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How to make writing a paper as easy as Facebooking

How to make writing a paper as easy as Facebooking?As I hear from scientists and researchers, Facebook is a common reason for getting distracted when you sit down to write your paper or thesis. Why is Facebook so attractive anyway? Why is it so easy to go on it and spend the odd 10-15 we might be having available between various things we do during the work day?..

And … what if working on your paper or on your thesis would be as easy as Facebooking??

Here are 3 ways you can make writing your paper (or thesis or an application) as easy as Facebooking! Enjoy!!

1) Have a defined layout, structure or format to simply “fill in the blanks”

Facebook has a format that is easy to use and easy to add something. At the top it always asks you: what is on your mind? To comment on someone’s post is extremely easy and even inviting: it has already an allocated space and even your picture to entice you to add a comment.

When I coach scientists and researchers who have been stuck with writing their thesis/paper, proposal or grant application for weeks or even months, this is one of the first things I suggest:

If you are writing a paper and getting stuck with writing because you don’t know where to start or how to move on, choose the journal to submit your paper to! If you are unsure which one to choose, write a list of journals, brainstorm it with your supervisor or colleagues and decide imperfectly.

What it gives you is that you can now go to the website of that journal and download the guidelines and often even a format file. Often journal will tell you the format for the references and even the amount of words allowed. This gives you a structure to follow and you can literally start filling in the blanks! Just like Facebooking 🙂

Similar with the thesis, go to the grad office and ask them to give your guidelines. Create an (imperfect draft of an) outline. And start filling in the blanks. Ditto grants and proposals.

2) Make a list of tasks that would take you 15-30 min to complete.

It is easy to spend odd 10-15 min on Facebook that you have between a meeting and going for lunch, between your telecons, or between a lecture and taking a bus into town.

For your paper, thesis or proposal, break down your work load into tasks that would take 15-30 min each to complete. Make a list of those tasks or write each one of them on an index card, and have a stack of those index cards handy. For example:

  1. Draft Figure 1
  2. Complete Table 2
  3. Find the ppt slides from the last conference and copy and paste the relevant materials into Chapter 2 of my thesis
  4. type up 10 references
  5. etc etc

Now if you have an odd 15-30 min you can just look through the list or the stack of the index cards and pick a task that speaks to you. If you feel good and productive, pick a more difficult task; if you feel quite lousy today, pick an easy task. No matter how you feel or how little time you have you experience PROGRESS with your writing EVERY day. This creates momentum and allows you to carry on and continue with it until completion!

I regard the ability to break a big task into small manageable tasks and always knowing what is the very next step is as one of the greatest productivity techniques.

3) Have your paper always in your sight and on your mind

Facebook tab is always open and it is just THERE, isn’t it? It is so easy to just click on that tab and do some facebooking. Or if you closed down the tab, it is so easy to open a new tab, type “Facebook“ and here it is.

But… Do you actually know WHERE is the folder with your paper?…

Make your writing project easily accessible. Open the folder and the file first thing in the morning. Have it right there AVAILABLE and easily accessible for all those brilliant ideas and inspirational moments to fill in more text.

Have your paper IN YOUR SIGHT, which will make it easier for you to have it on your mind. One of the things that I advice researchers I work with is to borrow from the library a hard copy of the journal you are writing for and have it on your desk as a visual reminder “Writing paper X is my one of my priorities” or print out the front page of that journal from their website and stick it somewhere you can see it everyday (on your bathroom door for example :-))

The same goes for the thesis, create the title page exactly as it will appear in your thesis, print it out and have it in your sight all the time.

I hope you enjoyed these 3 strategies to make your writing easier!
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4 Responses to How to make writing a paper as easy as Facebooking

  1. Ha..ha.Olga I loved the title and I needed to read the blog. Indeed these are 3 very simple but effective ways to write more and waste less time.

  2. Kellyann Green Schaefer says:

    Great info for anyone trying to avoid the trap of "I don't have time for that"!

  3. Yehudit says:

    Wow. You made it so simple to write that paper! So I guess there really is no need to panic…

  4. Lilia Lee says:

    Ditto to Kellyann Schaefer's comment

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