Building your research trail as a new faculty member
Three strategies to keep moving, one step at a time, toward a strong tenure application
Nicole had just landed her first tenure track job when we sat down to talk about writing for publication. She'd been publishing in graduate school with the goal of landing this job. Now, with the goal of tenure in front of her, Nicole realized her publications would shape her professional identity. This brought up a big question for her: "How do I shape my work towards some goal when I don't really know what that goal is yet?"
In my research on academics' experiences with writing for publication and in my work as an academic writing coach, I've witnessed the challenges of building a strong publication record while juggling responsibilities on the tenure track. My research participants and coaching clients say that shaping a publication agenda is challenging for many reasons, including murkiness. You can't really see your destination as you are moving toward it. Drawing on their insights, I offer a three-part framework built around the image of a trail: a path you make by walking it, one visible stretch at a time. It will help you establish an effective, achievable publication practice in year one and beyond.
a foggy path through the woods
Walk the ground you've already covered
Before you scout any new routes, take stock of the miles you've already hiked. Focusing your effort on whatever is closest to submission helps you 1) make choices about what to work on now, and 2) take advantage of hard work already done. You have previous research started - use it! If you are in a discipline where it's expected that you turn your dissertation into a book, get started on that. At https://dissertationtobook.com/blog/, you’ll find helpful, digestible guidance along with other resources to focus your dissertation-to-book work. If you don’t need to publish a book, review your dissertation, conference papers, and any other research done in grad school for material to develop into journal articles. You might look at this material with an eye to publishing in any journals you can, or you might start by developing just one article for the best possible journal you can get into. Do some sleuthing to figure out what is prioritized in tenure reviews where you are.
You may be sick of your dissertation. Many academics feel this way after the long dissertation slog. If this comes up for you, consider if you truly want to leave that line of research behind for something else, or if you just need to work through a temporary dissertation aversion. Get some support if you need help to overcome that block.
Find your trail companions
No one has to walk this trail alone, and the right company makes the miles easier. Look for a good writing group for accountability and camaraderie. Local writing groups offer built-in community and motivation to make progress. If none exist at your institution, you can look for existing online academic writing communities, such as Shut Up & Write! (https://shutupwrite.com/) or https://www.theacademicwritersspace.com/. Alternatively, you can gather a small group of peers to form your own group, either in person or online. Check out my episode on the PhD Liferaft podcast for some ideas and resources on forming a writing group.
Instead of a group, or as a complement to a group, you might also benefit from a coach. A coach can help devise strategies tailored to your work habits and research goals. Find out if a coaching or mentoring program is available to you at your institution, either in-house or through a membership to an organization like https://www.ncfdd.org/ If not, you can join NCFDD as an individual or hire a freelance coach. Be sure to inquire if you can use professional development funds from your institution for coaching. While some writing support professionals focus their practice on coaching, many academic editors also offer coaching as part of their services. A good place to start searching for a coach is through professional organizations such as the Editorial Freelancers Association (the-efa.org) or Editors Canada (https://editors.ca/). And of course ask colleagues if they can recommend a coach or editor.
Coaching is a relationship, and it’s important to find a coach who is a good fit for you. With an initial list of coaching resources, you can meet with potential coaches for exploratory calls. These calls are an opportunity for you to share your goals, challenges and needs, and for the coach to share how they would approach helping you. You may want to ask how coaching sessions will be structured, how goal-setting is accomplished, and what to do if you have concerns about the coaching process. Notice how the coach listens to you and how they demonstrate that they understand you (or if they fail to!). If, during the conversation, you notice your body relaxing, that’s usually a good sign. Once you’ve found a coach who is a good fit, you can meet regularly to outline publication plans, make project timelines, and check in on progress.
Notice your trail markers
When all your existing work is out on review, you can look up from your boots and start scouting the route ahead. Now is the time to perform literature reviews, collect new data, and start up collaborations with new colleagues.
The projects you take on should help you demonstrate coherence and impact in your tenure dossier. When reviewers look at your list of publications, they should be able to tell what your expertise is. As my research participant Nicole shared, this is often hard to envision as a new faculty member feeling your way toward a research agenda. Take comfort in what novelist E.L. Doctorow famously said of writing: “Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” On a trail, it works the same way. Your headlamp only lights the next stretch, but that's enough to keep walking.
In practice, shine your headlamp on common threads in your existing work and new projects that get you excited. How do you want your research to impact your field or the world beyond academia? Keep a trail journal (a brainstorming file) in which you note the problem statements that come up in your own work and the work of other scholars you resonate with. Use this big-picture view to choose projects that mark out a clear route toward solving those problems. Communicate this vision when networking to attract funding and collaborators.
You can start building an impressive portfolio even while getting your teaching legs. And building a solid research practice in year one will be helpful in following years when service expectations can creep up, especially for women and faculty of color. Think of it as breaking in your boots early: the habits you form now make the harder stretches easier to walk.
Nicole's question, how to shape your work toward a goal you can't yet see, doesn't need a final answer before you begin. Let these three strategies guide you to approach the publishing process and dossier construction as a manageable progression of small steps rather than a looming requirement. Start with the next stretch, bring good company, and mark your way as you go.