How to improve writing skills?¶
Deliberate practice is the only way. As you start writing the problems you will encounter include a) not knowing what to write about, b) producing content in a fixed time period, and c) not knowing how to improve your writing. Start by forcing yourself to get words on the page rather than worrying about quality and revise your work. With time you will be able to produce quality writing with fewer revisions. At the end of the article I’ve included writing prompts to help you get started.
Write notes throughout your PhD¶
Fig. 1 The Thesis Pyramid is made up of the content produced over your PhD¶
Note taking throughout your PhD helps you 1) form original thoughts, 2) record your progress, and 3) reduce time to write articles. Effective note taking requires using your own words and revisiting your notes. Avoid replicating definitions or copy/pasting text from other sources, that prevents you from making the content your own. Take notes on a) papers you read, b) research ideas, c) meeting content, d) videos, e) presentations, and f) any other source of inspiration.
The main purpose of note taking is to reduce the effort of assembling your thesis see Fig. 1. All the notes you take are ideas and content that comes out of your head onto paper which can be massaged with other pieces of content to form i) sentences, ii) paragraphs, iii) sections and iv) chapters. Think of the Pyramids created from stones assembled to form a larger structure.
Write for 40 minutes each day¶
Spend 40 minutes each day in writing practice. During this time avoid looking up references or searching for more material; just write. The goal is to build the habit of producing content and to help think through writing. Later on review what you have written and add the missing citations. In the first revision strive for cohesion of idea and logical flow of ideas. I find first thing in the morning is a good time and having a fixed time helps. The early pieces you write will be closer to a blog although as you improve eventually you will be completing sections of your thesis or a paper.
Write to motivate a position¶
In your daily writing practice, avoid descriptive writing and focus on forming an argument. Descriptive writing is much easier to write and involves describing a phenomena or activity. Writing that motivates the reader or convinces them of a point requires evidence and critique. As you start to present your idea consider; What are the arguments against your point? What might someone who disagree with you say? Is your idea presented as a logical progression of thought?
Write in prose and use dot points sparingly¶
Dot points are great for sketching ideas and to outlining a plan. However, written prose debugs your own thinking and forces you to focus. By writing prose, gaps will emerge in your arguments and missing evidence will become clear. This is a good thing. It’s much better that you form the habit of reviewing your own work and catching problems before a reviewer does. In future iterations refine your writing by filling in the gaps. When you do use dot points, rewrite them later in prose.
Writing prompts¶
Use the following prompts to get started with daily writing practice.
Argue why your favourite programming language is the best.
Argue why your favourite programming language is the worst!
Write the abstract for a paper you would like to write. (No checking your notes, just write!)
Describe your research project in plain English.
Write the motivation for your research project.
Argue why someone should pay you to do your research. (Great practice for grant and proposal writing!)
Argue why society needs your research.
Argue why a software engineer should use your tool/method/approach.
Describe how your research could be spun out as a new product or service.
Write a motivating example for your own research using analogies.