William Wadsworth once said, “Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.” That may be easier said than done for some of us. Especially if, as discussed in our first article in this week’s collection, you ever find yourself in conflict with yourself or, in the case of our second article, you are an empath facing slow, smoldering burnout in academe.

Ways to address these challenges as well as other topics important to textbook and academic authors fill our collection of articles this week. Other topics include peer reviewing your first paper, research data sharing, focus groups for research or evaluation, the Research Data Management Librarian Academy (RDMLA), and forthcoming AcWriMo Tweetchat events.

Wherever your heart leads you in writing this week, breathe new life into your papers and manuscripts as you go. Happy writing!

Me, myself, and I

Do you ever find yourself in conflict WITH yourself? The part of you that wants to watch Netflix might war with the part of you that wants to finish your PhD, as just one example. How do we better manage these multiple, internal voices?

An empath’s guide to surviving academe

Empaths are naturally attracted to the academy. Even if you aren’t an empath (take the test here) or a highly sensitive person (take the test here), the promise of social justice, nurturing students, producing scholarship that has an impact, becoming a community organizer and having a flexible schedule are all reasons caring people are drawn to the academy. These institutions can also create slow, smoldering burnout scenarios for empaths.

Peer reviewing your first paper

In 2012 I wrote three blog posts about how to review a journal article. The first post was about how to read a journal article you have been asked to review. The second post looked at the process of making a judgment about what the writer needed to do. The third post looked at how to write helpful feedback.

Two competing visions for research data sharing

In recent years, mechanisms for sharing and preserving research data have grown considerably. But the landscape is crowded with a number of divergent models for data sharing. And because these divergent approaches to research data sharing are poorly distinguished in much of the discourse, it can be a confusing landscape. Some are driven by the needs of science, some by business strategy. Today, I propose that two fundamentally competing visions are emerging for sharing research data.

Focus groups for research or evaluations: Resources

First-hand experience with evaluative focus groups was the topic for a previous post. To design and plan a focus group for your own research or evaluation purposes, review this collection of e-books, chapters, videos, cases, and datasets in the SAGE Research Methods library.

A new academy to train librarians and researchers about data management has launched. RDMLA answers our questions

On October 7, 2019, the Research Data Management Librarian Academy (RDMLA) was launched. To explore the Academy and to discuss its expected value to the community, Chef Todd Carpenter worked with Rong Tang (Simmons University), Elaine Martin (Harvard Medical School), Zhan Hu (Simmons University) and Jean Shipman (Elsevier) on this interview discussing the Reseach Data Management Librarian Academy (RDMLA) and its goals.

AcWriMo Tweetchats

This Academic Writing Month, MethodSpace is collaborating with the Textbook and Academic Authors Association. TAA is a membership association that serves writers from across disciplines. We’ll be highlighting open access TAA materials, including resources on matters such as contracts and royalties. In addition to offering excellent materials, TAA fosters interaction beyond association members. One way is through Tweetchats, which are open to anyone who wants to log in.