Category Archives: Writing Guides

How to write from home

If you need to write from home or in a new or unfamiliar environment, you might find it challenging to stay focused. This guide suggests ways to help you maintain focus and improve your productivity when writing at home. In this guide I refer to ‘writing sessions’. These are activities planned in advance, last for a certain period of time and during which you only write, rewrite or edit.

1. Create a Zone of Silence

The principles of creating a Zone of Silence at home are similar to creating a zone of silence in your workplace. The rules of the Zone of Silence are that you:

Work in an area that is devoted to writing.
Only work on one project at a time.
Only have access to the writing and reading materials needed for your current project.
Turn off your access to the internet and telephone.
Limit any unnecessary interruptions and distractions.

Although these conditions may be hard to meet at home, the following suggestions may also help you follow these rules:

Complete all internet-based research before you start your writing sessions.
Wear headphones and listen to background or instrumental music while writing.
Choose times to write when your house or apartment is empty or quiet.
If you normally write with a desktop computer, occasionally try switching to writing with a laptop; you may then find it easier to confine yourself to smaller writing-devoted areas.

2. Turn writing into a habit

When you regularly repeat a task, it takes gradually takes less motivation to start and complete this task.

Try setting up a writing routine by planning regular writing sessions, either daily or every second day. However, don’t be too optimistic when setting time limits for your writing sessions. It can be difficult to turn writing into a habit if you think you need to set aside large blocks of time before you can write (e.g. a full day or 2-3 days in a row), so establish a writing routine by starting small. Shorter tasks are easier to complete and are less likely to be put off.

First allocate short writing sessions, e.g. 15-minute duration. As you develop your routine, gradually increase your time limit to 60-minutes per writing session. Allocate longer sessions if appropriate or if working to a deadline.

Don’t be too harsh on yourself if you skip some days while developing your routine. Don't let the fact that you’ve skipped a few days be an excuse for avoiding further attempts to establish a routine.

3. Get started by reviewing your previous draft

Getting started is a common problem no matter where you write. One suggestion is to routinely begin each writing session by first reviewing what you wrote during your last writing session. Refreshing your thinking about what you were working on previously may make it easier to start writing. But first print out your previous draft instead of just viewing it on screen, then edit it with a pen. Periodically printing out your document makes it easy to view your draft in its entirety which is difficult to do via a computer screen. When you finish each writing session, print out your final version, so you have physical evidence of your writing progress and are ready for your next session.

4. Find a writing buddy

A writing buddy is someone you might work or study with who also needs to write regularly. A writing buddy is someone who reads your writing and gives you feedback and in return you read their writing and give them feedback. You can email documents to each other and critique each other's work for clarity or complete general editing or proofreading.

You might find that committing to swap editing and feedback will help you be more productive and to create regular writing routines. You might also want to schedule regular catch-ups to discuss your work, either face-to-face or through online meeting platforms.

Remember…

Avoid creating unrealistic expectations on how much writing you can do in an unfamiliar environment. It is unrealistic to expect that we can be super-productive writing machines that can write anything, anywhere and at any time. Aim to write in intensive pre-organised, short blocks of time in an environment that is as comfortable and distraction-free as possible.

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How to build and maintain confidence as a writer

Why is it crucial to develop confidence?

If writing is central to your profession, it is crucial to build and maintain confidence in yourself as a writer. Being confident about your writing is being able to:

rely on yourself to regularly produce high-quality material
concentrate on creating and developing new ideas and solutions to new and existing problems, instead of worrying about whether your writing is good enough
consider writing as a tool rather than a chore
find writing enjoyable and rewarding

If you are committed to improving your writing, then your self-confidence will build as your writing improves. No matter how you feel about your current level of skill, commit to continual self-improvement and aim to feel satisfied with what you have achieved so far. This is what I do.

Realise that writing consists of separate tasks

Rather than considering writing as one discrete task, identify the different activities associated with writing and review how proficient you are at each one. Then work on improving each task separately. For example:

Getting started
Conceiving and developing ideas
Word choice: Choosing the right words to say what you mean
Phrase construction: Choosing the right group of words to say what you mean
Clause and sentence construction: Expressing ideas concisely, logically and coherently
Paragraph construction: Linking ideas in a logical order and developing a stand-alone story
Developing an argument: Identifying different viewpoints and effectively stating your case
Forming unique conclusions: Outlining your contribution to your discipline

Be kind to yourself

It is important to critique your writing and identify what can be improved, but avoid harshly criticising yourself.

(Everyone knows this but…) Be realistic about the time it takes to write

The time needed to complete a document is always underestimated. You need to allocate sufficient time to write regularly. Be realistic when working out how much time is needed to write. Make sure you plan your writing before you start. Avoid work procrastination.

Never compare yourself to others

Only compare your current level of skill to your past level of skill. Regularly look back at your past work and identify how your skills have improved. Observe how far your skills has progressed and allow yourself to feel satisfied with any improvement, no matter how small. Identify areas that need further improvement and allow yourself to gain confidence from your ability to identify what needs improving. An important part of skill development is getting better at recognising what needs improvement.

There are many ways to improve your writing

Identify the ways you can learn to improve your writing; for example, resources, books, blogs, writing workshops, online courses or one-on-one coaching assistance.

Get regular feedback

Always ask colleagues for feedback. Always. But make sure that you critique the feedback you receive, as not all of it may be useful or correct. Avoid taking any constructive criticism personally and avoid seeking feedback from those who regularly deliver overly-harsh criticism or tend to only give you praise.

Find a mentor or a colleague who can regularly give you constructive feedback. Join a writing group and share drafts with each other for peer-feedback and community support.

Blog

Set up a blog. Even if it is on a topic unrelated to science writing. Find a type of writing or topic that you really enjoy. Any type of writing will help improve your science writing skills, especially if you blog regularly.

Break through writer’s block

Use the tools that help break through writer’s block. Regularly having problems getting started may add to a lack of confidence. One quick and easy way of getting your thoughts down for a first draft is to record yourself speaking about your topic. Most smart phones and tablets have voice recognition software that can easily record or transcribe your speech.

Keep a portfolio (or library) of everything you complete

Keep a record of everything you produce. Create hard-copy portfolios of all your documents and include a table of contents with dates and titles. These portfolios can serve as a physical reminder of your productivity. Write one-page summaries of all completed projects in plain English with an eye-catching photo or diagram, and a good title. These one-page project summaries can be used to promote yourself and can also be prepared as a portfolio to show prospective employers.

Build confidence from your ability to learn

Remember that writing is like any other task with obstacles to overcome. Although it takes time for to become proficient at any skill, you can still be confident about your ability to learn.

Keep going

Keep writing, keep putting your work in front of an audience and keep getting feedback.

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The Essentials of Sentence Structure

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How to identify your target audience

When we write, we write about something (the topic) in a certain format (the document type) for a reader or group of readers (the audience). Deciding what we are writing about and what type of document to prepare is usually straightforward for most writers. However, deciding who we are writing for is not always thoroughly considered. To a large degree, the audience of a document is determined by the type of document and the subject matter but unless researchers and other science writers have a background in marketing, the concept of identifying and catering to a target audience might not be a high priority.

DOWNLOAD THE INFOGRAPHIC '6 ways to identify and cater to your target audience'

What is your focus?

A document is not simply a receptacle for words, it is a tool of communication that should perform a service for readers. Thinking about who will read our document or what they might want from our document, is something that writers might avoid if they are author-focused or project-focused. Author-focused writers have discoveries, data, knowledge and information that they need to share and primarily concentrate on getting their document published. Project-focused writers key motivation is to satisfy project, organisation, company or client objectives. Audience-focused writers design their document according to the needs of the target audience, while still satisfying their own needs as an author and addressing project and client objectives.

Decide exactly what you want to do for your audience

Unless catering to a target audience is a central objective, your document may lack some of the fundamentals of good document design. Spending the time deciding exactly what you want to do for your audience, rather than simply delivering information, will help you fine-tune the content and the design of your document.

Problems caused by not understanding your target audience

Common writing problems often reflect that a writer has not thoroughly considered who their audience is or what they need. This can cause the following problems:

- providing too much (or not enough) detail or background information

- providing too much detail on unrelated sub-topics or on a well-known topic

- using the wrong language or unfamiliar terminology

- assuming the audience’s level of interest in, or understanding of, the topic

One common mistake in science and academic writing is assuming your audience will know your topic nearly as well as you do. The problem with this assumption is that crucial background information and explanation of fundamental concepts may be omitted. Authors of research papers will often make this assumption deliberately if they are writing about a specialised topic. Yet even in these cases, it is not a good habit to omit important background information and project details that are necessary for the reader to understand the context of the research.

Get feedback

It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that writing is simply delivering information if you are a solo writer, if you are inexperienced or if you don’t get regular feedback on your writing. If you do get regular feedback, it might not be enough if you only get feedback from people who know your topic well as you do; your colleagues or supervisors may ensure you write a scientifically-accurate document but anyone overly-familiar with your topic may not realise that what you’ve written is not clearly written or easy to read.

There are three different types of audiences to consider

An audience is a collective group of readers and for most purposes we need to think about our readers as a group and generalise about what qualities they have. I define three types of audience for most documents: the target audience, the secondary audience and the tertiary audience. For an example of this definition, refer to the diagram below that outlines the hypothetical audiences for an ecological research paper.

Your target audience is your intended audience. They are the group of readers that you want to read your document or you expect will read your document. These are the people you are designing your document for. Your target audience should understand everything you write. Some examples are research scientists writing peer-reviewed papers for their peers, students writing assignments for their lecturers or consultants writing reports for clients.

Your secondary audience are those people who still want, or need, to read your document but may have different education backgrounds or work within a different discipline to your target audience. For example, the secondary audience of an ecological research paper might be scientists from other disciplines, or other people interested in your topic or your project outcomes; for example, land managers, farmers, conservationists, journalists, science educators or students. Your secondary audience may not be thoroughly familiar with your topic but still has a strong or vested interest in your projects’ outcomes. However, it is not possible to cater to both your target audience and your secondary audience with the same document. You cannot cater to the secondary audience as you would need to provide too much detail or instruction, making it tiring for the target audience to read, or worse make the target audience feel the document is not designed for them.

You cannot explain everything for your secondary audience but you can help them navigate your document by defining your key terms and ensuring your main aim and findings are abundantly clear.

Your tertiary audience are people who will directly or indirectly benefit or be affected by your work in some way but will not read your document themselves; they will learn about your work either through the secondary or target audience of your document. Because your tertiary audience won’t be reading your document, it is crucial for you to ensure your key messages are abundantly clear so they are not mis-interpreted or mis-represented.

Key ways to identify and cater for your target audience

Think about who your readers are and whether they fit into either of the three audience categories, then focus on how to cater for the target audience. Some factors to consider:
Who will want or need to read your document? What reasons do they have for reading your document?
Who will be interested in your topic and key findings? Why will they be interested in reading your document? If they are not already interested, how do you attract them?
What is their occupation, expertise, background or level of education?
Will they be able to understand all parts of your document? If not, include sufficient detail and explanation to ensure that they do or assign them to your secondary audience.
What people need to read your document
What task(s) will your document perform for them?
How they will find out about your document?
How will they access your document?

DOWNLOAD THE INFOGRAPHIC: 6 ways to identify and cater for your target audience

Once you have clearly mapped out who you are writing to and how you will cater to them. If appropriate, ask someone from your target audience to give you feedback on a late draft of your document. You might find there are some important aspects you still need to consider.

Remember:

Do not assume your readers know everything you do.
Understand there are different types of audiences who may read your document.
Always define your key terms and explain your key concepts.
If appropriate, ask someone from your target audience for feedback on a late draft of you rdocument.

Any suggestions or comments please email info@writingclearscience.com.au

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How to be an Efficient Science Writer

The Essentials of Sentence Structure

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