About

Fast Drafting . . .

FastDrafting is a blog written by a collaborative of graduate students and faculty at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) who exchange good and better ideas about research and science writing to help themselves and fellow writers become more productive.

The ability to tell a good story – and publish it in the best forum -- remains a persistent goal for scholars and scientists. Yet studies show that research writers don’t talk much about writing. As a result, they often do not learn as much as they can from each other and lose time by "re-inventing the wheel" or overlooking important resources.

The authors of this blog hope to change that.

The blog is named FastDrafting to describe a writing productivity strategy that calls for getting ideas down quickly, or thinking on paper, to allow time for incubating, generating more ideas, and sloughing off those that don’t fit the evolving text. The habit of fastdrafting can help writers move efficiently through the early writing stages so they have more time to revise, edit and polish, in the later stages. And still meet deadlines.

It’s all about gaining forward momentum, writing and publishing, at UAB.

Special Thanks: To Julie Clark McKinney, Communications and Events Specialist, at the UAB Graduate School, for our brainy Fast Drafting Logo.

What We Do

FastDrafting offers a regular conversation about research and science writing at UAB designed to stimulate learning, writing, and networking. The blog connects to WritingIntheZone, an online research and science writing “wiki”, or encyclopedia, created by students in an advanced academic writing course at the UAB Graduate School. FastDrafting also connects to WriteNow, a series of instructional writing sessions and writing groups at The Edge of Chaos on the 4^th floor of the building housing UAB’s Lister Hill Library. Lister Hill co-sponsors the WriteNow initiative along with the UAB Graduate School and The Edge of Chaos. WriteNow sessions are funded by the Women’s Health Resources (WHR) grant of the National Institutes of Health. For more information about WHR, go to http://whr.nlm.nih.gov/

Who We Are

Editor: Jennifer L. Greer, Ph.D., is the lead writing instructor in the Professional Development Program, the Graduate School, at the Graduate School, the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). A former newspaper/magazine journalist and Peace Corps Volunteer in Costa Rica, Dr. Greer now teaches graduate students writing productivity strategies. Her research agenda includes ethics for authors, writing productivity, and ethical leadership in education. Contact Jennifer at jlgreer1@uab.edu.

Assistant Editor: Tonya L. Breaux-Shropshire is a Veterans Administration (VA) Quality Scholar Fellow, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Medicine, Cardiovascular Division/Vascular Biology and Hypertension Program, and Adjunct Faculty, UAB School of Nursing Community Health, Outcomes, and Systems, Birmingham, Alabama. She received a MPH in environmental health and risk assessment from Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and a PhD from UAB School of Nursing. Her research interest is medication adherence in patients with resistant hypertension, stroke or kidney disease. Contact Dr. Breaux-Shropshire at tshropshire@uab.edu.

Contributors:

Tandy Dolin Petrov earned a Master's degree in Biology from UAB. Her research focused on the biology, ecology, and conservation of diamondback terrapin hatchlings and for 3 years she managed the terrapin head-start program. Currently, she is pursuing her PhD in Epigenetics using the model organism, Drosophila melanogaster, and is also the Graduate Student Association President. Contact Tandy via tandymc@uab.edu

Randall Hall received a B.A. (English and Political Science) from Vanderbilt University and a J.D. from the University of Florida. After practicing law for seven years, he decided to transition into teaching so he could share his passion for analytical reading and writing with students. He is currently a graduate student pursuing his M.Ed. (Secondary English Language Arts) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His goal is to receive his Master’s degree and Class A Teaching Certificate in Spring 2015 and begin his teaching career at a Birmingham-area school in Fall 2015. Contact Randall at rwhall99@uab.edu.

Anthony C. Hood is an Organizational Psychologist and Assistant Professor of Strategic Management and Entreprenuership in the Collat School of Business at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His research focuses on the impact of social networks, personality and conflict on learning, innovation and strategic decision making in teams. His research and teaching are informed by his experience as an entrepreneur and 10 year career as an network engineer and systems designer for AT&T. Contact Dr. Hood at anthonychood@gmail.com

Taylor Roberge earned a Master’s degree in biology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), focusing on the reproductive physiology and ecology of the diamondback terrapin in Alabama and its implications for the recovery and conservation of that population. He is currently pursuing a PhD in biology at UAB, studying systems that may be used to better manage this depleted turtle species. He is also Co-chair of Alabama Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (ALAPARC). Contact Taylor at troberge@uab.edu

Stephanie Robert is a graduate student pursuing a combined MD/PhD degree at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Medicine (UASOM). She received a B.S. in chemistry and biochemistry from Louisiana State University. Stephanie is currently completing her doctoral research in the lab of Dr. Harald Sontheimer in the Department of Neurobiology, focusing on the mechanisms of brain tumor associated seizures and epilepsy. Contact Stephanie at srobe25@uab.edu.