4. Noah’s Story
Now let's follow Noah's and Angela's story.
Noah has arrived in the UK for a year. He has been suffering from toothache but he hasn’t been to a dentist for years. He has been using alcohol for the pain. The toothache has got worse and became unbearable, so he decided to see the dentist.
Watch this video to follow Noah's story.
Transcript
Background: Refugee Noah is at a dental surgery speaking to a dentist
Dr. Patel: Hi Noah, I am your dentist Dr. Patel, please have a seat and tell me about your teeth.
Noah: OK. I have been having pain on the left side of my mouth for a while. I think the pain comes from the broken tooth at the back of my mouth. When I touch it I can feel it wobbling.
Dr. Patel: When was the first time you experienced pain in your mouth?
Noah: Ah, About 2 years ago.
Dr. Patel: Did you see a dentist for the pain?
Noah: No I didn’t go to a dentist. I think it would cost a lot to see a dentist and I thought it was nothing serious. Then it got worse and worse overtime. There were nights when I couldn’t sleep because I was in so much pain. Eating became difficult too because of the pain.
Dr. Patel: Um... I hear that the pain has really affected your daily life. How did you cope with it on your own over the last 2 years?
Noah: Hmm... well I have tried different things but the only thing that helped was by drinking some sort of alcohol. When I drink enough the tooth doesn’t hurt.
Dr. Patel: Hmm... How long have you doing this for?
Noah: About a year.
Dr. Patel: Noah, there are other ways to help with the situation. Drinking alcohol might have numb the pain in short term but it doesn’t solve the problem, too much alcohol does a lot of damage to your body. Let me help you.
Dr. Patel: I am going to do a full examination of your oral health, then we can decided the next steps. When we finish, I will show you how you could clean your teeth properly and prescribe some painkillers for you. Does that sound good to you?
Noah: Ok. Thank you doctor.
[After examining Noah’s teeth Dr. Patel concluded that Noah needs a tooth extraction].
Dr. Patel: Noah, the tooth which is causing you pain is severely rotten it needs taking out.
Noah: Oh no! my tooth needs taking out? Will it be painful? Are they any ways to save my tooth?
Dr. Patel: Unfortunately, there are no other options, if this has been detected earlier maybe we could have repaired it. It might be painful now but in a couple of week the wound will heal and you won’t have to suffer from pain anymore.
Noah: OK.
[After taking the decayed tooth out].
Dr. Patel: When I was taking your tooth out I noticed a lump at the back of your mouth. How long have had this lump for?
Noah: I don’t know, I have never noticed it. Is that why I have been in so much pain?
Dr. Patel: At the stage I am not 100% sure what the lump is, I need to run some test to find out. Do you smoke or use tabacco at all? This includes smoking cigarettes, shisha, or chew betel nut. It may take a couple of day for results to come back.
[image of Noah looking worried].
Noah: Ok, what else can I do now?
Dr. Patel: Try to keep up with dental hygiene using toothbrush and dental floss. Please do come back for the follow up appointment so that I can help you.
[next screen in text]
Unfortunately Noah was diagnosed with mouth cancer. He will need long term treatment as the cancer was detected in the later stage. He has been attending regular check up and has paid more attention to his dental health since.
Dr. Grace Kangara
Listen to Dr. Grace Kangara
Hello, everyone. My name is Dr Grace Kangara. I am a social scientist and I’m currently a research fellow within the School of Biosciences at the University of Nottingham.
I am working on a GCRF funded Translation Award project, which is seeking to support policies in Zimbabwe to alleviate micronutrient deficiencies. I’ve been invited here today by Dr Haik, to just share a bit of my experiences with academic writing as an early cricket career researcher. So, I am very pleased to be sharing some of my challenges, which I encountered as an early writer and also as an early career researcher. So, I hope some of the experiences that I’m going to share and some of the challenges that I encountered as an early writer will enlighten you today and help you in your academic writing. So, to start with I’ve been asked to share some of my own challenges as an early career researcher with regards to academic writing.
So, I would say one of my biggest challenges which I used to have back in 2008 when I started my Master of Philosophy degree with the University of Zimbabwe was focusing my ideas, having coherent ideas. I remember one of my supervisors, my main supervisors at that time asking me what is your story? What you want to tell us? If I could put it in vernacular language, he would say… What do you want people to know? What you want your readers to get from this paper that you write? So, I would say at that time I would struggle with having coherent ideas and I was a wordy author. I would write so many things and maybe partly because the field that I am working in of micronutrient nutrition, is a field where there are so many agricultural technologies, innovations which are coming up and it’s evolving very quickly so there will be so many papers which have been published in agronomic biofortification, papers on the use of micronutrient fertilisers to improve grain nutritional quality of staple crops. And this is an area which has been research globally, worldwide, in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
So, there’s lots of information out there, and as an early writer, you’d want to read those papers and cite them and that usually ends you up with so much information, which is not coming up together. Sometimes you may miss your own point, what your own paper is looking at. So, I would like to say over the years, this has improved, but that was one of my biggest challenges. Even now, one of my mentors here at the University of Nottingham still says get your point, get your point, Grace. What are you saying? So I know this is something that takes time to grasp, that takes time to improve on, but I would like to say I used to have so many drafts back then. By the time I would get my paper submitted into a journal, I would have had maybe draft number five, six. So many drafts. But these days, I would like to say that has improved because I’ve had so much guidance, good guidance from my supervisors at the University of Zimbabwe and during my PhD from the University of Nottingham and from the British Geological Survey. So, that great team of supervisors really helped me to be a better writer and having so many drafts that you share with your supervisors, co-authors. It really helps with improving your ideas and coming up with a coherent paper. I hope that’s something you can learn that, share as many drafts as you can with your supervisors and your co-authors and the chances of that paper getting into a good journal and getting published are high.
Now getting onto the second question on tips with regards to academic writing tips, with regards to proposal writing, grant writing.
One of my top tips is time management. I would like to give an example of my first paper in 2011. It was targeted to a special issue, for a special issue, so there was very minimal time between the completion of the conference which was a conference on micronutrient nutrition and the deadline which was set by the journal to submit those papers from the conference. I remember it was just 2.5 months, or maybe three months at most so I really had to manage my time very well. I had to let my supervisors know that this is the deadline we are working with and time management was of the essence at that time. I had to make sure the draft has commented on and it was suitable for submission, so time management is of essence in academic writing, especially when you’re targeting a specific special issue journal. And sometimes in your PhD, you are supposed to published two papers and possibly your funding is for three years, or maybe for four years at most so time is not even on your side. You really have to manage your time very well. You have to manage it well and you can. So you manage your time well, and you submit your papers in time. I know the review process itself is a lengthy process but if you do play your own part managing your time well, you can accomplish most of those targets that you would have set for yourself and even those which would have been set by the funder. The funder tells you the grant is for three years, the project is for four years, so you need to manage your time very well so that you can meet the deadlines.
With regards to grant writing, before I move onto grant writing, let me first elaborate, give one more tip with regards to academic writing.
Having an outline of your paper is something that can really shorten your time between your first draft and submitting the paper for review for publication. So, you can have your outline, just a mini outline, maybe two pages or three pages, you just write your points, bullet points of the introduction, what you want to accomplish or to focus on in the introduction and then the materials and methods. That’s something you would already have, because you would already know what methods you are using and everything most of the time, so that you can, you can, just write them in full. But then your results, you can have mini caption saying Figure 1 will be working on this, Figure 1 will maybe represent rainfall which was received during that cropping season… Figure 2 will just present… not in full, but in bullet points. And then you can also have bullet points of your discussion and just bullet points of your conclusion and just share it with your supervisors. And as you share it, ideas start to come in and your supervisors start to share say maybe we don’t need to focus on this in this paper, maybe we just need to focus on this. And in that way you are already focusing your paper and I believe it addresses some of the challenges that I mentioned earlier of having lengthy paper or a wordy paper. You know what you have written is what you have agreed upon with your mentors, with your supervisors, with your co-authors. So, you know that this paper is focused already. What I’m writing here is what we agreed on, so you would not have a lengthy paper. So having an outline of your paper is important. It can shorten the time between your initial draft and the final draft, which you submit for review.
So, let me just touch a bit on writing grant proposals, coming up with a proposal to submit for a potential grant. I think it’s very important that you read the guidelines which are set by the funder, for example, the funder could say that ‘we are not funding desktops because we would like your institution to provide for desktops’. So, if you write a section in your budget which says you want to buy a desktop, be guaranteed for sure the funder is not going to fund that. They will just cross it out and reduce your budget by that amount that you would have requested. So, it’s important to be guided by the funder’s guidelines. As you write your proposal, stick to the guidelines. You don’t want your proposal to fall out during the initial screening phase because I would like to believe there are some proposals which fall out during the initial phase just because you didn’t adhere to the guidelines, the requirements which were set by the funder. So, I think that’s my last tip which I just wanted to give to everyone with regards to proposal writing. I hope you find these tips useful.
Here it is to a successful academic career. I wish you all the best, thank you.
Dr. Lucian Milasan
Listen to Dr. Lucian Milasan
Hello, my name is Lucian Milasan. I am a mental health lecturer and early career researcher at DeMontford University in Leicester. Academic writing is central to my work and I am quite happy to share a couple of my struggles with my academic writing, how I managed to overcome them, and then a couple of generic tips for writing for publication and writing grant applications.
In terms of struggles, the first thing that comes into my mind, is well, racing ideas. Once I sit down to write an article or a grant application, I sometimes find it difficult to keep up with my thoughts on a particular subjects. So, basically I think 100 times faster than I write which sometimes makes it difficult to articulate coherent ideas and put them down on paper.
The risk is modelled piece of writing which of course you can structure, re-draft and refine a bit later, but this proved to be very time-consuming so I adopted a more structured approach that is a bit closer to my visual learning style. I use mind maps, diagrams, visual aids in general. I use pen and paper – very colourful pens – paper that I can easily move around and play with. I’m also a very tactile person. So yes I can use these visual materials as aids for my writing which, seems to help me focus possibly because, as I tend to process images better than words most of the times.
The second struggle that I had for quite a long time with my academic writing was my language. As you can tell, English is not my first language so I have to admit that I was quite frustrated for a while when I was supposed to write academically, and the words just refused to come in English, which was a bit of a disaster at the time to be honest for a perfectionist like me. However, in time I managed to become more knowledgeable of the academic language by reading extensively – books, journal publications on a particular topic. So, I basically familiarised myself with the academic language. I taught my brain to think English and then the writing followed quite naturally. At the same time, I accepted my limitations and changed them into opportunities to be creative with language by creating expressions and using words in different ways beyond the clichés of language that you tend to get trapped into as a native speaker.
With regards to tips for writing for publication and this applies to writing grants applications as well, for me, collaborative writing was the key to success for publications. Although ‘too many cooks can spoil the broth’ as the saying goes. For me, this approach worked and continues to work quite well. However, I always find it very productive in a team to build on each other’s ideas, to develop ideas following brainstorming, getting that sense of coherence right, refining your contribution, but also the contribution of others. So yes it can be quite rewarding and motivating as well, as you become more accountable to others in the process.
Another tip that worked quite well for me was related to the space I used for writing. It’s essential what you write, when you write but also where you write. I always find it easier to write in different places, quiet places, possibly round the house or even in the back garden if the weather is nice. I know this goes against the advice to stick to your own writing space, your workstation or that dedicated space for writing, but I seem to get a fresh perspective on what I write whenever I change my environment. Even slight changes can help sometimes, freshen up my eyes and be more creative, or at least less bored with what I’m supposed to write.
Of course, I try my best to leave my academic brain at home when I go on holidays, but not my notebook in which I continue to write research ideas or anything that I could go back to and develop later. So yes, those would be my struggles with the tips on academic writing.
Thank you and good luck with your writing.
Dr. Nothando Dunjana
Listen to Dr. Nothando Dunjana
Hello, my name is Dr Nothando and I’d like to share my personal experiences with academic writing. I’ll begin by sharing what challenges me most, how I usually overcome that, and I’ll end by sharing a few tips of what works for me as a writer.
Number 1: I usually struggle with getting some feelings of anxiety right before I begin writing. This is because when I think of an academic piece of a paper, I’m thinking about the whole thing and I’m thinking about the amount of work that I’m supposed to put into writing that paper. So in order to do that, I’ll just get started with any part of the paper that seems easiest for me at that particular time. If I’ve got results then I’ll most start with the introduction. Maybe I’ll just start by reading my results and analysing them, and then write my paper from there.
The other thing that challenges me is writing the literature review. Literature review is quite a challenge for me because there’s so much information that is out there, and trimming it down so that I only get the information that is relevant to my study, is always tricky. So, what I do is if I’m reading around and doing my literature review, I’ll put down everything and anything that seems remotely related to my study, and at the end of the day I’ll end up with quite a thick literature review that I’ll start working on. I’ll begin trimming once it’s done, and I find that also works for me.
When it comes to what works for me as a writer, I’d say planning ahead about what I want to write on, works particularly well for me. I need to plan ahead what I’m want to be doing tomorrow or the day after tomorrow or even next week. If I look at a paper that I have to write, I have to decide tomorrow I’m going to be working on my paper but exactly which aspect of the paper am I going to be working on – is it the results, is it the introduction, or is it the discussion, so once I make up my mind what I’ll be tackling on particular day, it’s more part of the paper that I’ll be tackling on a particular day. Usually when I get to the office, I’ll start working on that rightaway and it works for me.
The other thing is I’ve started myself and I know when best I operate. Usually I need familiar settings for me to work best. It can be my office or it can be my study at home, so long as I’m within in that familiar setup, I will work. I cannot work in a café I’ve seen some people doing that; I cannot work maybe in airport lounge; I’ve seen some people do that. I need to be in the comfort of a familiar surroundings, in that way my mind is all set up to start working, and I always ensure that there are minimum distractions when I’m there, so that is how I write. That is all I have, thank you.
Temidayo Bankole,
Federal Polytechnic, Offa, Nigeria.
TWO THINGS I STRUGGLE WITH IN MY ACADEMIC WRITING
Getting enough, most relevant peer-reviewed journals online to read and review for the topic one is writing on.
Although, this issue might be particular to academics in developing countries like Nigeria. This is due to the fact that many of us do not have easy access to the sources (websites) of such journals and other related materials needed for our writing.
Most times, like many other academics in the developing African countries such as Nigeria, I make use of Google Scholar as the search engine used to source for journals needed. This is because most of the Institutions of Higher Learning where we work are not subscribing to the needed repositories of such materials. We also look for free websites and Open Access to some of such journals and other literature.
Getting necessary academic support and mentoring especially for up-coming Academics.
Sometimes, academic support such as getting someone to help in reading your draft, offering some observations and corrections are not easy to come by, as many academics are either very busy or not interested in your topic or title. This challenge makes it difficult for many in getting their academic writings e.g. Journal Articles, up to the required standard for acceptance. Related to this point is the cost of getting such academic write-ups published in reputable journals.
One of the ways we get around this difficulty is by looking for other interested academics to work with so that when more than one good head come together, a better result is often achieved, and cost of publishing are also usually shared among the authors.
MY TWO TOP TIPS FOR WRITING FOR PUBLICATION
Personally, I have positive experience writing in a team, and I prefer doing that because of the often richer outcome. However, in view of the numerous challenges confronting academics from my side of the globe, getting such opportunity is sometimes difficult. My two top tips are:
Reading widely on the chosen title and from the available materials on the Website or from the journal one intends to publish in.
With this approach, one would have already been familiar with some of the writing styles and rules of the website or journal. Besides that, one might also be able to figure out the gap in the Literature on the title /topic being written on. However, the decision to read from where one intends to publish does not and, of course, should not foreclose reading and gathering materials from other sources.
Having enough rest, preparation, determination and writing under a very conducive atmosphere.
These tips are some of my personal ways of handling my academic writing responsibilities. I have been applying these tips for many years, and they have been working for me. Having enough rest while I take time to ruminate over my topic/title, helps to prepare my cognitive factor, my mind and myself in readiness for the writing task. In terms of preparation, I also ensure as much as possible, I read wide enough and gather enough materials for the task before commencing writing. Conducive atmosphere may be relative to individual writer. For me, I prefer to write in any atmosphere that is very quiet and comfortable. Most times I write in my personal library, my personal office in my School, or in the private section of the School library.
MY EXPERIENCES OF OTHER FORMS OF WRITING THAT BENEFIT YOUR ACADEMIC WRITING
I am really not a social media person, although, I signed in on some of the social media platforms and I do go on them sometimes. However, in terms of how the social media or other forms of writing have benefited my academic writing, I can say that, I read a lot of related Blogs from Bloggers who write on my area of interest and such readings have help at one time or the other. I also do a lot of diary writing. Most times, Ideas are even jotted in diaries so as to keep them in mind till when they will be used.
Cintia Lima Crescêncio.
Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul-Brazil.
Struggles in academic witing
In general I have no problems in academic writing, but:
- To start (the first lines) and finish (conclusions) is always hard;
- Organise the text based on journal standards/guidelines, once each journal has its own rules. To handle the first struggle I try to use a definition or a citation to start the writing, and for conclusions I summarize the whole text (although my unhappiness with the task). Regarding the standards/guidelines, there's nothing that helps me to overcome this assignment, I just do it.
Top tips for writing for publication
- I think is important to have someone that can read what you are writing. It can be a colleague, or an academic friend, even someone from another field, it doesn't matter.
- It is crucial to get organised before you start writing. Read what must be read to start, sources must be systematized and no matter what, make a text skeleton before beginning. It's normal to change something, discover books or articles that need to be read but it is fundamental to know the path.
Other forms of writing
My research group has an Instagram page where I and my students try to write about women's history to the general public. To write outside academia rules helps me to be more objective and clear. In my opinion it's mandatory that my academic writing can be understood by all people, no matter who.
Prosper Chopera, RNutr PhD.
Department of Nutrition Dietetics and Food Science, Faculty of Science, University of Zimbabwe
Struggles
Time is one struggle. My job has many teaching, laboratory and supervisory duties therefore i have to squeeze in writing after hours, during vacations or lockdowns like now. I noticed my highest output has been during the 2 lockdown periods. This validates to me the time issue.
The second struggle would be access to all or most publications. Even though our university subscribes to many journals there are always problems accessing papers. Problems such as server problems, off campus access to the library, the university website is often down, electricity or internet cuts. To get around this i email my international colleagues/contacts specific paper titles and they download for me using the university accounts. Hope its legal :-)
Top Tip
Find a hardworking multidisciplinary team. The members of this team must have good track records of obtaining grants. The more the experience the better. For writing manuscripts again it is useful to be in a multidisciplinary team. Long back i used to do my own data analysis for example. But i noticed that if you can find a good statistician they can really strengthen the analysis. You can still check the analysis but largely you will interpret and fill the content of the paper.
Other Writing
For contemporary writing: I have briefly written for newsletters for our profession and for the faculty namely The Nutritionist' and 'The Scientist' respectively. The skills are totally different from writing for journals. I’m still learning and would appreciate more guidance but i noticed you have to use less technical and less scientific language. More illustrations and shorter communications captivate the audience more.
Christel Hansen.
University of Pretoria, South Africa.
Struggles
One of the most difficult aspects of writing is to get started. I always have the ideas but when I sit down to write I am always overwhelmed by the journey ahead, thinking of that 'perfect' product I have to produce. I invariably become stressed and then don't write anything down at all. The one way I overcome this is trying to write down my idea as if I am having a normal conversation. I imagine I am simply telling my colleague/friend/family member about the paper (in 'normal' English, not academic and sans all references) and I then record that 'conversation'. The academic writing style is applied later, but this way I at least get the core of the content down.
I struggle with the expectation that I must write and publish. Because I must publish I put so much pressure on myself to find topics, get data, etc., that I end up not writing anything. Nowadays I have a folder where I jot down any idea that springs to mind. Within that folder I have sub-folders for each article idea. When I read an interesting article that could be useful I drop it into that folder. When I come across any data that would be of help I do the same. When I have a good thought on a particular topic I write it down on a rough article outline that I place within each subfolder. Not every idea becomes an article but this way I already have a good start when I eventually sit down to write the final articles. And if a topic does not become a peer reviewed article I at least always have great topics to give to my students for when they are starting out to learn how to research!
Top Tips
We have all been rejected at some point or other, but often the rejection is accompanied by reasons as to why your application was not successful. I find that this feedback is so important! I always use it to improve what I have written and try to apply this feedback to all my writing (and applications), not only the application that was rejected.
I like to write in a team. It depends on the topic but some topics lend themselves well to collaboration. Every person contributes something to the article, meaning that ultimately I don't have to write the whole thing. It is important, however, to still read the entire article. You don't want to put your name down on something that you have not read in its entirety.
Other Writing
I manage the website for the project I started under as a student, as well as two websites of associations I am a member of. Through this role I often write blog posts for those websites, most with a research topic. The more informal style, and the fact that the audience is mostly non-academic, has helped me in formulating my research in a more approachable and general-audience manner.
Heike Bartel.
Department of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom.
Struggles
- English is not my first language and I am often struggling to find the right words and I think I need to explain more than perhaps necessary because of that. Having a colleague proofreading my work and making suggestions on how to rephrase and bring content more to the point is often very beneficial.
- I am often struggling with time management. Like many of us, I have a busy and demanding academic job juggling teaching, administration and research and there are always urgent issues that need immediate attention. That deadline for an article often seems far away and I do not prioritise writing – until the deadline is looming, and then it gets stressful. In addition, my academic writing is often undertaken at home where I am distracted by the demands of a busy family life, in particular my duties as a carer. I feel this is perhaps something women struggle more with than men? I am trying to change my habits, prioritising time for writing in a quiet ‘room of my own’.
Top Tips
- keep on top of references and notes so that you have data and citations at hand when you want to integrate them into your text.
- write collaboratively. I came relatively late to this but found co-authorship highly beneficial and successful
Other Writing
During the Covid-pandemic I got into using Twitter as a professional social media platform and it has dramatically broadened my academic and professional network. The writing has to be short and succinct and you can incorporate images, links and other media. You can tweet about things you are working on, comment on conferences and work you are reading and ask for feedback and views. I often found the replies (e.g. further reading, projects, introductions to other people) very helpful and made instant contact with experts who I had been trying to reach through other channels for a long time.
Solomon Adetunji.
FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC, OFFA, MASS COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT, NIGERIA.
Introduction
Like the stage fright in drama and public speaking, the huge mountain posed by the blank page and pen makes the art of writing a tedious task and frustrating for the beginners. Nevertheless, once the blank page is surmounted, writing becomes a walk in the park. Writing has become a hobby for some of us whose paths were discovered through self-discovery. Writing makes the world an interesting place to be, a funny world to describe, and an odd world imagery gives the privilege to mirror. Writing offers innuendoes to say many things in few words. Writing manifests in form of satires and deployes satiric barbs to those whose pangs are meant for. Writing is way of life. Writing is a career in many climes. Writing is confronted with many obstacles. The psychological disposition is one of the serious factors that impedes the art of writing in Nigeria – many issues of life contend with many writers. The socio-economic conditions make things worse, if not absolutely frustrating, because many writers are not rewarded for their delivered intellectual property. No thanks to the acvtivities of book pirates. Nevertheless, writing is a gift that must be bequeathed to generation next. Writing cannot be killed by human afflictions. Writing is a key that opens many doors!
WRITING WITHIN THE ACADEMIA: OBSTACLES TO EFFECTIVE AND EFFICIENT WRITING IN THE CONTEMPORARY ACADEMIC SPACE
Without mincing words, writing within the academia is a different ball game compared to writing fictions and other non-fictions. This can be attributed to factors that militate against exceptional academic writing that lasts longer on the shelf, rather than the once read and thrashed. Significantly, the following are among the culprits that hinder effective and efficient academic writings. These are:
- academic demands: There are many academics that are saddled with responsibility of delivering their jobs descriptions, especially lecturing of courses and related roles within and beyond their academic arena. Yet, the onus is on them to write papers for promotion or other similar usefulness. Most academic will definitely write based on conditions attached rather than write based on interest. Writing flourishes mostly when one writes based on personal interest and passion for writing, regardless of the purpose that demands it. Writing should not be forced, nor a compulsion. It does not taste sweet.
- stress Management and Inadequate Facilities in Developing Nations: The stress-level of many academics in developing nations like ours calls for a total rethink on the approach of the academics to writing for publication. Most things taken for granted in advanced nations are luxury in developing nations, especially the facilities and conducive environment for writing. Sadly, in this part of the world, human and technical noise are daily bedmates and hinder reflective, sober mood and regurgitation of ideas that could shape the outline of a given writing task.
- deadlines: Like the unwanted guest, deadline is one of the obstacles that lives in the consciousness of the writers, regardless of being academic or not. Deadlines do come like a breaking news – unannounced, until its arrival with the new writing topic(s). Had it been there are stable and consistent academic writing calendars, little could deadlines pose a fearful factor and ugly countenance in the mind of the writers.
Top Tips
[…]
- WHERE I WRITE: I write mostly in my living room with television on or the radio blazing at its lowest volume. The lyrics of music provides insights on similar or related topic. Besides, I write in the draft of my email before I put finishing touches to it later. Where I write does not determine my level of inspiration.
- HOW I WRITE: I write in a way that is appealing and attractive. It is not enough to focus on an an interesting topic to write on. The readers must have value for their time and be rewarded with writing style that makes use of literary terms and figures of speech that paint and create mental picture in the reader. I hate boring stories too. Everybody deserves respect. I respect the readers in my writing. Their encouragement keeps me going.
- WHEN I WRITE: I write mostly in the night. The night is the most appealing to me because of the calmness and serenity that follows the busy nature of the day. It is the most suitable time for me to write because it affords me the opportunity to be fresh when I wake up. It is the ideal moment for me to write. Most of the time, what moves me to write is provoked by myriads of unpleasant development in the society: human angle stories, obnoxious government policies, avoidable situations that become inevitable, etc.
*MAKE TIME FOR WRITING: To create time for writing entails the following:
- know your work schedules
- know your self
- create a mental picture around the topic or issue to write about
- make sure you complete the writing in your mind before you start
- be conscious of the deadline
- beat the deadline by adjusting the deadline closer than the given deadline
- begin to write
- avoid the following errors:
- error of Grammar (subjects and verb agreement)
- error of Logic (Poor generalisation)
- error of Rhetorics (Avoid repetitions, it wastes space)
- error of Facts (this could lead to defamation and related offences)
- avoid plagiarism like a plague
- check your choice of words/dictions/tones/mood; they could be poison or catalyst
- give credits to the various authors cited
- proof read again and again. No one is perfect
- give your stories/writing to a colleague to proof-read. You can’t see all your errors
- listen to your heart when it is time to stop on a striking note
- submit in good faith
*I WRITE COMPLETELY ALONE: Because I got inspired alone. Besides being alone, radio or television is the next partner I love to have around me when it comes to writng. Human presence is a distraction. Sometimes, I surf the net by checking my social media platform to distract myself. The mind needs to wander sometimes.
*STRATEGIES TO GET GOING AND KEEP GOING: Plato once said that the beginning of every thing is the most important, for that is where the CHARACTER is formed. Thus,
- ensure you pick a topic that interests you, even for journal publications
- understand why you pick interest in the topic: what you have to say
- sustain interest in the topic by researching it to come up with the unique selling proposition on it. That’s, what is new about it
- relax when your body calls for a break. Take a walk
- return to the writing with different perspectives or approach
- start a discussion on the topic/share on social media through a question approach
- plan the total number of pages to write on or required
- arrange your points in an anti-climax (from the strongest to lowest)
- know the meaning and importance of transition verbs/adverbial linkers
- write to communicate, not to impress
- never forget: each writing is a learning on its own).
*GENERIC ADVICE ON STRUCTURING CONTENT: The art of structuring in the context of writing cannot go out of fashion. It is like a compass and guide for writers. Without proper structuring, writing is likely to fail even before it takes-off. As a result, it is important to say that it is ideal for young and professional writers to learn and re-learn the art of structuring. It is advisable that it is a must to:
- check the key words in the topic or subject to write on. Know their meanings first
- focus on the key words as premise(s) for the stories or publication for academics
- know your page limitation as required
- chapterise your book publication
- do you think preface/prologue/epilogue, etc are ideal for your writing?
- know the elements that could aid the sub-topics of your journal article
- understand the place of photographs or images in writing
- determine if comparative approach or analytical context will add value to your writing
- consider the type of audience you are writing for
- you can start from historical to contemporary and future projection in the structuring
- can quotation usage precede each of the chapter or sub-topics in your writing?
- never forget to acknowledge authors cited in your story or book publication
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