A report from RBC Royal Bank reaffirms what thought leaders keep insisting — there will be more and more demand for a liberal arts education in our increasingly digital world. “I prefer to call them “essential skills,” because we all need them every day, though we don’t always use them well. They are the foundational skills that allow us to learn and live and work productively with other people.”

Most early career researchers receive little to no training on how to peer review, and it’s not always easy to find consistent or helpful guidance. Here, during Peer Review Week, Katrina Newitt offers some helpful advice on how to get started.

Standards are high and getting an academic article published is not easy, but there are certain things you can do to improve your success rate. A member of the SAGE Journals Author Relations team — SAGE is the parent of Social Science Space — offers five tips on the smartest way to navigate these challenges.

“Why you or other researchers need a literature review is rarely discussed, or when it is, it is quickly glossed […]

Publishing research that can be accessed as widely as possible is clearly crucial, but ensuring that research is accessible to similarly large groups of people is an altogether different challenge. Lucy Lambe explains how the LSE Library has worked with a comics creator and illustrator to create illustrated abstracts of articles that were funded to publish open access last year.

A good academic conference poster serves a dual purpose: it is both an effective networking tool and a way to communicate your research. But many academics fail to produce a truly visually arresting conference poster which make connections are lost. Tullio Rossi offers guidance on how to produce an outstanding conference poster.

Professor of sociology and criminal justice, Ronet D. Bachman uses statistics and research methods to investigate topics in the fields of criminology and criminal justice. The knowledge gained can be applied to everyday life to help us become better students, citizens, critical thinkers, job applicants and decision makers.

Drawing on their new SAGE book for students and academics “How to be a Happy Academic,” Alex Clark and Bailey Sousa share strategies for successful student-supervisor meetings.

College professors are always looking for ways to help their students feel more engaged and invested in course material. Storytelling gives context to facts and complex concepts that could otherwise be difficult to grasp. This in turn engages students in the curriculum and improves their retention of the material.

For Academic Book Week, SAGE Publishing, the parent of Social Science Space, asked some of its authors and editors for their top tips for women in academia:

Going to an academic conference is an exciting opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals and exchange stimulating ideas. However, to make the most of a conference requires a lot of hard work before, during, and after the meeting itself. Marta Teperek provides a checklist of things to do at each of these stages.

The appeal of collaborating with a government agency, or an organization funded by one, seems obvious. In practice, however, it’s not always easy to make collaborative research work well. Susan Dodsworth and Nic Cheeseman outline some simple lessons for those looking to collaborate while avoiding the common pitfalls.