Let’s Get Write to it: Strategies for Writing Productivity for Graduate Students
We have all been there, staring at a blank word document…completely lost. Whether you are writing up the results for a manuscript, working on a grant proposal, or writing your literature review, we have all been bogged down by the tricks our brain plays on us when it comes to focus, motivation, and discipline. While there may be some days where words just “do not happen”, there are a variety of strategies and approaches to writing to allow you to put words on paper most of the time.
Before we get into strategies, lets first acknowledge that writing at the graduate/academia level is challenging; a perfect storm of technical jargon, academic language, and strict standards make writing a challenge. It is important to be caring with ourselves on days when we cannot write at all, or only write a few sentences; while we strive to have a week full of productivity, some days just do not work out that way, and that is okay.
Now let’s get into it! First, let me prime you with a quote from author James Clear, in his book “Atomic Habits”, "You do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems." It is important that we keep that in mind; our success as graduate students falls back on the systems we have in place. The purpose of this piece is to foster systems-building in people like you, in order to get manuscripts out for review and grants approved, all within a timely fashion.
Part One of the System: Preparation
The first piece of our system is preparation. What that means exactly will vary on the type of writing you are doing, but for the present example, imagine we are about to write the introduction and literature review for a manuscript to be published. One barrier to getting into a “flow” of writing is constantly switching tabs from your word document to places like Google Scholar and ResearchGate, trying to find relevant literature for your paper. Not only will this approach interrupt your writing process, but given the lack of preparation for this writing, your finished piece may be messy, disjointed, and confusing to readers.
The first step in preparation is crafting an outline for your manuscript. Using bullets, dashes, numbers, headers, and sub-headers, you can organize the exact flow of your writing. Once your outline is agreed upon by any co-authors and advisors, you should spend some time with the literature, copying and pasting excerpts of relevant literature under the appropriate heading, bullet, etc. in your outline. Think something akin to an annotated bibliography. Your notes should be roughly 30-40 pages long, which includes:
Your outline (utilizing bolding and highlighting features to distinguish different parts of your outline from the notes.
Copy and pasted excerpts from the literature review.
A consistent citing practice at the end of each excerpt (such as, after your excerpt, you paste the APA citation in bold and yellow highlight)
Exact length of notes will vary, however, 8 pages of notes likely indicates you did not go into the literature deep enough, where 150 pages of notes (for an empirical article) may be too much to distill into a single paper. It is worth nothing that constructing a chapter, or a review piece, may require lengthier notes as they tend to serve the purpose of explaining a certain literature at a more expansive level than an empirical paper.
Now that you have successfully created your outline, and have taken notes, you are in a much better place to start writing. However, I have two smaller strategies that fall under our preparation component of our system. First, keep snacks within reach; if you get hungry, you can easily grab your snack uninterrupted and continue writing, versus leaving your chair to go to your kitchen or the vending machine. In line with keeping writing uninterrupted, is to have a larger cup/mug/tumbler for your beverage. For me, I keep a 32-ounce insulated tumbler full of coffee as I write, compared to filling up a traditional coffee mug and getting up every 15-20 minutes because it is either empty or cold. I know these two strategies seem like “majoring in the minors”, however, eliminating even the smallest barriers to writing success will help us get more written!
Part Two of the System: Getting Words Started
Even if we have a wonderful outline, full of great notes, sometimes we still struggle with simply getting words on paper. Before we go into exact strategies, lets talk about what kind of mindset we want to go into when writing. Borrowing from my advisor, Dr. Daniel N. Jones, you cannot edit a draft that is not there. Your first draft will not be great, it might not even be good, but you cannot make edits (read: improvements) to your draft if words are not there to begin with. You can always refine your draft; the first battle is to put the hypothetical ink to paper.
To get “words started”, I suggest two approaches. The first approach is the “Write then Cite” approach. In this approach, you will begin to write your introduction and literature review, relying on your previous knowledge of the literature/notes, and not getting caught up in the citing. In places that you know where a citation needs to go, simply put “(CITE)”, highlighted in a color of your choice. For example, here is a “Write then Cite” approach to writing about narcissism:
Narcissism is a complex personality construct comprised of entitlement, enhanced egotism, vanity, extraversion, and hostility (CITE). While much debate exists about the exact factor structure of narcissism (CITE), one commonly accepted approach is Back and colleagues Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Concept (NARC; CITE). The NARC model offers a bifurcated solution to the structure of narcissism, arguing the trait can be understood with a self-promotion aspect (narcissistic admiration) and a self-defensive derogation of others aspect (narcissistic rivalry; CITE)
While writing the above paragraph, I was able to rely on what I already knew about narcissism (from reading and my notes) to get “words started”. Using the “Write then Cite” approach, I would urge writers to use a reference management software, so when it is time to “plug in” your citations, you have a much easier time.
The second approach to getting “words started” allows great flexibility regarding your location and equipment needed. It is suggested that you audio record yourself (using your phone, laptop, or personal recording device) talking as if you were writing. You will make errors, you will go tangents, but that is all okay. The key idea of this practice is to “brain dump” onto the audio recording, to then listen to later while writing to help you “get words started”. Of course, this approach may work better for things like introductions and conclusions and may not be as helpful during the results write up.
Part Three of the System: Goal-Based Writing
Now that we have not only prepared, but we have also gotten some words started, we can have greater focus in our writing. This can be achieved by goal-based writing. The first step is buying a big bag of a treat you like. The easiest approach, in my experience, is buying a large bag of “fun sized” candy. From there, you will set a timer for 25 minutes. It is within those 25 minutes that you engage in undistracted, focused writing. During these 25 minutes you do not go on your phone, leave the desk, or essentially anything else besides writing. Following a successful completion of one 25-minuted “Pomodoro” (the name of this timing approach), reward yourself with one piece of candy from your bag and a five-minute break (hmm, rewarding a behavior to reinforce a behavior reminds me of “Introduction to Psychology”). It is worth noting that when you give yourself a time constraint, you will fill that time. So, by giving you 25 minutes of uninterrupted work, you will be surprised with how much you actually get done!
You can take this practice a step further, by allotting how many Pomodoros (25-minute chunks) are going to be used on a certain task. It is likely that you have multiple things you could be working on, and it can feel overwhelming to try to make progress on all of them…but here is the trick. Maybe you know that on Day X, you have 8 Pomodoros to “spend”. In order of importance/urgency, you allot 4 Pomodoros to Task 1 (e.g., grant that is due soon), 3 Pomodoros to Task 2 (e.g., a revise and resubmit for one of your manuscripts), and 1 Pomodoros for Task 3 (e.g., a theory paper that is not urgent).
It is through this approach that you make meaningful progress on all your tasks, while still prioritizing what is most important. This approach is also…well…approachable. It can be overwhelming to imagine writing a whole manuscript. However, reframing it as “I can easily write for 25 minutes”, makes the hill just a little easier to climb. Plus, it gives you a goal to meet even on days where you are short on time; there may be days when you only have 2 Pomodoros to “spend”, which is perfect! You will have 50 minutes of focused work, while still feeling accomplished and managing your other responsibilities.
Another core component of goal-based writing is deadline setting. One of the hardest things to do is to write when the deadline is ambiguous. If you have a manuscript that needs the discussion and conclusion done, talk to your advisor and ask them for a deadline. Make it long enough where you have enough time for quality work, but also short enough that encourages a sense of urgency. If you have weekly meetings with your lab/advisor, make weekly goals, “By next meeting I will have the discussion and conclusion written and emailed to you”. This deadline creates an accountability system and encourages consistent practices.
It is through a process of rewarding yourself for focused work and giving yourself parameters to fit your focused work into, that you can be a productive writer at the graduate level. As just a note, both strategies are flexible. If a piece of candy is unappealing to you, find what can replace the candy while still holding as a valuable reward. Further, if you are someone who tends to prefer a little longer work period for a break, you can change the Pomodoro time to 45 minutes. The goal is to still keep it a manageable length, however.
Part Four of the System: Scheduled Writing
We cannot rely on only writing “when we feel like it” to be productive writers. Scheduling writing sessions will be key to your writing productivity. Below, I am going to provide three types of scheduling writing sessions that will help foster writing productivity.
“Writing Retreats”: A writing session done at a bookstore, coffee shop, etc. Sometimes we need to see something that is not our at home office or on-campus office. Further, it should be a place that makes you feel good, so take this as an opportunity to explore new bookstores, coffee shops, and tea shops in your area. Bonus: Have a consistent day that is a “Writing Retreat” day. This will be reliant on your schedule; maybe Tuesdays are your best day, so then every Tuesday at a given time you will be at Business X doing your retreat. Double Bonus: Set a standard for how many Pomodoros are to be done (at a minimum) for your writing retreats.
Co-Work Sessions: Whether in-person, or on a video calling platform, schedule a session where you and a classmate, lab mate, or colleague work alongside each other. This, too, can be something scheduled consistently. For example, you can make an agreement with the other writers that Saturdays from noon to 2:00pm the video call session will be hosted, and you’ll meet weekly. Bonus: Start each co-work session with a “declaration of goals”. Tell the other writers what you are working on, and what you hope to accomplish during this session. You will then end the session with telling the other writers your progress. This approach not only fosters an accountability system for writing but makes writing (and academia in general) less isolating.
“Deep Work Sessions”: Borrowing from “Deep Work” by Cal Newport, deep work is the idea of having long work sessions that are entirely uninterrupted. An example of a deep work session is maybe spending 3 hours reading the literature and adding excerpts to your notes. No email checking (Cal has another book about the pitfalls of email, if you are interested), no scrolling through social media, just pure focus. The concept of deep work relies on the idea that we are oft dealing with distractions and things competing for our attention. Cal Newport’s original idea was to have a few hours of purely focused work, however, that is a habit and skill that takes building. People may struggle with sitting focused, with no distractions, for five hours (you’ll get there, though). This is where the Pomodoro technique provided earlier can still fit in this framework. Maybe you have a day of no classes, meetings, or appointments. On that day, maybe you have 12 Pomodoros “to spend”, so you first schedule your Pomodoro allotment per task, and then spend the next 6 hours, working focused for 25-minute chunks, separated by a five-minute break (which can include that treat we talked about earlier).
In an ideal setting, your week of writing includes all three of these scheduled sessions: a retreat session, a co-work session, and a deep work session. While three weekly sessions of writing may not fully meet the demands of your workload, it is a great foundation to build a consistent writing practice.
Part Five of the System: Tricks of the Trade
The fifth part of our writing system is less of a holistic framework, and more of a “random stuff I have picked up along the way that might help you.” First, and foremost, is music/sounds. Whether it is to drown out the noise at the coffee shop, or to fill the empty space in your office, listening to any sort of audio might help you stay focused. Here are some suggestions on different types of music that might be helpful for your writing process:
Low-fi, binaural beats, white/pink/green/brown noise: If you are easily distracted by artists singing, this is the music for you! This form of music are just peaceful, neutral sounds that occupy your mind without distracting you from your writing.
Metalcore: This may be a shock to some of you, especially if you don’t like metalcore. However, I have found myself most productive with metalcore music for a few reasons. It is often home to intense sounds and beats, keeping me alert, motivated, and focused. Second, I have a hard time actually knowing that they are saying (since they are screaming), so I don’t get caught up in the words that are being sung.
Favorite song, with a twist: If the idea of listening to low-fi music, or metalcore, is less than appealing, I have an option for you. Listen to your favorite song, but on repeat. As you get used to the same song, your focus on the words of the song goes away, and you enter a flow state of focused writing.
My last suggestion is one that will likely come easy to graduate students, that is, working on multiple projects. When we are working on multiple projects, we have the choice to start with our favorite/most interesting writing, to get the writing flow going, before transitioning to some of the other work that must get done, but that we are less excited about. Secondly, sometimes while working on a project we get stumped and frustrated, tanking our desire to write. That is the perfect time to pivot to a different project. This is beneficial practice because it allows you to get a break from a challenging project, while still being productive. Further, sometimes having a fresh look at a project (after taking a break since it stumped you) opens your eyes to the solution you were missing earlier. This practice also helps if you are someone who bores easily.
There you have it! You now have a five-part system that will help you not only boost your writing productivity, but also may help you enjoy the writing process more. This is not a “set it and forget it” system, you will need to actively engage with all five parts of the system to build your overall writing practice; writing is a lot like meditation, the more you do it, the better you get! I hope you feel not only empowered to write, but also feel that you have the necessary tools to write!
May your grants get funded and your papers published and cited, happy writing!
About the Author
David Andrews is a second-year doctoral student at the University of Nevada, Reno, under Dr. Daniel N. Jones. Prior to his time at UNR, he spent 5 years at Oakland University as a BA/MS student where he earned his BA’s in psychology and criminal justice, and his MS in psychology under Dr. Virgil Zeigler-Hill. David’s core interests are at the intersection of psychology and criminology, where he studies dark personality traits (e.g., narcissism), extremism and violence (with a focus on religious extremism and violence), and attitudes and beliefs towards polarizing criminal justice policies and practices (e.g., death penalty). In his free time, David likes to go to bookstores and coffee shops, as well as creating (and enjoying) charcuterie boards and cocktails.
