Youth Development Insight

By Kate Walker Youth development researchers strive to contribute to the field’s knowledge base, influence practitioners' decision-making and improve outcomes for young people. Translational research aims to put science to use . Likewise, many youth development practitioners seek to ground their daily work in sound information, best practices and the latest innovations. So why is there a disconnect between researchers and practitioners? Practitioners rarely read peer-reviewed journal articles. Why? Most journals are hard to access and too expensive outside of academia. Even articles in free, open-access journals can be tedious to read, hard to digest and challenging for time-crunched practitioners to meaningfully translate to their everyday practice. Most research articles aren’t designed or written to meet practitioners’ needs. Researchers are rewarded (i.e., published, tenured) for original ideas, not applicable ones. They emphasize their rigorous methods to demonstra...

By Samantha Grant One day I would like to write a book that someone other than my mom would read. Until that dream comes true, I review writing for a number of academic publications. Those who can’t write, review! The picture shown here is me struggling through reviewing a journal article. Note to authors: This is not the response you are trying to elicit. Also note that I did not accept this submission. I did, however, give the author some focused feedback because I always try to find the value. I know that for many of you, writing is a chore that you hate as much as I hate vacuuming. I'll never love cleaning my carpets, but if you give me a five-point list, I might scan through it. So in that spirit, here's a short list of writing problems I often see as a reviewer and how to fix them. Problem: Lack of organization Organization matters most and is the hardest to fix. I can forgive wonky verb tenses and less-than-eloquent transitions because editing those problems ...

By Jennifer Skuza There is something so rewarding about seeing your name in print as an author. You may think about youth continuously, do the work every day, hone your practice and even conduct applied research but even so, when you publish, you receive validation from peers that shows your work contributes to the field of youth development.

Are you looking to publish, but don't know how to proceed? Too often lack of time, confidence or discipline gets in the way. Good ideas languish, important work goes unshared, and contributions go unrecognized. I've had my share of good and bad publishing experiences, benefited from amazing mentors, and picked up a few lessons along the way. Here are five simple steps to get you moving toward the sometimes daunting process of publishing: Present at conferences . Conferences force you to develop and articulate ideas for future articles. Posters and presentations provide a forum to get ideas out and gain valuable feedback. If you get in the habit of presenting regularly, you build in a structure (deadlines!) for generating new topics and keeping your writing moving forward. Enlist buddies . Writing doesn't have to be isolating - recruit writing partners. This might mean writing collaboratively, inviting colleagues to be reviewers, or creating a writing support group...

It's old news that youth workers have trouble finding accessible, relevant journal articles that speak to their practice issues. It's no surprise that youth workers pursuing scholarship on youth development practice have trouble identifying outlets for their publications. Now, somebody has quantified the dearth. A new integrative review of literature on youth development research in the Journal of Youth Development (see page 20) found that between 2001 and 2010, only 13% of the articles in five top-tier journals on youth and adolescence could be categorized as positive youth development research. If we include the online Journal of Youth Development itself, which focuses on bridging research and practice, the figure jumps (not too high) to 19%. The analysis included these six journals: Journal of Research on Adolescence Journal of Adolescence Journal of Adolescent Research Youth & Society Journal of Youth and Adolescence Journal of Youth Development Robert...