We are currently experiencing technical writing difficulties.

February 12, 2012 8:23 AM

I seem to have completely forgotten how to write and edit scientific papers. Please hope me!

I know how to do this. I really do. However, I can't seem to do it any more. I'm not sure if it's anxiety, panic, or what, but I just blank while looking at the stupid thing. I have the information I need, as well.

How do I continue writing? I need to do this, and I just can't seem to. Nothing I've read has been of use, it's mostly been technical.

Additional info: I' a Ph.D. student, and this paper is for my comps. This is my 8th year of continuous schooling, and I already have my Masters.

posted by Gneisskate to writing & language (14 answers total)

You need to read How to Write a Lot by Paul Silva. It's a quick read and massively helpful.
posted by quiet coyote at 8:28 AM on February 12 [2 favorites]

Are you feeling a lot of stress and pressure right now? Maybe your heart isn't in it because it has stopped being fun?
posted by Foci for Analysis at 8:29 AM on February 12

Think about who you would like to read your paper. Then write as if you were writing for them specifically. As if you wanted them very hard to understand what you are thinking about.
posted by knz at 8:39 AM on February 12 [1 favorite]

Take a paper that has roughly the form you want (from your field), and pick a subsection from that paper. Write the corresponding subsection of your paper. When I was starting out, I would write the most straightforward sections first - in my field, the methods and results. I saved the introduction and discussion for last, since though required the most planning. For writing longer subsections, like the introduction and discussion, use an outline. Gradually fill in the details of your outline, and sooner or later, you'll have a paper.
posted by Philosopher Dirtbike at 8:40 AM on February 12 [2 favorites]

The important thing is baby steps. Set little, quickly achievable goals. That way the entire paper won't seem so overwhelming.
posted by Philosopher Dirtbike at 8:41 AM on February 12

I am under a lot of stress and pressure, as this is not the first time I have taken these exams. The structure is different, but I was in a similar situation a few years back, and I failed then. I just don't know how to move past this and actually get this done. That book looks really helpful, though.

Further information: I am on medication for anxiety, OCD and depression, but I have been on the current dose for some time now.
posted by Gneisskate at 8:41 AM on February 12

My biggest challenge when writing is easy distraction at those moments when you hit a brief wall, which turns into a long internet break, and no progress. At times when I really need to make serious progress, I bring my laptop somewhere where there is no wifi (or else I turn it off and promise myself not to turn it on), or I outline and write with paper and pen. Maybe this will help.
posted by PercussivePaul at 8:58 AM on February 12

i'm not science, but the best advice I've ever gotten when trying to improve academic writing is to read lots of academic writing... so maybe get out a few articles and read them a few times?
posted by misspony at 10:39 AM on February 12

Thank you all. All the advice is helpful, but that book was the kick in the pants I needed. :) Never have I enjoyed being put in my place quite like that. Now, off the internet and on to writing!
posted by Gneisskate at 11:15 AM on February 12

I have had tremendous luck getting writing done at a local coffee shop because so many of the things that turn a brief moment of distraction into a long derail aren't there.

Do you know someone else in the same boat as you? Sometimes, having someone around to keep you on task, a la an exercise partner, is incredibly useful, just by virtue of their presence.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 11:45 AM on February 12

Sometimes I find I can't do both the actual straightening out of content onto paper and the proper scientific writing conventions at the same time. In those situations I find it's best to write the content of the paper in a non-scientific form first. Do it as a super-long email to your best friend, explaining what your paper is about (this works especially well if the friend is someone who has academic background but not in your field). Then take that piece of text and "translate" it into the conventions of your discipline.

It's kind of like what programmers do when they plan their software out in pseudo-code first.
posted by lollusc at 3:52 PM on February 12

Put the figures you have compiled from your data together. They form the scaffold for the story your paper will tell. Next write the results section from your figures. The results should be ordered in such a way that a you take the hand of the reader and walk them through the data in a logical way. This does not necessarily have to happen in the chronological order that you performed the experiments but more likely in a way that establish your data in the context of the field. Next, move through your new findings. This cam be done in many ways but most frequently is acheived by introducing you most profound data first and then using the rest to support it, or by building the story woth your support data and then unvailing the big data at the end.
Next write the abstract. provide a short field summary and what is lacking and the show how your data addresses this hole.
Next the intro. Repeat the abstract formula but expand the background part and why the field blows without your exciting new data. End the inro with a few lines about what you have demonstrated.
Finish with the discussion. Summarise your finding, provide context from the literature for ways that the data might be interpreted, and end with a token line or two about future directions now that you have changed the field.
Print. Submit to Nature/Science.
posted by SueDenim at 6:30 PM on February 12 [1 favorite]

p.s. typos curtesy of typing on a tablet.
posted by SueDenim at 6:31 PM on February 12

George Whitesides' advice, while not perfect, is pretty solid.
posted by lalochezia at 7:35 PM on February 12