Academic Associate, Teaching and Learning Services
Q: What process do you go through when writing an academic paper?
A: 鈥淭hink long. Write quickly.鈥� (Badenhorst, 2007)
I don鈥檛 like to sit down to a blank page or screen. It鈥檚 daunting. So, I spend a lot of time thinking about what I鈥檓 going to write before I actually start writing. I do much of my 鈥渢hinking for writing鈥� when I鈥檓 walking to and from work, or when I鈥檓 working out on a treadmill or elliptical trainer. (Research has shown the on creative inspiration.) These activities typically take up at least two hours of my day, so I feel I can advance my writing even when I鈥檓 not actually writing.
After thinking 鈥渓ong,鈥� I start writing. I either begin by typing the roughest of outlines, or if I鈥檓 inspired by particular thoughts, I draft less-than-cohesive paragraphs to be revised later on. I stop writing at a point where the ideas are still flowing and I have more to say. That way, I feel motivated to return to my writing sooner rather than later. And if my ideas begin to ebb, I know it鈥檚 time for a walk.
Photo credit:聽Owen Egan
References:
Badenhorst, C. (2007). Research writing: Breaking the barriers. Pretoria, South Africa: Van Schaik Publishers.
Oppezzo, M., & Schwartz, D. L. (2014). Give your ideas some legs: The positive effect of walking on creative thinking. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 40(4), 1142鈥�1152.