Writing is a necessary part of your career. Whether your goal is to become a successful textbook author, gain tenure at your university, or publish various other types of scholarly works, you will have to make writing a large part of your life. Just as anyone who lifts weights, runs, or bikes knows, the proper form and equipment are necessary to avoid injury and stay on track with their training. These same principles are true for writers. To stay at peak performance level, that is to say, to stay writing (and comfortably) it is imperative that you have the proper ergonomics.
Your dissertation coach: Your personal academic trainer
My joyful livelihood for three decades has been as a coach and editor for doctoral candidates in all aspects of their dissertations. So I warn you now—I am partisan. That said, here I’ll describe the (best) duties and functions of a coach, with the basic distinctions too about editing.
The most useful textbook & academic writing posts of the week: February 26, 2016
Print this quote and keep it next to where you write. This way, you will always be reminded, “The first draft is nothing more than a starting point,” as Andrew Stanton urges. You do not have to get the words out perfectly the first time; you just have to get them down. Remember, editing (and editing over and over again) exists for a reason! Below you’ll find excellent articles from around the web this past week. From the future of textbooks to how to get your first academic paper published, and so much in-between, I know you’ll find an article that is useful to you. And, as always, happy writing!
The most useful textbook & academic writing posts of the week: February 19, 2016
What sorts of strategies do you use to catapult you into your day’s writing? Do you do as Jerry Jenkins does and start the day with “a heavy edit and rewrite” of the “previous day’s work”? Maybe you do as Rachel Toor suggests: “leave off at a point where it will be easy to start again.” Rachel adds: “Some writers quit a session in the middle of a sentence; it’s always easier to continue than to begin.” Various other writers suggest using bullet points at the end of a writing session that point them in the direction they want the writing to go when they next return to it. Perhaps you have a completely different method altogether. If you do, I hope you will share it in the comments below this post. Happy writing!
5 Key principles to building clear text transitions
A common weakness in novice academic writing is a lack of flow; for readers, this lack of flow means they can’t easily see how one thought follows from another. To combat this problem, we need to learn how to make effective transitions between sentences. Such transitions are usually managed in one of two ways: through transition words or through evident links in the text. Both strategies have a role to play, but novice writers, unfortunately, often see transition words as their main way of moving from sentence to sentence.
The most useful textbook & academic writing posts of the week: February 12, 2016
Violets are blue
‘Revise and Resubmit’
Roses are a prickly bush or shrub
Violets are a herbaceous plant
Watch for more #AcademicValentines on Twitter throughout the weekend—you don’t even need a Twitter account to see all of the hilarious tweets!
Happy writing!