Writing Tips to Get Your Manuscript Out

Some tips that I gave during my talk at the Public Management Research Conference in Aarhus, Denmark, June 23rd, 2016.

Transcript

1. 1
   Writing Tips for Doctoral Students, Early
   Career Scholars and Busy Professors:
   Getting Your Manuscript Out
   Dr. Raul Pacheco-Vega
   Public Administration Division
   Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE)
   Public Management Research Conference 2016
   Aarhus, Denmark, June 23, 2016
   

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2. Challenges facing most academics…
   Images: © Jorge
   Cham, PhDComics
   

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3. Writing more vs. Writing smart
   My suggestions to my own doctoral students are
   predicated around three main topics:
   1. Writing as discipline
   2. Writing as method
   3. Writing as self-reflection and self-care
   

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4. Who am I?
   

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5. My Top 10 Academic Writing Tips (1/2)
   1. Be disciplined and write every day.
   2. Give yourself the best tools to write.
   3. Write as you would speak (aka read aloud what you just
   wrote).
   4. Have other people read your pieces to provide you with
   feedback.
   5. Read a lot, and read across different disciplines.
   

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6. My Top 10 Academic Writing Tips (2/2)
   6. Write for your audience.
   7. Write without interruptions
   8. Take care of yourself.
   9. Practice your writing. Write a lot.
   10. When stuck, write by hand.
   

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7. Reading will help you write…
   • Reading a journal
   article in the morning
   (with your coffee?) 
   • Read-as-you-write
   (summarize your
   readings)
   

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8. Write to explain things
   • Answer questions (each
   paragraph/section
   answers a question)
   • Reverse outlines help
   

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9. Write around your data
   • Paragraph before the
   graph:
   • What will the data
   table/graph tell you?
   • Why is it important?
   • Paragraph after the
   graph
   • What the data
   • What are the most
   important elements of
   dataset?
   • Limitations of analysis
   

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10. Helpful links from my own blog
    Responding to reviewer comments
    http://www.raulpacheco.org/2016/06/how-to-respond-to-reviewer-
    comments-the-drafts-review-matrix/
    Synthesizing different bodies of literature
    http://www.raulpacheco.org/2016/06/synthesizing-different-bodies-of-
    work-in-your-literature-review-the-conceptual-synthesis-excel-dump-
    technique/
    Searching for the literature
    http://www.raulpacheco.org/2016/06/how-to-do-a-literature-review-
    citation-tracing-concept-saturation-and-results-mind-mapping/
    Writing a full paper in 8 steps
    http://www.raulpacheco.org/2016/04/8-tips-to-write-a-research-paper-
    from-start-to-finish-relatively-quick-and-easy/
    

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11. Raul.Pacheco-Vega@cide.edu
    http://www.raulpacheco.org
    @raulpacheco (Twitter)
    Dr. Raul Pacheco-Vega
    

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