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Mostly for fun, I've been working on an exposition about some ideas in my area of math (algebraic geometry). As far as I know there isn't any elementary introduction to this particular topic already out there. It's at an early undergrad level. I'd like to make it available, but I'm just not sure how best to proceed.

What are my options for disseminating it, and what are the pros/cons of each? I'm especially interested in what sorts of articles are suitable expository journals, vs what usually lands on a math blog. (I could also just put it on my site, but I hope someone and than my own students (and my parents) will actually read it.)

Other relevant info: I'm currently a postdoc at a research-intensive place. I'd like to be competitive for teaching jobs at good liberal arts colleges when I'm done in a couple years -- if any of these options would help with that, it's a point in favor.

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    You should at least post it on your website, and you could potentially get a lot of search engine traffic. I've found lots of expository notes that way. It also sounds like the arXiv may be appropriate, if you think it'll be useful for grad students and other researchers.
    – Kimball
    Jan 17, 2015 at 9:25
  • Ah, yes, that's a good point. But I'm hoping for somewhere else too. It's a topic that random undergrads wouldn't be googling; the people searching for the keywords will probably already know more than it contains. It's pitched at a very low level, so I will probably skip the arxiv -- there are better ways for grad students to learn the area.
    – Mark
    Jan 17, 2015 at 14:54
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    What about a place like the Monthly or College Math Journal? (Hopefully your exposition is not 50 pages.)
    – Kimball
    Jan 17, 2015 at 15:10
  • Seconding @Kimball's recommendation, the "Monthly" (for all its problems...) is seen by undergrads, and also "College M.J.". Small consolation, but, indeed, it's hard to reach people who don't know the keyword to "google-upon". Conceivably, your enveloping HTML page could include more-naive keywords, or even nearly-hype-ish keywords, hubris-acknowledged, that would give g-hits. Jan 31, 2015 at 0:26
  • @paulgarrett Can you please convert this into an answer so that I can vote for it?
    – jakebeal
    May 2, 2015 at 12:42

3 Answers 3

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(Upon jakebeal's request:)

Seconding @Kimball's recommendation, the "Monthly" (for all its problems...) is seen by undergrads, and also "College M.J.". Small consolation, but, indeed, it's hard to reach people who don't know the keyword to "google-upon". Conceivably, your enveloping HTML page could include more-naive keywords, or even nearly-hype-ish keywords, hubris-acknowledged, that would give g-hits.

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I doubt the Monthly is the place for it. If you decide to publish, see THIS mathoverflow question.

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you sound like you want to publish the paper. when you take the time to identify what journals it could plausibly appear in, you'll also find out your top choices. make the piece as neat and appealing as possible - have your peers go through it - and see where you can get it published.

as i see it the second best thing to a journal would be submitting it to a conference; next best after that is a working paper; after that a blog post. certainly the higher up this "value chain" that you can publish will support your job search.

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    Well, "impact factor" metrics are not good for mathematics, especially not for novices, nor for extreme experts. Thinking in such terms is a red herring... Jan 31, 2015 at 0:22
  • edited to reflect your concern. Jan 31, 2015 at 0:56
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    For most people in mathematics "submitting to a conference" has no meaning. Math conferences usually do not publish anything. Jan 31, 2015 at 8:19

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