On June 14, 2025, the thematic lecture titled "How to Conduct Academic Writing" hosted by the Subject Teaching (Geography) Major of the School of Teacher Education was successfully held in Lecture Hall West 117 of Huacheng Building. Ms. Li Jie from the Newspapers and Periodicals Department of People's Education Press was specially invited as the guest speaker. Professor Zhu Xuemei from Nanjing Normal University presided over the lecture, while experts including Zhao Yuan and Lu Liyun attended it. Students of all grades majoring in Subject Teaching (Geography) participated actively. The lecture focused on the core topics of academic writing, aiming to help researchers master scientific research methods, improve the quality of paper writing, enhance academic competitiveness, and lay a solid foundation for the sustainable development of their academic careers.

Part 1: Why Write Academic Papers?

Driven by objective needs such as academic requirements, academic degree improvement, and career development, academic paper writing has become an indispensable skill for researchers. "Why write it down? Because writing is thinking in written form," Ms. Li Jie emphasized. She pointed out that written expression can promote systematic and in-depth thinking, serving as targeted training for the rigor of thinking. Through writing, researchers can organize their thoughts, deepen their understanding of issues, gain new perspectives, truly achieve the goal of "promoting reading through writing," and sharpen their thinking in the refinement of words.

Part 2: What Constitutes a Good Academic Paper?

The essence of academia lies in knowledge innovation based on the achievements of predecessors. Not everything written possesses academic value; the three essential elements of an academic paper are research questions, demonstration processes, and verifiable conclusions. Regarding the teaching research papers frequently written by frontline primary and secondary school teachers, Ms. Li Jie conducted a detailed analysis of common misunderstandings. She noted that the general structure of a teaching research paper includes three parts: "What I did," "How I did it," and "Why I did it." Among these, the focus should be on "Why I did it"—by highlighting academic rationality, the paper’s reference significance and promotion value can be enhanced. As an experienced editor, Ms. Li Jie shared the manuscript review process with the audience and summarized the basic characteristics of excellent papers: Originality in topic selection and content; Clarity in structure and hierarchy; Accuracy in language and wording; Standardization of references. On the easily overlooked issue of references, she stressed that references are a crucial reflection of an author’s academic literacy. Through references, one can assess the author’s mastery of academic history and key literature.

Part 3: How to Write a Good Academic Paper?

Writing cannot be accomplished overnight. Ms. Li Jie argued that writers face at least two major challenges: first, "what to write" (topic selection), and second, "how to write" (writing skills). From the writer’s perspective, topic selection should follow four principles: Adapting to one’s own capabilities (matching personal strengths); Combining theoretical depth with practical foundation ("connecting the top with the bottom"); Preferring a narrow, focused topic over a broad, vague one; Striving for innovation. From the editor’s perspective, a good research topic must have timeliness, innovation, practicability, and foresight. "With a research proposition in mind, you will actively seek evidence," Ms. Li Jie said. Her words inspired students to not only develop "problem awareness" but also "awareness of problem quality," encouraging them to identify valuable research topics in daily study and practice.

At the end of the lecture, Ms. Li Jie offered four suggestions to the students: Strengthen professional learning, think critically, and cultivate a broad educational perspective; Start writing immediately and keep writing consistently—don’t hesitate to put pen to paper; Believe that good articles are "polished through revisions"—improve quality by deleting redundant content, checking for errors, adjusting structure, and revising wording; Understand target journals—"know both yourself and your audience" to align writing with journal requirements. In response to the on-site question "How to ensure the verifiability of conclusions in teaching research papers," Ms. Li Jie provided a patient answer with specific examples.

Friedrich Engels once praised the spirit of thinkers as "the most beautiful flower on earth." In the summary session, Professor Zhu Xuemei commented emotionally, "Writing is the process of cultivating this beautiful flower. Every thought and every revision accumulates strength for its blooming." Professor Zhao Yuan shared, "Writing and revising articles every night has long become a great pleasure in my life." For future teachers, academic research is not only a vital approach to thinking training for postgraduates but also an essential ability for becoming excellent designers and innovators in teaching positions.

Text | Lin Yanping

Images | Lin Yanping

Review | Zhu Xuemei