This is a new series in which I will post the most useful articles I come across every week on our social sites. The topics will cover a mix of academic and textbook writing tips. Some weeks my list may be quite long while others may be short (it depends on the great content others are putting out!). I encourage you, in the comments section below, to include articles you’ve found useful. As always, happy writing!

30 Tips for successful academic research and writing
Deborah Lupton offers a brilliant list of tips for successful academic research and writing. Lupton covers everything from planning your research schedule to handling rejection to inspiration and collaboration. Shared over 1,700 times on Twitter alone, this is a must read.

How to Turn a Lab Notebook into an Academic Manuscript
Practical and easy to follow tips on how to maintain a lab notebook that will help you when it comes time to write your manuscript.

Why Aren’t We Writing?
Erin Bedford suggests that “academic writer’s block doesn’t exist” but that “fear of a blank page” does. Bedford gives tips and strategies for getting words on the page and overcoming this “fear”.

Handing in the PhD – yes, it’s a checklist!!
Pat Thomson offers a checklist, in the form of questions to ask yourself, on three areas while doing your final look over before handing in your dissertation: content, writing, and proof reading. Since posting, it has been shared over 500 times on social sites and for good reason!

David Mitchell on How to Write: “Neglect Everything Else”
Although this is a piece focused on fiction writing, I like the advice Mitchell gives for sitting down to write. One bit of advice he gives is to, “Get disciplined. Learn to rush to your laptop and open it up. Open the file without asking yourself if you’re in the mood, without thinking about anything else.”