Risa Gorelick, PhD
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Try Dictating Your Ideas When You Feel Stuck
Try dictating your ideas when you feel stuck. If you’re blocked and unable to physically write, try dictating your ideas on your Smartphone or through Naturally Dragon Speaking. Once you have a transcription of your ideas, you have a workable draft that you can begin reworking and revising.
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Idea for Managing a Large Writing Project
Think of a large writing project as a series of written out lectures. If you are daunted by the idea of writing a topic as large as a dissertation, then try to think of it as a written series of lectures on your topic that you could TEACH to many people. Do not get paralyzed…
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Avoid Tangents
Avoid tangents. Stay focused on your writing. When you have a big writing project like a dissertation, it’s easy to let yourself get distracted. The best way to keep writing is to keep focused. If something is not a direct connection to what you’re writing now, ignore it. Remember, you’re not writing a manifesto. You’re…
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Write Every Day
Write every day – even if it’s only for an hour broken into smaller segments. Make good writing habits. Once you have established your good writing habits, set realistic goals of writing two double-spaced pages a day. The next day, start where you left off and keep growing the document. If you can write two…
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Finding Your Writing Place
If you do not trust yourself to stay on task, go to a public place where people can see you so you won’t not do what you set out to do, which is WRITE. Quiet places can include libraries, offices, and cafes (during non-peak times). Sometimes, when the weather is nice, sitting outside in a…
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Schedule Your Writing Time
To help you stay focused, schedule your writing times on your actual calendar like you would an important appointment. Do NOT say you have “all day” when you can only focus for short periods of time. Schedule hour blocks and then get up, meditate, grab a tea/coffee/soda/water, stretch, walk/run, but keep the breaks to 15…
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Proofread by Reading Aloud
After you’ve written a draft, it is a good idea to proofread. If you read your text aloud, you will HEAR what does not sound right. If you trip over what you’re reading, chances are it needs to be revised. Additionally, by reading aloud, you are more likely to see grammar and spelling errors.
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Cite Your Sources to Give Credit Where It Is Due
When writing scholarly work, you must cite sources. Make sure to format the citation for the correct style (MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.) Have a current edition of your stylebook, as every few years the associations update their stylebooks and the rules can change. You can check online at the Purdue OWL (https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/) for current MLA…
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Every Piece of Writing has an Audience. Who is Your Audience?
When you sit down to write, consider for whom you are writing. If it is a scholarly piece of writing, you want to address other scholars. This audience would have a similar background and a knowledge base that allows the reader to come to your writing at a certain level. If you are writing for…
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Sit Down and WRITE!
When you have a long project, like a dissertation or scholarly book, you are writing, it is best to have writing rituals that will keep you on track. Most writers who are successful in their work write daily and schedule the time into their day to make sure they can focus on the task ahead.…