Honing Your Writing Process

This feels like the time of year where there is great writing demand of research faculty. From papers to conference proposals, from letters to grant proposals, this demand can be intense and might cause you moments of panic or writer's block. But, don't despair, your colleagues are there too! I wanted to take time to discuss some of the strategies that different scholars apply to their own writing to be as effective and efficient as possible even under pressure.

Working it out in your head
One long-time, well-funded, and well-published Professor I spoke to described how he would spend weeks thinking about what he was going to write in a grant proposal. He would work out the kinks and the logical flow of his proposal in his head, taking long walks to think things through, and sorting and developing his thoughts on his way to and from campus. After mentally processing his research project for weeks, he would finally sit down and write out a nearly complete draft. He would make small tweaks after he'd written it, but the processing of his ideas had already happened in his head. He finally knew what he wanted to write and wrote it.

Writing it out on your computer
While thinking through your project or your writing is certainly a useful strategy, there are others. ORDE held a seminar last week on Writing Your Project Overview. Dr. Chris Phiel, an Associate Professor in Integrative Biology, served as our faculty expert. He walked us through his process of developing his proposal, which, for him, coincided with the development of his research project. Dr. Phiel showed us iterations of his Specific Aims for an NIH proposal where he had seven unique drafts of his Specific Aims page. His Specific Aims changed in many of the drafts. In one he'd removed a specific aim entirely; in the next, he'd developed a new specific aim. Through this process, Dr. Phiel was using his writing as a tool to think through and process his research project. He was considering what the reviewers would want to see and what they would question to continue to hone the Specific Aims until it portrayed his goals and his project in a way that aligned with the sponsor's goals.

Outlining
Some folks fall somewhere in between processing in their head and using drafting and revising as a tool. If you're someone who likes to sit down and free write without having thought everything through beforehand, you often have significant work to do in trying to revise and reorganize your writing after you've typed a stream of consciousness. If it's difficult for you to then step back and understand how to approach re-working a very rough draft, you might benefit from using an outline. Whether you've drafted or not, outlining your writing can serve as an anchor for your thought. Outlining is really creating a plan for your writing; you decide where it's best to make what arguments and how you can most effectively build your case. If you're working on a proposal, you likely already have the required sections and headings outlined in the Program Announcement, so use those to create mini-outlines for each section that best meet the criteria by which reviewers will review you.

Conceptualizing
Depending on the type of thinker you are, you might also benefit from trying to map out your thoughts. Try creating a conceptual diagram of your project or try mind-mapping your project or your writing before you start to organize it. Mind-mapping can allow you to make connections between your ideas more organically that can crystallize the right flow for the case you're making in your writing.

Certainly, you know what works for you, but if you haven't ever tried any other tools, you may find that when you're feeling stuck in your writing, using a different approach might unstick you. Happy writing!

Resources:
16 Easy Ways to Improve Your Writing Skills - Wordstream
How to Improve Writing Skills in 15 Easy Steps - Grammarly