Советы по writing от одного знакомого преподавателя, которые он пересылает своим студентам:
- My own rough workflow for writing:
0. When writing - try to do it every day, first thing in the morning - for 1-2 hours (when brain is fresh and your willpower not exhausted - so can fight procrastination better :)
1. Unless its a very descriptive document - try think of a story (and the story has to connect intro-results-discussion).
2. If don't have figures yet - imagine them - make a figures_list.txt + make some quick sketches (on paper, illustrator, etc).
3. Write DRAFT text (especially INTRO!) for the whole text –– in a *.txt file (to be fast) / or Google doc / something which is fast and has some automated version-history. Depending on document size - can have separate files for Intro, Results, Discussion, ... (keep in the text_drafts folder)
Writing text:
- State main message/idea of each paragraph in one sentence / bullet points. Each paragraph should have ~1 main idea (not much more, not much less :)
- Then expand each sentence gradually - growing each bullet point to a paragraph.
- When expanding text to paragraphs, write in 3 phases:
- 15 minutes to draft few paragraphs as a brain-dump (really quick and dirty) // (20% of time to make 80% of work)
- Take a break
- 30-60 minutes to polish this first iteration // (80% of time to make 20% of work :)
- Break-the-flow: leave the slightly-unfinished/unpolished section until next day -- easier to start (get momentum) next morning by finishing/polishing yesterday's section than starting a new section. (Also works when CODING!! :)
When you have most text contents ready:
4. Create the main Doc file (now can use e.g. Word / Latex - slower app, but allows to add headers/formatting/etc).
5. Sketch an "updated outline" - bullet point list of what NEEDS to be covered (this may differ now from what you envisioned before starting text drafts)
6. Merge individual sections from draft texts into the main Doc file - in the process revising according to the "updated outline".
Tips on writing (highly advise to take a look over coffee - most are very quick reads)
-
http://michaelnielsen.org/blog/six-rules-for-rewriting/ (quick read)
- Plaxco 2010 The art of writing science:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/pro.514 (medium read)
-
https://medium.com/an-idea-for-you/the-two-minutes-it-takes-to-read-this-will-improve-your-writing-forever-82a7d01441d1#.n4naj5ws7 (quick read)
- McDonnell 2016 The 1-hour workday:
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/353/6300/718 (quick read)
- "How to Write Clear, Concise, and Direct Sentences" (excerpt from Williams 1989 "Style: Ten lessons in Clarity and Grace")
http://campus.lakeforest.edu/menke/PDFs/Guides/Clear,%20concise%20and%20direct%20sentences.pdfUseful tool to check your text:
http://expresso-app.org/- TurbochargeYourWriting.pdf:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/r39h3153i8lexbw/TurbochargeYourWriting.pdf?dl=1- Nature Writing Workshop:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/enlq1a712qm9tzu/Nature%20Writing%20Workshop.pdf?dl=1
