Video 3 - The Writing Process
Tips for how to discover your own writing process
- Underlying assumption: be prepared to write and re-write; “The hard work is in revising.”
- Get your ideas on paper and then be prepared to revise.
- Identify an article you find compelling- what did you like about it and how can you use the same techniques in your own article?
- Find the best time to write:
- Develop a writing routine (20 minutes per day for 4-5 days per week and then scale up to an hour each day)
- Writing time can involve any portion of the writing process (researching, reading, summarizing, writing, revising)
- When to get feedback:
- Identify a reviewer with expertise in the field you are writing about and someone who will give you honest feedback.
- How to schedule and be successful at revision:
- Know the submission date and then use backward planning to schedule in plenty of time for significant revision (1-2 months).
- Don’t revise everything at once, but re-examine your work.
- Things to think about as you review each section:
- How is it organized?
- Is there flow?
- How are the transitions? Do the subheadings match the content/paragraphs?
- Are all of the citations & references included?
- Is anything redundant or repeated?
- Other questions to ask yourself for deeper analysis of your manuscript:
- What might be new here?
- What is veiled here?
- What can I expose here?
- Use different color fonts during the revision process to indicate what is in process and what is finalized.
- Maintain discipline and accountability
Writing Resources
- Using the “gatherer” versus “hunter” style of writing. Article also provides a set of key questions to answer in order to identify key messages and ideas for your manuscript: http://intqhc.oxfordjournals.org/content/intqhc/13/5/417.full.pdf
- 10 tips to writing for an academic journal: http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2013/sep/06/academic-journal-writing-top-tips
- Top tips from editors on how to get published in an academic journal: http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/jan/03/how-to-get-published-in-an-academic-journal-top-tips-from-editors
- 30 tips for successful academic research and writing: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2012/11/28/lupton-30-tips-writing/
- Writing Guides published by Colorado State University Writing Center: http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/
- The Writing Process via the Purdue Online Writing Lab: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/1/1/
- Taking it “Bird by Bird”: Tips for Writing Academic Papers in Graduate School: http://s3.amazonaws.com/chssweb/documents/11550/original/Bird_by_Bird.pdf?1367244722