Doctoral writing circles: Learning to write and collaborate

Graduate students will graduate, and at that point they’ll need to write with others. In academic positions they’ll work with colleagues on committees and research projects that result in written materials, books, or articles. In professional positions they’ll work on project teams and write plans and reports. Yet while they are in school, especially at the dissertation stage, students’ work is typically conducted on their own.

First, let’s define the term collaboration to describe “an interactive process that engages two or more participants who work together to achieve outcomes they could not accomplish independently” (Salmons, 2019).

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How a personal writing team can increase your productivity through accountability

At the 2018 Textbook & Academic Authoring Conference in Santa Fe, NM, panelists at three different career stages discussed how they came together to form a “personal writing team” that supports writing goals, productivity, and accountability. Unique to this group, said panelist Felicia Moore Mensah, an associate dean and faculty member at Teachers College, Columbia University, is the support that women of color can provide and need for increased mentorship for early career scholars.

The complete recording of their presentation, “A Personal Writing Team for Productivity and Accountability,” can be found in TAA’s library of Presentations on Demand.

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The most useful textbook & academic writing posts of the week: June 26, 2015

Can you believe that we are already at the end of June? Have you found yourself sticking to your writing goals or does hearing that it’s the end of June make you want to run screaming in panic? You might not be screaming in panic, but you might be quickly assessing all that you have and have yet to accomplish this summer to meet the goals you set for yourself this past spring. Luckily, many of the articles below are focused on summer writing. Some reassuring there is still plenty of time to be productive and others on productivity and realistic writing schedules.

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The most useful textbook & academic writing posts of the week: June 11, 2015

I think it’s safe to say summer has arrived—hot sunny days filled with the sounds of kids outside playing (or at least that’s what I imagine I would hear if I lived in a neighborhood and not in the middle of nowhere). Summer is by far my favorite time of year. I feel much more motivated to reach all of the goals I’ve set for myself when the sun is shining and the temperature outside is nearer to 80°F than 0°F. How about you? Do you feel you accomplish more in the summer? Do you stay on track with your writing? A few of the posts this week will, I think, help you stay on track with your writing this summer, while still actually enjoying summer. And, as always, happy writing!

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5 Approaches to writing group success

Writing groups offer their members a wealth of benefits. In fact, studies indicate that membership in a writing group can actually help boost your publication rate. In an examination of the publication rate of 48 female medical school faculty before and after participating in a writing group, Sonnad et al. found that the professors’ average publication rate increased from 1.5 papers per year to 4.5 papers per year after joining the writing group. Cumbie et al. also describe increases in productivity among writing group members, reporting “significant and positive writing outcomes in the form of manuscripts submitted for publication, abstracts submitted for conference presentations, [and] grant proposals developed.”

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