Research Writing: Getting Started

Posted by Katie Alexander

So, you’re finally ready to publish. Well, ready is a strong word. You’ve completed all the necessary experiments to tell an interesting scientific story, and now it’s time to share it with the scientific community. But, where do you start? You’ve spent months or years collecting data, so every piece of this paper is precious in your mind. You know the data forwards and backwards, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is easy to put together in a readable format. This is where thinking about writing for the general public may come in handy. Sure, scientific papers have a very specific format: abstract, introduction, materials and methods, results and discussion, but they still tell a story. Think about how you would explain your research to a family member that is not in science. Think about the order of events. Chances are, that’s the most logical and readable order for a paper. The results section may not be an exact chronological representation of when the experiments were carried out, but the paper is organized in a way that leads the reader to the final conclusions in a step-wise, predictable manner.

Additionally, I’ve found helpful research writing advice from non-science writers. I recently read Bird by Bird by Ann Lamott. In this hilariously entertaining book, Ms. Lamott muses about life, recalling events that have shaped her as an author and human-being, all the while delivering writing (and life) advice by the truckload. And while the writing process is a little different for strictly scientific papers, there is still plenty of applicable advice. For example, it’s okay to have bad first drafts. First drafts are for getting things on paper, not for others to read. Ms. Lamott also talks about the importance of short assignments, little vignettes in the grand scheme of things that can help keep you on track. She recalls a story about her brother from their childhood, who was on the brink of a meltdown because he had procrastinated for months on a major research paper on birds that was due the next day. Her father came to his rescue, simply saying, “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.” That’s how papers and stories get written, piece-by-piece. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, take a step back and tackle it experiment by experiment.

Image used from Flickr user Incessant Flux under Creative Commons License

Research Writing: Form a Writing Group to Boost Your Productivity

Posted by Lesley McCollum

You’re probably in the middle of one right now. You may even be avoiding it by reading this instead. It’s that writing project that's always in the back of your mind. With research proposals, journal articles, literature reviews, and dissertations, writing is a big part of research. It unites all grad students and faculty — whether you study Cancer Biology or Anthropology. Unfortunately, most of us are also guilty of not making it a priority. We like to think we’ll find time for it — in between our experiments tomorrow, or after we’ve read just a few more articles. It can temporarily relieve the pressure to put it off for later, but the problem is, that free time never appears. Too easily, any spare time gets sucked up by the pile of other tasks on our to-do lists.

To increase your writing productivity, you need to make time, not wait until you find it. A great way to do this is to form a writing group. Meeting with others for a designated writing time will boost your motivation and keep you accountable to accomplishing your writing tasks. It also provides a built in team for editing each other’s work and receiving feedback.

Ask around to other grad students or faculty at UAB — you know they will be working on a writing project too. Try mixing up the disciplines in your group. Having colleagues that know your field can be great for providing feedback on journal articles, but having someone outside your field can provide a useful perspective for writing assignments targeted for a general audience. The style of your writing group will be unique to your needs - find something that works for you.

Ready to start your group? Look for the WriteNow toolkit on the FastDrafting Resources page, provided by Dr. Jennifer Greer at the UAB Graduate School. It provides helpful tips for getting started. Also, watch for the WriteNow workshops happening later this Spring to learn about forming your own group and other strategies for boosting your writing productivity.

Have you formed a writing group? Please share how it has impacted your writing success in the comments!