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  • Cite Your Sources to Give Credit Where It Is Due

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    Risa Gorelick, PhD

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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 and APA citation guides.

    If you use an exact quotation, you must cite. Make sure the quotation is accurate and that no words are missing. If you delete words from the quotation, use an ellipse ( . . . ).

    Sometimes you cite from a source and paraphrase it into your own words. Paraphrases still need to be cited. Cite after each sentence where you “borrow” ideas from another author or source.

    Any time you have a number you didn’t count yourself (including percentages, statistics, ratios, etc.), it must be cited to give credit to the source that did the math.

    Failure to cite can lead to charges of plagiarism. If you have questions on how to cite, ask a coach or advisor.

  • Maintaining Work/Life Balance

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    Robbin Warner, PhD

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    When you made the decision to attend Graduate School to pursue an advanced degree, you surely knew that you were taking on an enormous task. Still, you may have been unprepared for the sheer amount of work required and the number of competing interests pulling you in opposite directions. It’s easy to look at other graduate students or professors, see only the work they put in, and think you can’t possibly measure up unless you work day and night, weekends and holidays. While such feelings are understandable, it’s important to remember that you don’t see the whole picture. Nobody – no matter how together she or he seems – can pull those sorts of hours for the years it will take to finish the dissertation project. But graduate school – which includes your classwork and research projects, any teaching responsibilities you may have, and your advisor’s demands – is your job, and you should work at it like you would any other job you accept. Even jobs we enjoy do not demand our constant, unfailing, 24/7 attention. Jobs work better if you set boundaries for yourself, your students, and your advisor; communicate these boundaries clearly; and stick with them for your own peace of mind. We all face deadlines or the work piles up faster than we can move through it, and sometimes we have to buckle down, push aside family commitments and fun, and get the work finished. As one professor expressed, “Sometimes you just have to crank it out.” But those times are not the totality of your graduate school experience – or of your life. You need time to decompress, to see your family and friends, to read a book that’s unconnected to what you study, or even to watch a silly TV show. You can’t forgo sleep for very long! There is nothing wrong with you asserting that need for a balanced life and meeting it for yourself. If you do these things, when you sit down to your job, you can focus on it with a clear and rested mind.

    Action Steps:

    1. Take stock of any upcoming deadlines or responsibilities: exams, conferences, grading, and project due dates.
    2. Decide on reasonable expectations for yourself. Communicate them clearly to those people who depend on you.
    3. Know your limits and how hard you can push yourself before breaking.
    4. Within the confines of your schedule, take the time you need to maintain your physical, emotional, and psychological health.
    5. Contact a writing coach if you find that you’re unable to meet your deadlines while finding time for outside interests.

  • When You’re Stuck, Take a Walk

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    Beth L. Hewett, PhD, CT

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    Writer’s block comes in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes it’s a little brain-blip, where it seems impossible to think anymore and your brain itself seems to hurt. This experience of writer’s block is fairly easily handled. Usually taking a short break will do it. Many (many) years ago in college, we used to call this process taking a “psych break.” And our methods were as varied as the person needing the break: Take a walk, a nap, or a swim. Run the perimeter of the campus. Eat something. Don’t eat something, but get a cup of tea or a coffee. Read another subject. Get a shower. Watch 30 minutes of TV. When my husband gets stuck in professional writing, he gets his brain back in gear by heading for the sofa and closing his eyes; his hard drive of a brain whirrs in the background whether he sleeps or not, and he gets back up ready to work. I swim or walk. So much of my thinking is done in the “doing” mode. Getting a little stuck usually takes a little action (or inaction, as it may be). One key, however, is to return to the writing task when the psych break is done! Another key is to change modalities: If you’re trying to type and it’s not working, pick up a pencil. If you’re handwriting on a notepad and it’s not working, verbalize your ideas through your cell phone’s speech-to-text app or using Dragon® NaturallySpeaking or something similar. Talk out the problem to a writing coach who can serve as secretary and take dictation of your your ideas. Share ideas with friends, who also may need a break. Of course, sometimes writer’s block is a bigger issue, a full-blown, out and out case of WRITER’S BLOCK, where there is no getting past the blank page or one sentence keeps begging to be reworked and you just have to keep going and the paper will never be done on time and the . . . . That size writer’s block calls for an immediate appointment with your coach, so she or he can help you get moving again!

    Action Steps:

    1. If you’re blocked and can’t make the ideas flow, change positions. Get a different chair or sit on the sofa or bed. Turn off the music or turn on the music or change the style of music. Dance. Run. Walk. Shadow box. Hula hoop. You get the idea: do something different. Then, return to writing.
    2. If you’ve tried those options, change writing venues. Move from the computer to the page, from the page to a voice recorder, from the voice recorder to a live talk with someone who cares about your writing – like a coach. Then, return to writing.
    3. Stare that blank page in the eye and defeat it by scribbling, writing a list, writing stream-of-conscious thoughts, journaling, or doing other common brainstorming activities. Turn off the computer screen and just type without seeing what you’re writing. Wait until after you’ve written to review and consider it. Then, return to writing.
    4. If all else fails, you may be too tired or distracted to write at that time, and you may need to change tasks. Move from writing to math by balancing your checkbook. Clean up the kitchen and put away all debris on the counters. Clean off your desk. Take out the recycling. Walk the dog. The idea here is to do something that will free up writing time in the near future. Then, return to writing.
    5. Writer’s block can be pretty serious especially when there’s a degree or a job for which the writing is being prepared. It’s not a mental illness, but writer’s block can come from deep parts of our past experiences with writing or from subconscious thoughts about ourselves, our topics, or even our committees and/or editors. Take what the block is telling you seriously by giving it attention, taking a break if needed, and talking about it with a skilled writing coach who can help you figure out what’s going on. Then, once again, return to writing.

  • Every Piece of Writing has an Audience. Who is Your Audience?

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    Risa Gorelick, PhD

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    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 a more general audience, you need to give more background on what you are writing so that the masses can understand the material as some will not be coming to your writing from a scholarly point.

    Sometimes you may be writing for a mixed audience that would consist of both experts in the field and a more general public. This audience is more difficult to address in your writing, as you need to keep a balance to make sure you are appealing to both audiences and that both audiences can follow your argument.

    Whoever your audience is, keep your audience in mind when you are writing. When you go to revise your work, ask yourself if your audience will be able to follow your line of reasoning. Ask a coach to help you make sure your audience can relate to what you have written.

  • Beware of Plagiarism

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    Robbin Warner, PhD

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    If you’re the kind of person who is reading these blogs on the Defend and Publish website, you’re the kind of person who works hard to write well. You’ve probably struggled to come up with a clever turn of phrase. Maybe you’ve spent weeks alone in your University’s library trying to locate the evidence you need to support the main argument of your entire dissertation. You’ve written and rewritten. And then inspiration hit; the gears in your head turned; you found the right way to make your point, and you feel proud of your work, indeed. Now, imagine someone else using your carefully written words as their own, essentially stealing all the hard work and frustration you put in to craft and express your ideas. That’s just about the last thing you’d want to discover, right? While students are repeatedly told not to plagiarize, it still happens, and it is something that must be avoided at all costs. Plagiarism is representing the words or ideas of another as your own. Submitting papers that you haven’t written yourself is only the most blatant form of plagiarism. Plagiarism also includes, but is not limited to: copying another person’s papers; inappropriate collaboration with another student or writer; and verbatim copying, close paraphrasing, pasting in, or recombining published materials, including materials from the Internet, without appropriate citation. You’d rightly call a person who stole a twenty-dollar bill from your wallet a thief. Stealing somebody else’s words or ideas is no different. Fortunately, when it comes to writing, we have a way to respectfully borrow through appropriate quotation and citation strategies. Strong scholarship is built on the foundation of strong research, which means you will encounter words and ideas that express your point better than you could yourself. In itself, there is nothing wrong with using the work and words of another scholar, but you must give credit. After all, you want the same respect for your hard work!

    Action Steps:

    1. Learn when you need to cite another person’s work. This includes both direct, word-for-word quoting as well as paraphrasing.
    2. Locate a reference to teach you the various formatting guidelines associated with your discipline’s preferred style (for example: APA, MLA, Chicago).
    3. When in doubt, ask someone for an explanation. Many universities have writing centers with tutors who can help and some websites offer cogent guidance.
    4. For in-depth, one-on-one help, hire a writing coach. It’s the coach’s job to teach you how to avoid making writing errors. Plagiarism is a big – but easily avoidable – mistake.

  • Not all Comments are Created Equal

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    Robbin Warner, PhD

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    When you receive comments, whether from your dissertation committee or a journal, keep in mind that a reviewer’s purpose is to submit comments. However, the motivation for each comment can be confusing. Sometimes the comment is representative of what the reviewer is thinking at that moment. Sometimes the comment is a reflection of your committee’s dynamics. But sometimes, the comments are incredibly helpful in transforming your ideas and improving your writing. These are the comments that make wading through the crowded field worthwhile.

  • Not Every Idea Is a Good Idea

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    Beth L. Hewett, PhD, CT

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    I know. Your ideas are always good. Sure, so are mine. No, not really. A professor once said to a friend of mine, “Not every idea is a good idea” in response to her earliest dissertation concept. She was hurt. But she took it to heart and refined her thinking. Her next idea was better and the third one was on the mark. The truth is that we will have many ideas in our lives, some brilliant and others not so brilliant. If we’re honest, not many will be truly brilliant or even very original. I’m sorry. That means you and me, too. So, what then? Discard it? Abandon the thought? No, write it down. Play it out with outlines and brainstorming of connections. Read about it. Think hard: What will people get from my work if I continue down this path? Is this something that I want to study but in my spare time? Is this something I want to spend the next several professional years working on? Why? What is useful about it? What is unique about it? How can I take the basic idea and turn it to something rich and special and of importance to my colleagues or society? Sure, some ideas are for mundane presentations, a rehashing of the known world to share with colleagues who may not yet know those things and who need a good introduction to them. But other ideas are for simmering in the pot, recasting, and pulling back until a kairotic or “right time.” What is your idea?

    Action Steps:

    1. Honor your capacity to think and allow yourself to spend time with ideas that may have genuine value (in other words, the world needs them).
    2. Keep a notebook of your ideas. Sometimes you’ll find that they connect in interesting, unexpected, and unique ways over a period of time, enriching each part of the idea until it becomes a critical piece of thought that others should hear about.
    3. Don’t be afraid to abandon an idea forever or for a period of time. Even some good ideas aren’t worth the effort they take to birth. Others can be put aside for years. For example, I recently had an article accepted that I had begun 20 years ago. The time was right to revise the article when I found a coauthor who could speak to knowledge of a special issue that I lacked and didn’t want to learn. With her help, this good idea was reborn and will be published. It’s not too late to revive that idea that you put aside a while back.
    4. Above all, keep thinking. Keep writing. Stay open to your critics because they have useful advice to offer. But don’t abandon your own good ideas and intentions when you are sure of them and ready to make the effort to bring them to fruition.
    5. When you can, bring your idea to a writing coach who can help you examine it objectively and with an eye toward your audience and possible publication. Even people outside your field can offer thoughtful questions to help spur new thinking.

  • Sit Down and WRITE!

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    Risa Gorelick, PhD

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    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.

    It is best to write at a time that works in your schedule. Don’t tell yourself you’ll get up and write and 4 AM if you are not an early riser, as you most likely will not get up to write. Instead, schedule a time to write when you can close a door and have some quiet (when your family is asleep; when the kids are at school; between a regularly scheduled meeting when you have a block of time, etc.). Put your writing time on your calendar, and treat your writing time as you would an important commitment.

    Remove distractions: the laundry will wait; Facebook will still be there; email does not need to be responded to immediately. Put your phone on silence so a call or text won’t disturb you. If necessary, disable your Internet connection so you can’t go online to shop or surf the ‘net.

    Give yourself a realistic goal. Setting up a realistic goal will allow you to be successful. You cannot write your dissertation in a day (or a week or a month). Instead, approach your writing by telling yourself that you will write on a specific section of a chapter for this long each day (2 hours; every morning; after dinner, etc). Doing so allows you to meet your goals and finish the project at hand.

  • When a Messy Desk is a Messy Mind

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    Robbin Warner, PhD

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    Between coursework, research projects, teaching responsibilities, and – hopefully – a personal life, dissertators are juggling a lot of balls. In those busy situations, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and start feeling out of control. We don’t feel like we have time to finish and clean up from one task before moving on to the next one. Papers stack up; library books go unreturned; dishes sit unwashed because we just don’t think we have the time. And then we wonder why we can’t focus in our work space! While everyone has different writing styles and habits, concentration is the one thing we all need. Most of us wouldn’t sit down to write in room of full of crying children or blaring television sets simply because we’d be distracted by the cacophony surrounding us and never get anything done. Our desks are similar in that messiness is like noisiness. We need space to lay out our research notes, calendar, or the exams to grade by tomorrow morning, for instance. It’s difficult to see what we need to accomplish if all we can see is a mess and we have to dig through it to find everything. Instead, create a work space that is comfortable and relaxing. Make sure you have good light. Make sure your tools are readily accessible. Make sure you can reach for that pen without spilling a half-eaten bowl of cereal all over the only copy of that eighteenth-century manuscript that you absolutely require to finish your project. Your brain works hard to make connections among various materials already, so don’t make it any harder than necessary by forcing your brain to wade through unnecessary clutter.

    Action Steps

    1. Survey your work space. Decide what you need to complete the task at hand and what you’ve already finished working with. Put away books and papers that you’re through with.
    2. Throw out or wash anything that’s growing mold or other unidentifiable substances.
    3. Create a filing system and sort through any papers you think you need to keep. It’s a good idea not to throw out notes, though, in case you need them again. A cardboard box is a good temporary storage place.
    4. Voila! Sit down and work cleanly in an uncluttered space.
    5. If you find yourself feeling cluttered as well as living cluttered, get a writing coach to help you sort through the clutter and get back on track!

  • Incorporating Changes

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    Robbin Warner, PhD

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    Incorporating Changes into Your Writing Is a Multi-Step Process. When you start incorporating comments and suggestions, keep in mind that every change can impact the whole piece through a ripple effect. Merely going through a list of revision suggestions one-by-one in isolation will produce a disjointed draft. Avoid the patchwork approach to responding to readers’ comments by being strategic and making it a multi-step process. First read all the comments to assess their purpose. Once you’ve assessed the comments, then start to address them.

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