Hosted by Anna Clemens, PhD, this podcast is for all researchers in the sciences who want to write clear, concise and compelling papers time-efficiently so you ...
Episode 13 - Academic planning with a modified Bullet Journal Method
Welcome back to another episode of the podcast! Today I want to show you how to plan your writing and really your entire day with pen and paper, and how to have any notes you take during your workday, all in one place!
I know that digital project management systems are super popular right now and at the very least, you probably use digital calendar and maybe you’ve also tried Trello, Clickup, Asana, Notion or something else to keep your life, work and writing organised.
But if you’re a pen-and-paper person the barrier to using a digital system might be either too high or the digital tools you tried didn’t stick. If that’s you, then my Pen-and-Paper Planning Method may be ideal for you! Because honestly, post-its all over the office are not the solution!
My Pen-and-Paper Planning Method that I’m sharing today is inspired by and developed from “The Bullet Journal Method” by Ryder Carroll. It’s a method that many of you probably have heard of but before you outright reject it, let me tell you it’s not about designing journals with stickers, gel pens and sketches. The method is super powerful and you can do it with just one pen and no artistic skills.
With the Pen-and-Paper Planning Method you will have one journal that stores everything in one place: project management for all papers you are working on, your publication pipeline, your yearly and quarterly plans, daily, weekly and monthly tasks as well as space for journaling and meeting and literature notes.
Timestamps:
(02:45) About the Bullet Journal Method
(04:04) What you need to get started
(06:34) Organising your new notebook
(07:25) Structuring your Table of Contents
(08:06) Defining your symbols
(10:17) Your yearly vision and goals
(11:28) Your Publication Pipeline
(14:14) Your preview of the year
(15:30) Project plans for your papers
(17:43) Your monthly overview
(21:23) Your weekly plan
(26:21) Daily pages
(33:22) Yearly reflection
(36:35) Tips for your journal
The Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Caroll:
https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-bullet-journal-method-track-the-past-order-the-present-design-the-future/12079309?ean=9780525533337
My favorite Leuchtturm notebooks: https://www.leuchtturm1917.com/notebooks/
Podcast host: Anna Clemens, PhD
Video and audio editing: Jason Rivera
Join our free training to learn more about the Journal Publication Formula at researcherswritingpodcast.com/free. Get tips on how to work with co-authors, manage your writing process, and increase your chances of getting published in top-tier journals.
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Episode 12 - How I became an academic writing coach
This episode is about something I’m not super comfortable talking about, myself! Despite this, whenI do share about myself, I usually get a lot of response and interest surrounding what I do and how I got here in this career.
So today I’m bringing you behind the scenes to tell you more about my journey from being a PhD student in Chemistry to becoming an academic writing coach and running an academic writing program.
Whether you just found me or have been following me for years, this might be a great episode to listen to and get to know me better and put all of my advice into context!
In this episode, I’ll talk about:
Timestamps:
(02:00) About present-day me and the Researchers’ Writing Academy
(04:45) My academic background
(07:04) Lacking support/guidance in academia
(09:55) My relationship with writing during my PhD
(12:20) Career path after finishing my PhD
(15:25) Lessons learned editing other researchers’ papers
(19:35) Offering 1:1 coaching and writing workshops
(20:35) Starting the Researchers’ Writing Academy
(23:08) Listener question: I’m writing my first paper. Where do I start?
Podcast host: Anna Clemens, PhD
Video and audio editing: Jason Rivera
Go to researcherswritingpodcast.com/free to learn about the Journal Publication Formula, the backbone of the Researchers’ Writing Academy, that gives you a roadmap on how to publish in top-tier journals in a time-efficient way.
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Episode 11 - How to write the Introduction section of your research paper
Thanks for tuning in for another episode of the Researchers’ Writing Podcast!
I often ask researchers which section they find hardest to write and the section that is named most often is the Introduction section!
I hear things like “My introductions are very long and generic and I end up with lots of references.” or “I find it difficult to write succinct paragraphs.” or “I overexplain and my Introductions are loooooong.”
I think a lot of researchers aren’t using the Introduction section effectively and so that’s why today I want to talk you through the 7 mistakes I find scientific authors make when writing the Introduction section for their research paper.
In this episode, I’ll talk about:
(02:10) What researchers struggle with in Introduction sections
(04:35) Mistake 1: Not including the element of tension
(09:25) Mistake 2: The Introduction section is too long
(14:00) Mistake 3: The paragraphs are too long
(16:40) Mistake 4: The sentences are too long
(20:05) Free writing training at researcherswritingpodcast.com/free
(21:05) Mistake 5: The first sense of your Introduction section is boring
(23:50) Mistake 6: There’s no flow in your Introduction section
(26:40) Mistake 7: Using too many synonyms in your Introduction section
(31:08) Listener question: Are longer or shorter blocks of writing time better?
Podcast host: Anna Clemens, PhD
Video and audio editing: Jason Rivera
Join our free training to learn more about the Journal Publication Formula at researcherswritingpodcast.com/free. Get tips on how to write every section of your paper and increase your chances of getting published in top-tier journals.
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Episode 10 - "The best decision I could ever have made for my PhD" - Case study with Geetika Chauhan
In this episode, I’m talking to Geetika Chauhan who is a PhD student at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw and a member of the Researchers’ Writing Academy. Geetika works in the field of geophysics and joined the Academy because, as she told me, both she and her PI got fed up when she was on the tenth draft of her first journal article with no end in sight.
After she joined our academic writing program she started with a fresh draft and after just two rounds of revisions and two months’ work in total, her PI approved and submitted the paper.
Geetika talks about how she was concerned that this course would just join the pile of other online courses she had bought and never looked at. But how – once she was a member – she was surprised by the engaged community, which helped her to actually take and implement the course.
(01:10) Introducing Geetika Chauhan
(03:20) Geetika’s struggles before joining the Researchers’ Writing Academy (RWA)
(06:01) Geetika’s concerns before she joined the program
(07:45) What helped keep Geetika engaged and committed to the program
(10:32) Free training for researchers (go to researcherswritingpodcast.com/free)
(12:18) How Geetika’s feelings Geetika around writing have changed
(14:22) Geetika’s favourite part of the RWA
Podcast host: Anna Clemens, PhD
Video and audio editing: Jason Rivera
If you’re interested to join the Researchers’ Writing Academy and learn how to develop a structured writing process to get published in top-tier journals time-efficiently, then I highly recommend watching my free writing training as the first step at: researcherswritingpodcast.com/free.
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Episode 9 - 6 practical techniques to supercharge your motivation to take an academic writing course
Welcome back! This is part 3 of our 3-part mini-series on making time to take an academic writing course.
In part 1 of the series (Episode 7), we talked about looking at deeper reasons (limiting beliefs and unhelpful stories you tell yourself) for why you’re not making time to take a writing course. In part 2 (Episode 8), we looked at actionable strategies you can employ today to carve out time to take a writing course.
In this part 3 of the series, we are going to look at practical techniques that will help you supercharge your motivation once you enrolled in a writing course such as the Researchers’ Writing Academy. You’ll get more out of any course that you signed up using these motivation-boosting techniques and also it will also be way more fun!
Thank you to all the Researchers’ Writing Academy members who let me share their examples and experiences in this episode. Good luck with getting your whole brain aligned and making time and freeing up energy to take a writing course!
In this episode, I’ll talk about:
(01:00) Recap of part 1 and part 2 of this series
(02:55) Technique #1: Keep your “why” top of mind
(06:05) Technique #2: Incorporate learning into existing routine (habit stacking)
(11:50) Technique #3: Stack taking lessons with writing
(13:23) Free writing training at researcherswritingpodcast.com/free
(14:20) Technique #4: Accountability and community
(19:58) Technique #5: Dedicate a notebook to the course
(22:46) Technique #6: Turn taking the course into a ritual
(29:29) Listener question: Can I use the Journal Publication Formula for writing my dissertation?
Podcast host: Anna Clemens, PhD
Video and audio editing: Jason Rivera
And if you’re ready to invest your time and energy into acquiring the skill of writing papers for top-tier journals time-efficiently, then I highly recommend checking out my free writing training: researcherswritingpodcast.com/free.
Hosted by Anna Clemens, PhD, this podcast is for all researchers in the sciences who want to write clear, concise and compelling papers time-efficiently so you can publish your research in a calm and steady way. In this podcast, we talk both about how we can write higher quality papers and how to make the process of writing less hard.
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