Biology Writes

Amy:   Different kinds of writing groups have different benefits. A moderated online side-by-side writing group, such as the London Writers’ Salon writers’ hours, can help you make time for writing and keep you accountable (suggestion: leave that camera on!). Critique groups are a way to share your writing and give and receive feedback.

Or you can create a group with whatever goals and structure you want. A fiction writing group I’m in focuses on critiquing plots for novels. Another group meets weekly in a park, where we catch up, talk about what we’re reading, then about how our writing is going, and we end with 30 minutes of side-by-side writing. ALL groups can be wonderful for helping you feel like part of a writing community.

Jennifer:  I love my writing group. I’ve been in my current writing group for [13] years, and we’ve survived job changes, a marriage, a divorce, two babies, moves, professional ups and downs, and writing that runs the gamut from grants and academic articles to young adult novels, blog posts about Pluto, and news stories on robotic fish and the mating rituals of pea hens. It works for me.

I’ve been in six other writing groups over the past twenty or so years–some worked, and some didn’t. Looking back, I could have saved myself time (and stress) if I’d just recognized these signs: (read Jennifer’s full blog, 7 Signs It’s Time to Break Up with Your Writing Group)

Meet the writers and join the conversation by adding your comments below

Big thanks to these writers who answer your questions in the “Ask a Writer” column.   This post will be updated as we add more writers to our community

Jennifer Ahern-Dodson, Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Composition, is Director of Outreach in Duke’s Thompson Writing Program and directs the Faculty Write Program. Her current project focuses on metacognition and faculty writers.

Monique Dufour, Ph.D. in History, is an assistant professor at Virginia Tech and Director of graduate student professional development.  She runs the “You Can Write It!” program and podcast and often leads writing and teaching workshops for faculty and graduate students at Duke, where she began her career as a Mellon Writing Fellow. She is currently working on a book, Sustainable Teaching: Time Management for Passionate Educators.

Cary Moskovitz, Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering, is Director of Writing in the Disciplines in Duke’s Thompson Writing Program, as well as Director of the Text Recycling Research Project and the Duke Reader Project. He is currently working on a paper entitled: Text recycling policies in STEM author-publisher contracts

Julie Reynolds, Ph.D. in biology, is Director of Biology Writes and was one of the first scientists hired to teach academic writing in Duke’s Thompson Writing Program.  She currently teaches writing-intensive courses for undergraduates and is organizes writing groups for faculty, postdocs, graduate students, and staff.

Amy Sayle, Ph.D. in Epidemiology, was one of the first scientists hired to teach in Duke’s Thompson Writing Program. She is currently a science communicator at Morehead Planetarium and Science Center who, in addition to presenting planetarium shows, writes for their science blog. For fun, she writes Young Adult fiction.

Q:   What technology do you recommend to help me improve my writing? 

Monique:   When I am working on a piece of writing over a period of time, every time I open the document, I make a copy and rename it.  By doing this, I am never afraid of overwriting or losing my work.   It also helps me see patterns in my writing process – I can go back to earlier drafts (which I only do if I am stuck).

Cary:   For the prose parts (this doesn’t work for equations!) try having your computer read your draft aloud to you. (For Macs, you can set up a shortcut in Preferences under Speech.) Highlight a paragraph or so and start. Don’t look at the screen; just listen. Find the places where you have difficulty following the train of thought, where things sound clumsy, and so on—and edit those.

Julie:   I’ve used Endote for years but I prefer Zotero for some projects because it makes collaboration across institutions much easier.  Duke libraries has put together this useful table that compares citation tools (also called bibliographic management tools or citation managers).

Meet the Writers

Monique Dufour, Ph.D. in History, is an assistant professor at Virginia Tech and Director of graduate student professional development.  She runs the “You Can Write It!” program and podcast and often leads writing and teaching workshops for faculty and graduate students at Duke, where she began her career as a Mellon Writing Fellow. She is currently working on a book, Sustainable Teaching: Time Management for Passionate Educators.

Cary Moskovitz, Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering, is Director of Writing in the Disciplines in Duke’s Thompson Writing Program, as well as Director of the Text Recycling Research Project and the Duke Reader Project. He is currently working on a paper entitled: Text recycling policies in STEM author-publisher contracts

Julie Reynolds, Ph.D. in biology, is Director of Biology Writes and was one of the first scientists hired to teach academic writing in Duke’s Thompson Writing Program.  She currently teaches writing-intensive courses for undergraduates and is organizes writing groups for faculty, postdocs, graduate students, and staff.   Interested in joining a writing group?   Email Julie.a.reynolds@duke.edu

Join the conversation: What technology helps your writing? Leave a comment below!

Q:  Why is it so hard to FINISH a paper? I find that final step of polishing all the paragraphs incredibly difficult.

Monique: The things that most interest you in the project, as a biologist, are probably not at play at the end of writing a paper. It is likely that what interests you is asking the research questions, designing the study, analyzing the data – those are the exciting parts of doing biology. What is left at the end of the writing process is probably not tapping into the biologist in you – it is tapping into the writer in you. Some people find those writing issues interesting, but they are not biology. By that point in the process, you may feel done with the idea and have probably moved on to new ideas that are competing for your attention. That’s probably why it feels so hard.

Amy: It is so hard to banish those perfectionist tendencies!   It helps me to step away from my writing and come back to it with fresh eyes – I often realize it is better than I thought.

Jennifer: Finishing a paper can be a challenge for me because I don’t enjoy the editing stage of writing. What I find most helpful for the final push is the Pomodoro method.  First, I make a list of the remaining tasks I need to complete (ex: “review footnotes on page 3”; “add reviewer 2’s suggestion for a reference to X source”; “revise conclusion for clarity and conciseness”). Then I choose 1 task from the list, set a timer (for me, it’s 25 minutes), and work on that one task during the allotted time. This strategy helps me stay focused on each individual task remaining to get the project submitted, stay motivated because the final edits are in short bursts, and allows me to make progress step by step.

Meet the Writers

Jennifer Ahern-Dodson, Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Composition, is Director of Outreach in Duke’s Thompson Writing Program and directs the Faculty Write Program. Her current project focuses on metacognition and faculty writers.

Monique Dufour, Ph.D. in History, is an assistant professor at Virginia Tech and Director of graduate student professional development.  She runs the “You Can Write It!” program and podcast and often leads writing and teaching workshops for faculty and graduate students at Duke, where she began her career as a Mellon Writing Fellow. She is currently working on a book, Sustainable Teaching: Time Management for Passionate Educators.

Amy Sayle, Ph.D. in Epidemiology, was one of the first scientists hired to teach in Duke’s Thompson Writing Program. She is currently a science communicator at Morehead Planetarium and Science Center who, in addition to presenting planetarium shows, writes for their science blog. For fun, she writes Young Adult fiction.

Join the conversation: What helps you finish up your writing projects? Leave a comment below!

Q:  So many things in my life have deadlines – grades are due, committee meetings are scheduled, conferences are planned.   How do you make time for writing when there are so many other things competing for your attention?

Amy:  I have discovered that it works best for me if I put the writing first in the day, especially if it doesn’t have a deadline attached.  I have it on my schedule, with a specific start time and an end time.   Accountability also helps – I always let someone else know what I am planning to do and then I check in with them at the end of my scheduled writing time to let them know how it went.

 Jennifer:  Since writing is a required part of my job, but less visible than committee work or teaching, I plan my semester with writing in mind rather than trying to fit it in after everything else gets done. What I find helpful is scheduling writing into my weekly schedule and protecting that time the same way I would other meetings and class time.

For example, I’m in a weekly “write-on-site” group, and so I have a two hour block each Friday just for writing alongside others who are doing the same. I’ve also found that I’m better at protecting writing time if it’s at the beginning of the day, before I’ve checked email, and when I have the most creative energy. With that in mind, I schedule a short writing session (25-30 minutes) at least three mornings a week during the semester.

In addition, each Sunday night I review the week ahead and make adjustments to my writing schedule as needed so I can keep my writing goals realistic. If it’s a busy teaching week (midterm grading or student meetings), I might write only on Friday. If I have a pressing writing deadline (a co-author needs my feedback), I might block more writing time and see what else can be pushed to another week.

Meet the Writers

Jennifer Ahern-Dodson, Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Composition, is Director of Outreach in Duke’s Thompson Writing Program and directs the Faculty Write Program. Her current project focuses on metacognition and faculty writers.

Amy Sayle, Ph.D. in Epidemiology, was one of the first scientists hired to teach in Duke’s Thompson Writing Program. She is currently a science communicator at Morehead Planetarium and Science Center who, in addition to presenting planetarium shows, writes for their science blog. For fun, she writes Young Adult fiction.

Want more tips?

This recent article  in the Chronicle of Higher Ed  (this link gets you access through the Duke Library) shows how one writer makes decisions about writing time (what / when/ how much) in the midst of everything else. TLDR:

Here are two systems to manage multiple writing projects – which one best suits you?   Consider trying each of them for a week, keeping track of what you got done and how you felt doing it.

Option No. 1: The Daily Juggle. This one can be daunting but the ability to switch between projects on a single day — even in the same work session — is a skill you can develop with practice and (just a little bit of) discipline. Here’s how I’d recommend you schedule your first week, devoting three hours a day to your writing and research:

• • Monday. Grant application: 45 minutes. Monograph: 75 minutes. Talk No. 1: 60 minutes.
  • Tuesday. Edited volume: 45 minutes. Monograph: 75 minutes. Talk No. 1: 60 minutes.
  • Wednesday. Grant application: 45 minutes. Monograph: 75 minutes. Talk No. 2: 60 minutes.
  • Thursday. Edited volume: 45 minutes. Monograph: 75 minutes. Talk No. 2: 60 minutes.
  • Friday. Monograph: the full three hours.

Option No. 2: Dedicated Days. In this approach, you spend each weekday doing a specific thing — mostly — but you don’t spend long enough away from any one thing to forget what you were doing with it before. A Dedicated Days schedule might look like this:

• • Monday. Grant application: 2 hours, 30 minutes. Final half hour: Review the last work you did on the monograph to refamiliarize yourself with it in preparation for the next day; maybe add a few sentences.
  • Tuesday. Monograph: 2 hours, 30 minutes. Final half hour: Refamiliarize yourself with the edited volume to prep for tomorrow.
  • Wednesday. Edited volume: 2 hours, 30 minutes. Final half hour: Refamiliarize yourself with Talk No. 1.
  • Thursday. Talk No. 1: 2 hours, 30 minutes. Final half hour: Refamiliarize yourself with Talk No. 2.
  • Friday. Talk 2: all three hours.

Join the conversation: How do you prioritize your writing? Leave a comment below!