Submitting to a Scientific Journal

I thought I would share with you what happens after you have submitted your research to a scientific journal.

First you need to make sure you submit your research to the appropriate journal or you get the big, REJECT. I submitted my Master’s research to a dance medicine journal about four years ago and got rejected partially because I was stubborn and didn’t want to make any changes and partially because the editor wanted me to edit my discussion section down to crap, then I submitted it last year to a high profile journal and got REJECTED because it wasn’t complicated enough for them, so I finally submitted it to a more friendly performing arts journal and it got accepted with minor revisions. I am waiting now to find out which issue it is going to be in.

I submitted my female dancer survey to above mentioned dance medicine journal and heard back that they are accepting it with major revisions. You may think this is good, but it really is just time consuming. I got a list of what the reviewers wanted me to change. What is a reviewer? A reviewer is someone that reads your research to see if it is good and acceptable for the specific journal. Typically it is someone who does research in a similar area, however I have heard that the editor of this journal is just picking people to be reviewers who are not really specialist or have the appropriate background to be reviewers. Depending on the journal it would be two to three reviewers per paper and the journal can decide how long to back log. Also, the reviewing process is blind, so I don’t know who the reviewers are and they don’t know who wrote the paper. These are some of the questions/comments I got asked with my red answers:

What is the point of the Tsung and Mulford reference?

We wanted to include this article as even though it is a case study because it is the only neck injury in a ballroom dancer in all the literature.

There is an obvious lack of basic knowledge of Dance Sport (e.g., the ISDF is the predecessor of the WDSF (changed name June 19, 2012).

ISDF was changed to WDSF on 19 June 2011. We are assuming that the readership has no knowledge of DanceSport, so we are keeping it basic.

Line 40: "Since competitive couples train together, their training duration is equal; however, their dancing techniques are gender specific…” That is not correct. It is only valid for a few dances in that genre. Please describe or correct.

This is correct in International Modern technique, but could be incorrect in other styles of DanceSport.

Line 42-49: If this study is on efficiency-orientated dance sport, what role does the aspect of selection play? Would couples manage to dance on this level without sufficient movability of the spine, etc.?

This paragraph is about how other authors have described International Modern technique. 

The discussion needs to be completely revised. There are numerous aspects that do not apply to the issue and that are partly inaccurate or wrong medical interpretations.

We are medical experts, please be specific as to what you think is medically inaccurate.

Line  227-232: That does not belong in the discussion. The calculations are not clear.

Please be specific of what does not belong in the discussion. Those are not calculations, they are ages.

References: should be updated

Please be specific as to which references should be updated.

I think you get the idea that the reviewers (specifically #2) thought they were an expert in DanceSport, but obviously have not read all the research on DanceSport.  My professor made a comment once how newly graduated PhD’s are usually tougher on students who are defending their thesis/dissertation. This is probably the case with this reviewer as well, where this might be the first time they have reviewed a paper for a scientific journal and they are being tough on me.

Now I am waiting to hear back from them if more changes need to be made or when it will be published.

Time Spent

The other day one of the 1^st year PhD students asked me how much time do I spend per day/week on my PhD. I told him it is different now than when I was a 1^st year. Back then I did TONS of reading research, writing my Bibliography Review, and prepping for my future research projects. Now I am:

·          Almost done writing my paper on the comments section of the instructor survey

·          Writing the appendix of my thesis/dissertation (depends on what country you live in)

·          Waiting for my committee to finish reviewing my hand placement project so I can revise and submit for publication

·          Need to start editing the video to send to the judges

·          Finish analyzing data on Dartfish

·          Start writing my submission for the IADMS conference, deadline March 1^st

·          Recruit dancers for my LAST project by going to practice sessions, competitions, and bugging them on facebook (I only need 4 more couples)

·          Arrange with Dr Wyon, Doug, and Jim to have the Black Box prepped and get all the equipment I will need before next week to collect data (I have 2 couples scheduled) and request to have the heat turned on in the lab (yeah for some reason I actually have to request this, bizarre!)

·          And I submitted my corrections for my female survey to the JDMS today

This doesn’t include all the things I do during the day/week that are not about my PhD. (House chores, church callings, looking for a job, completing Dave’s visa, plan for the family vacation in May, helping Amy with her mission application, fertility dr, feed the missionaries, take a shower, think about dying my hair before job interviews, save money for move back to America, dentist, make sure Dave buys a new coat next month, invigilating, writing a blog post, make sure we have the flat spotless before we move back to America this summer, read scriptures/listen to Mormon Channel, how can I motivate Dave to clean the 2^nd bedroom before I go crazy and throw out all his stuff, etc, etc)

Hope that helps kid!

Education

The RS lesson last week was from the new Teachings of the Presidents: Lorenzo Snow. He was the 5th prophet of the church and the brother of the famous LDS poet Eliza R Snow. The lesson was titled "Learning by Faith", but I was thinking that I'm sure they did this lesson before. So I went back and checked and sure enough there are other lessons with this title/subject:

Joseph Smith "Gaining Knowledge of Eternal Truths"
Brigham Young "Learning by Study and by Faith"
John Taylor "The Value of Education"
Wilford Woodruff "Teaching and Learning by the Spirit"
Joseph F. Smith "Seek to be Educated in the Truth"
Heber J. Grant "Learning and Teaching the Gospel"
George Albert Smith "Bringing Up Children in Light and Truth"*
David O. McKay "Teaching, A Noble Work"*
Harold B. Lee "Teaching the Gospel in the Home"*
*Ok, so it's not about us getting an education, but making sure others are educated.

One of the Young Women Personal Progress Values is Knowledge. The scripture for Knowledge is D&C 88:118 "Seek learning, even by study and also by faith" and the theme is "I will continually seek opportunities for learning and growth." The Primary Activity Days/Faith in God has a category named Learning and Living the Gospel. If that many prophets and church programs are advocating education, then it's probably a good idea to do it. I would probably include both spiritual and secular learning.

One of my favorite scriptures is D&C 130:18-19 "Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection. And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come." After being in this ward full of old people, who obviously have not continued to gain knowledge throughout their lifetime, I feel the need to persist in the learning process for the rest of my life. My 1st Mission President and his wife would read books together during their marriage. Now that I have Dave to read/learn with, this will be more fun!

Snow

Today we only had Sacrament Meeting because the people around here freak out if there is snow on the ground. I'm glad that we have snow, it finally feels like winter! If school is cancelled again tomorrow I'm definitely having a snow ball fight! I'm sure I can beat Dave! :)

New Year's Resolutions?

I'm not into New Year's Resolutions. However, one year about, oh man it's gotta be about 10 years ago now, I did decide to do one resolution because I felt like I was really lacking a personal quality. Every year since then I think I should do another personal quality resolution because I was successful achieving it. I saw this meme on facebook and thought that my resolution should be to make a To Be List. So watch this space for my future To Be List. If you have any suggestions, write them in the comments.

Overheard at our house...

Dave found a immigration forum that had a list of questions they typically ask at the interviews. We were practicing the questions tonight.

Q (for Dave): What type of music does your wife like?
A: That Glee crap.

No PB's - Christopher Lister Riding

I started ordering my Riding side ancestor's Patriarchal Blessings, but I haven't posted about them before today because I was waiting to post a picture of the blessings, except there haven't been any.


PB's
1. Millard E Riding 1977 American Fork

No PB
1. Thomas Edward Hale Riding
2. Mary Ellen Eardley Riding
3. Henry Excell
4. Elizabeth Austin Excell
5. Christopher Lister Riding


Ordered, Waiting for Results
1. Edward Eardley Riding
2. Eleanor Elizabeth Excell Riding
3. Mary Ann Hale Riding

Still to Order
1. John Eardley
2. Ann Cross Eardley
3. Stephen Walker
4. Eleanor/Ellen Swan Walker
5. James Austin
6. Hannah Roots Austin

I was disappointed that there was no PB for Christopher Lister Riding, he had an interesting life. He and his wife, Mary Ann Hale Riding, were my first Riding ancestors that joined the church in Burnley, Lancashire, England in 1840. Christopher and Mary Ann eventually had 9 children (3 girls and 6 boys), I descend from their 7th child (5th son), Thomas Edward Hale Riding. They crossed the plains in 1852 with 5 of their children, Thomas was born in SLC in 1856. The 1860 Census says they are living in St. George, Utah, which is where Christopher (1887), Mary Ann (1875), and Thomas (1898) died. The unique thing about Christopher is that he took a 2nd wife, Eliza Adelaide Dolbell, who was from the Jersey Island and baptized in 1844. Christopher and Eliza were married in SLC in 1856 and eventually had 14 children (7 girls and 7 boys), 3 of their children were born after Mary Ann died. In the 1870 Census Christopher, Mary Ann, Eliza, and 9 children (including Thomas) were all listed under the same household in St. George. The Census lists Mary Ann as "keeping house" and Eliza as "no occupation", but if you look at the family below, they also have an adult woman with "no occupation" listed under the husband and wife.

This was the one ancestor I knew was a polygamist. Growing up, and still to this day, people would ask if I knew of a so and so person (since I still had the Riding last name). I would say no, but we were probably related because of Christopher Lister Riding being a polygamist with over 20 children.  By the 1940 Census there are 122 people with the last name of Riding in Utah. I really only know my immediate cousins, Aunts, Uncles, and Grandparents. For some reason I didn't get to know my Grandpa Riding's side of the family that well, but I did hear the story of my Grandpa's brother Reed who had died in an airplane crash in India during WW2, because that is who my Dad is named after. I was really hoping he had a PB so it could give me more insight into his spiritual side or why he had a testimony of the Gospel.