This week’s collection of articles from around the web offers tools and advice for moving your academic writing projects forward. Whether that requires beating the summer writing blues, getting your PhD on track, thinking about the warrant for a paper, or building authority and expanding your network, this list has you covered. We also found insight on surviving the conference marathon and reasons researchers should volunteer for global evidence gathering processes.

Whatever your current writing entails, strive to make the product of your work that of highest quality. As John Ruskin once said, “Quality is never an accident. It is always the result of intelligent effort.” Happy writing!

Beating the summer writing blues

Joy Gaston Gayles and Anthony Ocampo share some strategies to help you feel more confident about the quality and quantity of your work over the next few months.

How to use project management to get your PhD on track

Project Management is not going to solve it all. It is not a magic wand that you can flick to transform a failing project into a success. However, it can help you work smarter, and as a result, be more focused and productive in what you do. It is not about cramming more hours into your overloaded days. Project management is about structuring your work in a way that allows you to make better choices, focus on what gets you closer to your goal, and reduce the day-to-day stress of working with uncertainty.

Patter is eight and celebrating with writing skeletons

So in honour of the writing skeleton and patter’s birthday, here is one new skeleton to use when thinking about the warrant for a paper – be it conference or journal. This is one I use in writing workshops around papers and chapters and sometimes the thesis.

Build your authority and network with an Instagram Challenge

An Instagram Challenge is a creative way to build your presence and expand your network. You will also build the habit of posting daily which will increase your followers and engagement rates. If you want to get started or increase your presence on Instagram but you aren’t sure what to post or what type of content is best, participating in an Instagram Challenge allows you to create a whole load of content and see what works and doesn’t for you.

Surviving the conference marathon

My first conference outside my university was a big one at a big university in a big city. I was eighteen months into my PhD, and while I’d presented my research to colleagues, this was new territory. Over the next week I fumbled my way through small-talk with professors and an overwhelming schedule but in the end I was still alive to tell the tale. Since then, I’ve attended conferences around the world and continued to learn not only how to survive, but to thrive in what can seem like a terrifying environment. Your supervisor should be able to help you write an abstract and paper, I want to help you prepare for the social aspect of conferences.

Why should researchers volunteer for global evidence gathering processes?

The IPCC assessment is a good example of global scientific effort of evidence-informed policy-influencing. Whether we are established scientists or early-career researchers, we should get involved in such voluntary processes, making them as inclusive and rigorous as possible. Large-scale initiatives that help us to understand our nature and its changes, and guide our actions, require us to act collectively. Only altruistic enthusiasm in research can make it happen.