International Journal of Communication
Publishes a Special Forum Section
“On Writing in Communication and Media Studies”

 

Why do we write? What do we write? Whom do we write for?

Writing is a fundamental part of what we do as scholars, and yet it is a largely unexamined process at best, informally addressed in the course of a learning-by-doing process. While this is true of most academic disciplines, it is somewhat ironic for one whose focus is on the importance of communication.

This IJoC Special Forum explores the complex, multifaceted process of writing in Communication and Media Studies, unpacking the institutional and personal factors that shape answers to questions such as those above. Intentionally conversational in its format, we do so by starting with an essay by the forum’s guest editors, Pablo J. Boczkowski and Michael X. Delli Carpini. They reflect on evolving trends in scholarly writing, focusing on the purpose, advantages, and drawbacks of specific forms of writing such as refereed journal articles, books and book chapters, edited volumes, conference papers, blogs and social media, and co-authorship. They conclude by inviting a conversation on how we — as individuals and as an academic community — can maintain our emphasis on quality and impact as the foremost goals of scholarly writing, while acknowledging the variety of writing practices enacted to achieve them.

The Forum includes Boczkowski and Delli Carpini’s essay, an introduction, and six invited responses written by tenured colleagues with significant diversity in terms of stage in career development, theoretical and methodological orientation, areas of interest, and identity and cultural positionalities. Each essay offers provocative critiques of the points raised by Boczkowski and Delli Carpini, and makes important contributions to this both timely and timeless topic.

We invite you to read this new Special Forum Section that published January 1, 2020 in the International Journal of Communication.  If you wish to share your own reactions, experiences, and insights to this engaging and impactful discussion, please contact Pablo Boczkowski and Michael Delli Carpini. We look forward to your feedback.

Please Ctrl+Click  on the titles below for direct hyperlinking.

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On Writing in Communication and Media Studies
Pablo J. Boczkowski, Michael X. Delli Carpini

On Writing in Communication and Media Studies – Introduction to the Forum
Pablo J. Boczkowski, Michael X. Delli Carpini

On Writing and Academic Conventions
Silvio Waisbord

Writing As a Satisfying Endeavor
Ingrid Bachmann

Challenges to Writing as a Humanities-Based Media Studies Scholar
Susan J. Douglas

Two Brief Points on Publication Impact
Deen Freelon

On Writing, Surviving, and Thriving in Communication and Media Studies
Brooke Foucault Welles

A “Modest Proposal” on Writing That Is Not Modest Enough
Noshir Contractor
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Larry Gross
Editor

Arlene Luck
Managing Editor

Pablo J. Bockowski,  Michael Delli X. Carpini
Guest Editors