International Guest Lecture Series The Art of the Academic Journal: A Personal Approach to Scholarly Writing
March 03, 2023
The Department of Media Studies (PG) organized an International Guest Lecture Series on The Art of the Academic Journal: A personal approach to scholarly writing. The resource person for the talk was Prof. Arthur Asa Berger, a Professor Emeritus of Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts at San Francisco State University where he taught between 1965 and 2003. He has published more than 100 articles, numerous book reviews, and more than 60 books. Among his latest books is the third edition of Media and Communication Research Methods: An Introduction to Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches (2013), The Academic Writer’s Toolkit: A User’s Manual (2008), What Objects Mean: An Introduction to Material Culture (2009), Bali Tourism (2013) and many more. His books have been translated into eight languages and thirteen of his books have been translated into Chinese.

The session was further enlightened by the Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Dr. Gopakumar AV. The program coordinator, Dr. Juby Thomas, and the rest of the faculty of the PG Department also graced the occasion with their presence. The session began with the chief guest discussing the importance of journaling and how important it is to write down everything at the end of the day. He continued to talk about how it increases the mental capacity for creativity and knowledge upbringing. He then instructed the students on the seven rules of journaling. According to him, in order to write, you must have ideas, and this is where journaling comes in handy because a journal is an instrument for documenting what people think, he insisted on the students writing more and to be a writer, you must first be a reader, and writing every day will boost your confidence to write even more. He then spoke about his book The Art of the Journal: Perspectives on the Creative Process in which he mentioned Vishnu sir’s invitation to the college for the lecture series in Chapter 2 of his book. In that context, he spoke about Journaling. He emphasized that when we keep a daily journal, we are practicing the art of writing. Additionally, keeping a journal to express your thoughts and ideas can help you improve your communication skills.

His talk ended with an interactive Q & A Session with the students and the staff present in the session, throughout which prof. Arthur Asa Berger answered all the queries. The guest lecture series came to an end with a vote of thanks, which was proposed by Ms. Sanaaz Fathima of 2nd Year MA JMC, concluding the interactive event.