My students got 5+ research papers accepted last year.
Simply because they follow my 5 little-known writing tips.
Implement these now to publish twice as many papers next year:
1. Don't start your paper by writing.
It's counterintuitive.
The best way to start writing an academic paper:
Outline your story.
Then, create bullet points under each section outlined.
Now, fill in the gaps and expand.
2. Break the paper into manageable chunks.
Don't feel overwhelmed by this giant project.
Break it down.
RW → check if RQ is valid with refs.
Method → Experimental design
Results → Methods guide this structure.
Discussion→ RW guides this
Intro → Why it all matters
3. Tell a story (but ask which story you should tell).
When you outline your paper, start by sketching a storyboard.
The story is usually about your knowledge transformation.
How it transformed from the unknown to the known.
How did you facilitate this transformation?
4. Make better writing time estimates.
Writing always takes longer than you think.
Allow 4x as much time as you believe you'll need.
Keep track of your time so you can improve this in the future.
5. Set internal deadlines together.
Decide together on deadlines with your co-authors.
Make sure you stay on track with your writing process.
Everyone benefits from having deadlines.
It's the best way to take responsibility.
And get your best writing done.
TL; DR: 5 little-known writing tips
1. Don't start your paper by writing.
2. Break the paper into manageable chunks.
3. Tell a story (but ask which story you should tell)
4. Make better writing time estimates.
5. Set internal deadlines together.
Did you get value out of this thread?
Consider joining my CHI paper writing newsletter.
acagamic.com/writing-newsletter