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Context & Motivation
This is a syllabus for a writing workshop I’ve developed for early-career academic professionals aimed at building writing revision skills from the ground up. Revising your own writing is a critical skill for academic success, but often receives little systematic attention in STEM fields. This workshop targets participants without formal training in academic writing—the unfortunate norm in most STEM programs—combining a variety of sources (books, articles, blogs, and videos) and extensive practical exercises. Participants are expected to bring a complete (but still rough) draft manuscript, that will be systematically revised and overhauled over the course of the workshop. The stages outlined below should be tackled (in order) at a rate of one or two per week, employing consistent effort spread throughout each week. Revision is a cognitively demanding task best accomplished in focused work sessions (1-2 hours each day) separated by breaks to regain the broader perspective required for tailoring your own work to the needs of others; producing a quality polished manuscript is a marathon, not a sprint. Participants should form small groups to provide accountability and feedback for each other, supplementing instructor input. Depending on work intensity, it should take 1 to 2 months to complete the workshop, producing a mature manuscript draft that is ready for full review by co-authors, followed by journal submission soon thereafter.
- A holistic overview of what defines good academic writing (creating value for a community of readers) and how to get there through the revision process.
- Reverse outlining technique reveals what’s really on the page (not just in your head).
- Outline provides high-level view of manuscript, allowing us to diagnose problems: What points are missing and which are overly repetitive? Which are poorly supported by evidence and which require more background?
- Record these observations in a set of well-organized notes and save for later improvements. (We are only storing observations, not attempting edits.)
- A review of productivity techniques and best-practices that elevate writing to your most important task. Ensure that your time is well spent during regular pre-planned work-sessions that produce concrete research artifacts which move the project forward.
- A first shot at reworking your manuscript outline for logical flow. We imagine crafting a manuscript for a generic reader who is interested and has a basic knowledge of the subject area, but not specific expertise.
- Use mix-up method for dramatic reimagining of article structure. Consider new paragraph order as well as updates to sections and sub-sections.
- Academic manuscripts create value by contributing to the conversation in a specific community of readers. Identify your target audience and the current state of the conversation.
- Examples are pulled from the literature that best represent the target community and how to best convey research findings from this type of work.
- Begin tailoring your manuscript to the demands of your specific target audience. Your community of readers has greater or lesser familiarity with certain concepts, requiring more or less explanation. They also care strongly about some issues and view others as distractions.
- Make use of appendix and graveyard file to hone main story of manuscript.
- Use introduction to frame the problem that your manuscript solves, which your community cares about.
- Paragraphs are the primary building block of persuasive writing, each making a clear point that furthers the argument. Survey every paragraph to see if they are structurally sound.
- Select paragraph examples of good, poor, and very poor quality. Focus on understanding why the good example rings true and the bad ones falter. First revise the poor paragraph, and then using your new skills confront the beast.
- Create priority list of remaining paragraphs needing considerable attention.
- Focus on one section of the paper at a time, revising each problem paragraph and then revising section as a whole.
- (This stage will likely extend over multiple sessions, and involve considerable peer feedback and accountability.)
- Academics are busy and must process more papers than they could every carefully read.
- Do your readers a favor by ensuring that the casual-, interested-, and focused-reader are each rewarded for their increasing time and attention.
Future Directions
In future posts, I will flesh out the contents of each unit in the workshop. These posts will also be reproduced and updated in a new section of the website (writing-workshop) available from the links at the top of the page.