Clik here to view.
My #AcWri Strategies: Write reflective memos
A number of scholars have asked me what do I meant by a “reflective memo” in my previous post, so I figured I should probably post an example. This is a specific memo on a reading, and I will post a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Binge-writing vs writing two hours every day
Last night I submitted a book chapter I had committed to finishing before August 14th. Actually, I had promised I would have sent it sometime in July. Nevertheless, I didn’t think about the fact that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
On the power of ethnography in public policy research
I was going to write this blog post a long time ago, every since Ryan Briggs (Virginia Tech) alerted me to these posts by Tom Pepinsky (Cornell University), Ken Opalo (Stanford University) and Chris...
View ArticleClik here to view.
#MyAcWriStrategies: Write first, edit later, and edit by hand
Perhaps the weirdest thing about the way in which I conduct research and I write is that I find that the old-fashioned way works best. For me, doing everything online (on the screen) doesn’t work. I am...
View ArticleClik here to view.
On the need of slow scholarship: Towards a new paradigm of research
The “slow everything” movements (slow water, slow food, slow blogging) have become popular in recent years, largely as a response to the excessive speed at which we lead our lives nowadays. Given that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Online resources to help students summarize journal articles and write...
The courses I teach tend to be very practical and applied. My teaching philosophy is founded on helping my students acquire employable skills. Writing solid, robust, concise and easy-to-read analytical...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Highlighting and note-taking on journal articles as engagement
As I’ve made it clear in most of my academic writing blog posts, I do things the old-fashioned way. This means that I’m a fan of printing out journal articles and writing on the margins, or making...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Organizing PDFs of journal articles, book and book chapters
As any regular reader of my research blog knows, I’m obsessive (and compulsive) when it comes to organizing. Organization is what makes my brain work properly. I schedule my life in very rigid ways,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Color-coding your highlighting when reading articles and book chapters
One of the skills that needs to be in undergraduate and graduate students’ portfolios (and even post-PhD folks) is the ability to read, analyze, synthesize and then produce summaries of the research...
View ArticleClik here to view.
On the need for reflection in academic writing
Three weeks ago, I submitted a grant proposal for a project that would require four researchers (me and 3 others) to engage in a water conflicts project. I wrote the grant proposal in basically, three...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Working at my home office vs working at my campus office
A few weeks back, Ingrid Delavigne on Twitter asked me about my thoughts on working at my home office vis-a-vis working at my campus office. @raulpacheco You might have already written about this, but...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What counts as academic writing? #AcWri
Anybody who reads my research blog and/or follows me on Twitter knows that I have very specific approaches to writing. Because I need a disciplined approach to life, I do things like the following: I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
My daily workflow: Breaking down the work in accomplish-able tasks
I won’t lie: I used to be the kind of guy who would write endless, long To-Do lists. I would list EVERYTHING I need to do. At first, it felt like I was being thorough. “Here is ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
My own workflow: Strategically reading and summarizing the literature
I remember when I was doing my PhD I wanted to Read All The Things. This was particularly true during my very first year, when I started preparing for my comprehensive exams. I was (and in many ways,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How to respond to reviewer comments: The Drafts Review Matrix
As I have been sharing my academic workflow with my blog readers, I realized that much of what I have been writing may be of help not only to PhD and Masters’ students, or early career scholars...
View ArticleMy #PMRC2016 talk on how to #GetYourManuscriptOut
This post contains my slide deck for today’s talk at the Public Management Research Conference 2016 special session on “How To Get Your Work Published and Read”, chaired by Dr. Staci Zavattaro...
View ArticleClik here to view.
My Everything Notebook – planning my research and writing output
I have very odd methods of doing things, I recognize this. I don’t follow anybody’s “time management system”. I adopted many of the tips that are now praised in the methodologies that “Getting Things...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Keeping yourself motivated: The Quick Wins method
One of the issues I struggle with the most is motivation. I am organized, I keep all my plans, schedules, notes, fieldwork scribbles in my Everything Notebook, but sometimes I feel like I have so much...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Writing effective memorandums
One of the challenges I face when teaching my students how to write effective memos (memoranda, memorandums) is that I have developed my own method of memo-writing after reading dozens of books, book...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Editing a research paper
I was asked to write about tips for editing a research paper, since my Academic Writing and Literature Review posts seem to be quite popular. I have to confess that I don’t have any particularly...
View Article