Unless, of course, you dislike my writing. In which case, you might find this article a little odd.
1. Plan your draft before you start writing
Before starting on your report, or even a section of your report, it’s usually a good idea to outline what needs to be accomplished. Not saying I remember to do this, because often, I’ll be writing on my report with no clear intention of where it’s going. Without planning, it’s a bit of vomiting out all of the information you have, which is another valid strategy, but ideally not one you would do often. Even just having a basic outline in your head of what you want to write, where you want your writing to go, and how you want to end your sections will get you further than dumping all of your information and hoping to make coherent sentences out of it.
2. Free write with no editing for a set amount of time
On the other end of the spectrum is the exact opposite of what the last tip just stated. If you truly have no idea where and how to begin, then write away – leave the typos, don’t worry about the flow, put links where you need citations, and just write. Do this for a set amount of time, say, 45 minutes to an hour, and then edit for the same amount of time or less.
It doesn’t matter how terrible your writing is at the start; you never write perfect sentences at first, and that’s okay. You can even write deliberately terrible sentences at first, knowing that you will change them later. The point is that writing is nuanced. You can plan all you want, but at the end of the day, if you have writer’s block, the only thing that can get you out of that is to write more. Just ask George R. R. Martin.
3. Put together your result figures
In academic settings, you’ll find that most of your writing is done after you’ve completed your experiments. You’d think otherwise, right? Write everything in anticipation of your results, and then finish off with some nice graphs. Wrong. You write everything you can before you can get your results, and then interpret them, compare them, and just keep on writing.
What has helped me is to insert my figures into the file, stare at them for a couple of minutes, and just start writing what I can conclude from my results. Write a description of your figures, add in the conclusions, then add whatever a reader needs to know to interpret and understand your results. And later, you can add a couple of sentences on how your results fit into your discussion.
4. Use active voice
Passive voice is apparently seen as a very big no-no in academia. I had no idea about this when I first started, but after a couple of years down the line, it does make sense. I had a supervisor point this out to me very recently in my report:
Passive: The following figures were obtained by conducting simulations.
Active: Simulations were conducted to obtain the following figures.
This advice just kind of sticks to you, and it’s an easy habit to break.
5. Speak your argument out loud
You’ve probably heard a million times that voicing your thoughts aloud is a great way of improving your understanding of a topic, and you’re about to hear it once more. If you can convey your idea clearly, you likely have a solid grasp on it, and if you’re unable to do so, then you’re realising that you need to further deepen your understanding of this area.
6. Don’t try to sound smart
Smart people communicate as simply and as efficiently as possible. Sometimes, this requires big words, but most of the time, it doesn’t – do you really need to use ‘utilise’ in place of ‘use’? If you try to use fancy words in an effort to seem smart, most readers can tell that you’re masking your lack of knowledge with complicated writing. If you’re stuck trying to communicate something in writing, with the idea that you need to write ‘academically’, then just blurt out what it is you’re trying to say off the top of your head. That’s usually what you need to write – just with fewer ‘mmm’s and ‘like’s.
7. Check the word count, then reduce
I have a very convoluted writing style that works great for creative writing, but not so much for technical writing. I usually use tips no. 2 and 3 and put everything I can into my document and leave the editing for later.
Once I’ve felt that enough time has passed (an arbitrary concept, but one that brings me much peace), I look at the word count and try to reduce it by around 10% for this round of editing. I try to do this every time I do an editing round until I’m satisfied.
Ultimately, academic writing uses a very specific set of writing and vocabulary skills, and is very much a different beast from creative writing. However, all kinds of writing are good for you, as the skills translate from one writing area to another. Learn what boosts your writing productivity and continue to build rituals that strengthen it. And if you have time, do check out our friends over at the UT Writing Centre, where you can use their drop-in hours to speak to their writing tutors.
