Submissions

Articles

The main body of an ACADEMIC ARTICLE should consist of the following parts. They do not have to have these titles in your article, but it should be easy for the reader to recognise when they are moving from one part to the next:

Introduction

Motivations for and context and relevance of your study. This is where you express why your study is important and timely.

Previous research / Theoretical arguments of approach

Summarise the previous research done in this area and highlight where/how your work fits in, and how it enriches the body of existing work. Outline your theoretical approach. Which theories are you working with and why are they useful for your analysis? There can be, and often is, some overlap between the theory and the summary of the previous research. This is fine. It is important to reference the people’s work you are using to construct your arguments.

Methods and data

Give a concise summary of the methods you use in your data collection AND analysis. If you conducted interviews, state for example whether they were semi-structured or open-ended, who they were with, where they took place etc. If you read documents, state how you analysed the content, and so forth.

Analysis

This is where you analyse YOUR data, making short references to the theory/previous research you outlined before. The point here is to showcase your own UNIQUE AND NEW findings.

Conclusion / discussion

Here you can summarise and discuss the implications of your findings for society and your field of research.

Academic Essay

An ACADEMIC ESSAY is a short(er) piece on one particular subject. It requires far less referencing than an academic article and gives the author’s own argument to a greater extent. The essay should be clearly divided into an Introduction, Main Body and Conclusion (without using these headings) and also include a short list of references. 

Introduction

Introduces the topic, outlines the question, and how you will answer the question. Tell the reader what you are going to be discussing, and the key arguments that will follow.

Main body

Include your key arguments as separate paragraphs. The number of paragraphs will vary based on the length of the essay, the number of arguments you have and the required depth of analysis. For each paragraph, include a clear topic sentence that outlines what the paragraph will say, and how this links to the question.

Conclusion

Draw together your key arguments. Demonstrate how you have sufficiently answered the essay question. Avoid introducing new information or ideas here.

Before you submit your essay, ask yourself the following questions:

Does your essay have a clear, logical structure, with an introduction, body and conclusion?

Does your essay clearly answer the essay question and align with the criteria?

Does your essay use up-to-date and relevant literature and evidence?

Is your essay within the word limit?

Have you proofread your essay?

Book reviews

Reviews should contextualise books within a field, approach their overall argument analytically, and/or provide concise treatment of the book’s contribution to state-of-the-art literature. Reviews that simply summarise contents without critical, in-depth reflection and discussion will not be accepted.

Articles (from issue 11)

As a multidisciplinary journal we welcome academic articles from different traditions and recognise that there is no 'one way' to do Asian Studies. Still, submissions should contain a thesis/research question, speak to existing literature, and detail a theoretical approach. The level of methodological detail (data collection, data analysis, etc..) required depends on the topic and disciplinary tradition. Please look to older issues of Asia in Focus for examples.