Topic outline


  • Writing a good academic essay (or article) requires a number of good choices, such as selecting an interesting area of research, setting the hook for the reader (by explaining why this is an important topic and why your particular angle/question is of great relevance to expand knowledge), critical sense-making of the literature (to decide what is ‘really’ important to take away from the prior literature related to your area of interest), selecting and/or developing a new angle (or framework) (to provide a rationale for missing pieces in the prior literature and for how your approach helps generate novel insights), and reflecting on and discussing the main implications of your work (to support future theoretical and empirical research). 

    The following selected articles are published in the Academy of Management Journal, the leading journal in business research, and should help you get a better feeling for how to craft an ‘exciting’ introduction, ‘critical’ literature review and ‘promising’ conclusion of your essay work. 


    Colquitt JA, George G. (2011). Publishing in AMJ: Topic Choice, Academy of Management Journal 54: 432-435. 

    Grant, A. M., & Pollock, T. G. 2011. Publishing in AMJ- Part 3: Setting the hook. Academy of Management Journal, 54(5), 873-879 

    Geletkanycz, M. and Tepper, B.J. (2012) Publishing in AMJ – part 6: discussing the implications. Academy of Management Journal 55: 256-260. 

    Locke, Karen, and Karen Golden-Biddle (1997). Constructing Opportunities for Contribution: Structuring Intertextual Coherence and ‘Problematizing’ in Organizational Studies. Academy of Management Journal 40: 1023–1062. 

    Tranfield, David, David Denyer, and Palminder Smart. Towards a Methodology for Developing Evidence- Informed Management Knowledge by Means of Systematic Review. British Journal of Management 14: 207–222. 

    Shepherd, D. A., and H. Patzelt. Trailblazing in Entrepreneurship. Accessed August 27, 2017. http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-3- 319-48701-4.pdf. 

    Sparrowe, R.T. and Mayer, K.J. (2011), “Publishing in AMJ – part 4: grounding hypotheses”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 54 No. 6, pp. 1098-1102.