medium allow you a much greater level of freedom when it comes to developing the overall presentation of your article. Where peer-reviewed journals typically require the standard research manuscript format, Medium invites a variety of formats and presentations. This means that you are not limited to publishing articles that move through the typical segments of research manuscripts (introduction, literature review, methods, results, discussion). While you are certainly free to use this format, you may also share your dissertation research in other forms such as stories or editorials.

In addition to giving you more freedom in terms of article format, Medium also allows greater freedom with the language you use in your article. As all doctoral candidates learn while writing their dissertations, the rules of academic writing can place certain constraints on your expression. For example, when writing research manuscripts, you are not permitted to use metaphor or colorful language, and your discussion of the research needs to be completely free of opinion or emotion. These rules are in place for good reasons, but most researchers are passionate about their areas of research and have strong opinions about the research problems they examine. Publishing on Medium allows you to express that passion through use of more lively and engaging text than you are permitted to use in academic publications.

Promote Your Online Presence or Brand

Another key benefit of publishing on Medium is that the large audience of regular readers provides you with a forum for building your online presence or brand. Up to 100 million readers engage with content on Medium each month, and publishing one or more articles about your research can help you cultivate a larger group of followers for your other online pursuits–whether personal or professional.

Within the article context, Medium permits authors to include links to other online spaces, such as personal blogs, websites, or social media. Aside from a nominal monthly membership fee, there is no charge to publish on Medium, so this means that you essentially have access to free advertising for any business-related interests you would like to link to your article. Publishing compelling articles that grab and maintain readers’ attention is a great way of developing your brand and attracting new followers. This is because your article’s ranking is enhanced by the number of readers who “clap” (i.e., Medium’s approval metric) for your piece and read it fully.

Possible Approaches for Generating Medium Articles From Your Dissertation

Since the absence of formatting, style, and content requirements on Medium allows you to draw from your dissertation research to create a variety of article types our team can assist with the development of articles of many different forms, including:

• Standard journal article format: Although you are not required to follow this format on Medium, the typical journal article format is, of course, an option to consider. This would entail drawing content from your dissertation to draft much more concise sections for the introduction, literature review, methods, results, and discussion. This approach is a great choice if you want to stay true to the research tradition, highlighting for your readers the rigor of your method and the distinct contribution your findings make to the broader research literature.
• Showcase particularly interesting findings: Researchers are usually very passionate about their areas of inquiry, and shaping your article around the parts of your study that you found exciting is a way of sharing that passion with the world. Although you are required to report and discuss all of your findings in your dissertation, in this type of Medium article you would be free to focus on specific findings, explaining how and why they are inspiring or interesting. For example, you could discuss how your findings might support changes to policy and/or practice in your field, highlighting how this might benefit specific populations. Linking this discussion to stories about specific individuals or examples from the field might be a compelling angle for such an article.
• Connect your findings to current events for broader commentary: All dissertation research must make a contribution to the current research literature, and many doctoral candidates conduct research on issues that are “hot topics” in the media as well. One option for a Medium article is to discuss how your own research ties in with current events in the media, using this discussion to support a broader commentary or analysis of current issues. From analysis of controversial social policy to discussion of emerging, disruptive technologies, we can assist with a presentation of your research in an article that taps into issues of current interest among readers.
• Write about the processes of research, using your study as an example: Another possible way of approaching the article is to discuss your experiences with conducting empirical research during your dissertation. The dissertation is often the first independent research project a doctoral candidate has ever conducted, and your experiences learning to be a researcher can certainly be chronicled to create interesting reading for others. This can also help to illustrate what you gleaned from this key developmental process in your graduate studies, which may be especially advantageous if you are seeking to develop your professional reputation as a researcher.
• Write about the research problem for advocacy purposes: In addition to contributing new knowledge to the research literature, your dissertation research also contributes to the solution of existing problems in your area of study. In many cases, doctoral candidates draw directly from their own personal or professional experiences when developing ideas for their dissertation topics. Although the justification for your study must be based in the research literature for your dissertation, in a Medium article you would be free to discuss the real-world problems that inspired you to conduct this research. Discussing your perspectives and experiences related to these problems would help to heighten public awareness of the issues that you have worked to address through your doctoral research.