Writing Advice

by Kimberly A. Barchard Issue 5: January 2018

In graduate school and your professional career, you will write a lot. Not everyone likes writing, but it pays to get better at it. It will get you into graduate school, get you through your thesis and dissertation, get you that coveted job, and help you excel in your career.

I’ve attended dozens of workshops on writing and I’ve read more than a dozen books on writing. From all these sources, here is my primary advice about writing. Afterwards, I include recommended books and websites.

1. Write for (at least) 15 minutes every day. Most people write best first thing in the morning.

• Write from the first day of a project. If you don’t know what to write, do free writing.

2. Each day, make sure you know what you will work on the next day.

3. Record how much you write (number of words or minutes) and share your records with your writing sponsor once per week. Your writing sponsor can be anyone who is committed to your success.

4. Join a weekly writing group. Choose from the following formats:

1. Discuss goals and accomplishments. Holding yourself accountable will increase your motivation and productivity.
2. Do not talk to each other; instead, use the meeting time to actually write. You’ll get more writing done if you make a commitment to write and hold each other to it.
3. Provide feedback on 2-3 double-spaced pages of writing for each person.
   • During the meeting, try to get as much information as you can about weaknesses in your writing. Ask additional questions to draw out feedback.
   • Do not try to solve the problems (by re-writing) during the meeting.
   • Do not waste time disagreeing with someone: Just write down their comment. You can ignore it later, if you want, when you are doing your revisions.
   • Consider using the Key Sentence model described by Tara Gray.

5. When you have a complete draft, ask non-experts (friends, family, undergrads) for feedback:

• What section was the hardest to read and understand?
• Where were you lost or even just unsure about where the paper was going?
• What jargon did I use without adequate explanation?
• What section was the most boring to you personally?

6. When non-experts identify a section that’s hard to read, identify the problem. Look for:

• Passive voice
• Misplaced modifiers
• Nominalizations
• Unclear referents for pronouns
• Poor transitions
• Redundant information

7. If someone says that a section is unclear, they are by definition right.

8. When incorporating feedback, keep in mind that the problem might have occurred several pages before the section they identified: Maybe you need to give them more background information in an earlier section or maybe you need to re-organize your topics.

9. Ask for two or three rounds of feedback before submitting your paper (to your advisor or the journal). Ideally, get feedback from different people each time.

10. When you receive a lot of feedback (from a committee member or reviewer), read all of the feedback first. This way, you won’t waste time polishing sections that you later delete. Then address one comment at a time, marking them off as you complete them. If you aren’t sure how to address an issue, leave it for now and come back to it later.

11. Read one book (or take one workshop) on writing each year.

Recommended Books

• American Psychological Association. (2009). The publication manual of the American Psychological Association. Sixth Edition. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
• Gray, T. (2010). Publish and flourish: Become a prolific scholar. Las Cruces, NM: Teaching Academy, New Mexico State University.
• King, S. (2002). On writing: A memoir of the craft. New York, NY: Scribner.
• Lamott, A. (1994). Bird by bird: Some instructions on writing and life. New York: NY: Anchor Books.
• Olson, R. (2015). Houston, we have a narrative: Why science needs story. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
• Pinker, S. (2014). The sense of style: The thinking person’s guide to writing in the 21st century. New York, NY: Viking.
• Sternberg, R. J., & Sternberg, K. (2010). The psychologist’s companion: A guide to writing scientific papers for students and researchers. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
• Strunk Jr., W., & White, E. B. (1999). The elements of style. Fourth Edition. New York, NY: Longman.
• Sword, H. (2012). Stylist academic writing. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• Sylvia, P. (2007). How to write a lot: A practical guide to productive academic writing. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
• Truss, L. (2006). Eats, shoots & leaves: The zero tolerance approach to punctuation. New York, NY: Gotham Books.
• Williams, J. M. (2014). Style: Lessons in clarity and grace (11th ed). Pearson.

Recommended Websites Purdue Online Writing Lab SGG: Study Guides and Strategies Needless Complexity APA: General Help Bruce Thompson’s Advice on Writing for Publication

Kimberly A. Barchard is the Director of the Interactive Measurement Group. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at UNLV. She joined UNLV in 2001 after obtaining her MA and PhD in Psychometrics. She works to empower students and colleagues to accomplish their personal and professional goals, particularly through the development of leadership, communication, and research skills.