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Writing to understand: A personal tale of my journey to become an academic...
I really love writing. I absolutely do. But hasn’t always been like this. As a child, I actually did not like writing very much. Two factors influenced my enjoyment for the actual process. First, my...
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A typology of academic (daily) work: “runway work”, “grunt work” and...
The other day, on Twitter I wrote a thread trying to think through my own ideas about a potential classification or typology of work. Like I normally do with anything that is scholarly, I write about...
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How to write the introductory chapter to a thesis or doctoral dissertation
This 2020 is weird in many ways. Several of my students are finishing up their degrees within the context of a global pandemic (COVID-19). But because the world was set up for degree and thesis...
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Writing the dissertation (thesis) II: Getting started and progress/project...
As I write this series of blog posts on writing the thesis/dissertation, I get serious flashbacks of the period when I had to write my doctoral dissertation. The funny thing is, I have also had...
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On the importance of routine in academic writing
Because of the pandemic, I am now shuttling between Aguascalientes (where I live) and Leon (where my parents live). Any kind of inter-city movement should be stressful enough. What keeps me more or...
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Organizing work/school-related digital files
A professor from the Global South emailed me to ask if I would consider writing a blog post on best practices to maintain an organized set of folders for students. To be perfectly honest with you, I...
View ArticleCreating tables and diagrams to describe theoretical, conceptual, and...
Doctoral supervisors (and often, editors!) will ask you to create a conceptual, theoretical and/or analytical framework for your book, dissertation, chapter, or journal article. This is a good idea. I...
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An expansive framework to go from idea to abstract to introduction to table...
Because I’ve been thinking about research all the time over the past few years (the mechanics and strategies of doing research, different methods to frame, design and answer a research question, how to...
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Writing a Response-To-Reviewers-And-Editors letter
I’ve admitted this clearly from day 1: I ALWAYS HAVE A TERRIBLE TIME DEALING WITH REVISE-AND-RESUBMIT MANUSCRIPTS. Yes, I know that Dr. Sara Mitchell would say “R&R is the goal”, but still, it’s SO...
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A few structured strategies that we can use to craft paragraphs
Reviewing my students’ theses, and talking with them about their writing processes, they always tell me that they find crafting and constructing paragraphs very challenging. This is not unusual....
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The September 2020 #AICCSED Reading, Annotating and Systematizing Challenge
I need to stay on top of several literatures and finish several papers, yet I have caved to the “I am too overwhelmed with teaching” reality. So in order to force myself to spend some time every...
View ArticleBird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (Anne Lamott) – my...
It took me about however long it took me to FINALLY buy and read Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. People have recommended Bird by Bird to me (particularly the Shitty...
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The Writer’s Practice: Building Confidence in your Nonfiction Writing (John...
I have written before about how I believe that writing is a craft and an art. Writing solid prose requires technique, inspiration and knowledge of the subject matter. Learning how to write is a process...
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How to develop a writing practice I: Read “Writing Practice Developmental Books”
A couple of nights ago, I wrote about the entire concept of “developing a writing practice”. From that thread, I derived two sub-themes: the first one can be defined as “which books do I need to read...
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How to develop a writing practice II: 12 tips to help you start, develop and...
In a previous post, I indicated that one of the best ways to develop a writing practice was to read volumes that worked as workbooks, teaching readers how to write and how to gradually learn the craft...
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Syllabus: The Remarkable, Unremarkable Document That Changes Everything...
If you’ve been reading my blog for a very long time you probably know that I have written quite a lot about syllabus-writing. I also have written about Dr. William Germano’s other books (“From...
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Writing papers using Initial Outlines and Detailed Outlines
Because of the COVID19 pandemic, I’ve had more time (and concentration) to write despite my heavy teaching load (which I hope will not repeat itself ever in my entire life). This Fall term (and this...
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How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and...
Anybody who follows me on Twitter or reads my blog will know that I am absolutely smitten with index cards. I have taken notes in index cards for decades, and I still do it. I loved index cards as a...
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Expanding Detailed Outlines into Memorandums and those into Full Manuscripts
As most of you all know, I’ve been teaching research methods, research design and academic writing for a while now. My students ALWAYS, literally ALWAYS ask me the question: “How do I go from having...
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On the benefits of online writing groups
My life changed right about March of 2020. Well, yes, there’s that pesky thing called a lethal global pandemic, SARS-CoV2, that also changed the lives of absolutely everyone on this planet. But I also...
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