All You Need To Know About Publishing An Undergraduate Dissertation

If you can get published as an undergraduate, it adds a lot of credibility to your studies in your chosen field of work. Taking advantage of the people you know in the academic world is one of the ways to do this. You can recognize the opportunities you have while in university, and have your work shown the respect it deserves. There are many different publications, journals and magazines that are useful platforms to get published in as an undergraduate. If you know how to approach the right people and are persistent, then you can get published.

How to get undergraduate work published

1. Talk with a professor who knows about you and your work. They can recommend literary or academic journals fitting to your field
2. At the same time, it’s good to do your own “homework” researching appropriate publications. Narrow it down to three or four who publish the same type of work as yours and read past issues to know more about them
3. Ask the same professor from step 1 to help you write and edit a query letter that will introduce your dissertation to the editors of the journals you’re looking at, and get it proofread
4. Send your query to the publications you’ve chosen, in the format they specify. Make sure you follow their submission requirements because editors are busy people and can’t publish everything they are sent
5. You can also contact local journals or news sites about opportunities for writing that you can include on a byline. When you’re knowledgeable about your field, it should be easy to write widely about your interests and share that with others

Getting published: don’t give up!

It can be daunting if you’ve never seen your words in print before. Even a small circulation literary journal will add to your confidence and give you added credibility. It’s that first publication that’s the hardest to acquire. Talk with your professor further about finding other places to submit and searching for peer review journals.

You do have to be patient when submitting any work to a publication. There should be a standard time before hearing back from any journal or site—check on their terms of submission for a time estimate. Usually you can expect two weeks or more. Don’t be tempted to send another one or to inquire about a response, as it’s unprofessional.