I published a couple papers in the free year after my undergrad. There's really nothing magic about it: write a paper, choose a journal, and submit it. People h

I published a couple papers in the free year after my undergrad. There's really nothing magic about it: write a paper, choose a journal, and submit it. People have already addressed writing style, so I guess I'll address choosing a journal. There are basically two variables you're trying to optimize for: how closely your paper matches the journal subject, and how important your results are relative to the journal's average. The first point is easy to gauge on your own. The second is more difficult. You may not have an accurate judgment of how good your results are if you aren't intimately familiar with your field. It might be worth getting advice from someone who is. When you do know how good your paper is and how good different journals are, you can either overshoot (and hope for a better line on your resume) or undershoot (and decrease the chance that you'll have to wait through a second submission round). [trying to shorten my post since it won't submit]