Becoming an Academic Writer: 50 Exercises for Paced, Productive, and Powerful Writing

by Patricia Goodson

This book helps academic writers gain control over writing and publishing, master specific aspects of academic writing, and improve their productivity. Patricia Goodson offers weekly exercises and tools to achieve these goals. The exercises are theoretically-grounded and empirically-based, comprising a set of behavioral principles (e.g., writing regularly, separating generating from editing) and specific practices (weekly exercises) which ensure success. The author draws on research on writing and productivity in college settings, together with insights into the practice patterns of elite performers (such as Olympic athletes), to develop a set of key principles. This book uniquely combines these successful principles with a set of original exercises applicable to the writing needs of college professors and students.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Academic, Reference, Research, Read For School, Self Help

248 pages, Paperback

First published April 19, 2012

Reviews

[Cassandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are someone who is already convinced of the merit of slow, purposeful writing and separating creating from editing, and other good practices: I recommend that you skim the book cover to cover before really starting the exercises. If you are not yet, then I recommend reading chapter one thoroughly first. I think the whole book is good for people who have not engaged in deliberate practice to improve our academic writing, for those of us who have already spent a good deal of time reading different books and going to workshops, you'll want to pick and choose. My choices: Chapter 1, Chapter 2 Ex. 1-5 & 8, Chapter 7 Ex 29-35.

My mistake was to try to follow the book like a class, starting from exercise one and then working my way through. It didn't work well for me, because my skills and approaches weren't necessarily satisfied by that order. I did try writing every day, and I kept a writing log, and I learned many useful approaches: (1) Record where you left off and what you want to do next so you can quickly start writing at the beginning of your next session - but I don't need to keep a time log, that's distracting information for me. I just use evernote to copy in the last session and start the new revision. I write my time minimum up top in the title, and I set my timer on my phone (Forest app). (2) Write every day for at least a few minutes - I'm already thinking about my writing, might as well BE WRITING!

What I find best about the book is the examples on writing and editing, organizing, cleaning, dumping, etc.

[Alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked the exercises and resources suggested in this book. While I do not see myself using all of them regularly, I can see them being useful when I struggle with particular aspects of writing.

[Madara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. At first, I expected to only skim through, given I am a writer. But once I started paying attention, I loved it for a multiplicity of reasons, the least of which is that it has a lovely tone! Provides some valuable advice, gives good examples, and takes you through the process. Even after having read a few books on the subject, I found this enlightening. Would recommend for those starting out as well as for those who have been in academia for a while. We can always learn something new.

[Curt Bobbitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Second edition, published in July 2016, date on the copyright page of the book = 2017, ISBN 978-1483376257)

The 50-lesson organization of this self-help book for university faculty members has two distinct advantages. First, it guarantees short segments, each one easy to absorb and apply. Goodson further divides each day’s lesson with sub-section headings, bulleted lists, and bordered quotations from writers who have followed her advice. Second, the numerous descriptive titles allow readers to find the most helpful advice though they do not wish to spend the proposed year working through the book. Goodson states her purpose on page 3, also showing the direct address she will use: “This book describes a model for taking control of the academic writing process—the POWER model (Promoting Outstanding Writing for Excellence in Research) –and provides weekly exercises to improve control. The model combines certain behavioral principles with specific practices to help you master and become comfortable with your writing.”

Goodson defines what she means by “good writing”: “First, good writing is the kind of wiring we want to read, the kind that grabs us, speaks to us, and has us saying, deep in our hearts, ‘Oh, I wish I had written that!’ (Rosenblatt, 2011). Second, good writing is well crafted, or writing in which the author was thoughtful and thorough: Words were carefully chosen, images were brilliantly drawn, connections were made in surprising and unexpected ways—all of it resulting in a new and refreshing approach to a topic. […] Finally, good writing is the kind that inspires us to carry on our own writing! Here, I’m thinking specifically of books about writing that discuss the craft, its struggles and joys: texts that teach us a trick or two about writing better or writing more.”

Appendix A offers profound advice about mindful reading during all stages of a project: “Reading-&-Writing: How to Stop Making the Literature Review an Excuse for Not Writing.”

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a godsend.

I just recently started a Masters program in a hard science and came into it with little writing ability. I still have to apply everything that is shared in the book, but I have been looking around for months for something to help me improve my academic writing. When I asked professors in my department how I could improve my writing no one could give me a single way to consistently practice and develop my writing abilities. This book made me want to cry with how prescriptive it was in giving me exercises to work on exactly what I need to work on. Bravo, Patricia. Bravo!

[Ahmed · Rating 3 out of 5]

One major takeaway: A "tight" academic paragraph's internal structure consists of the following parts: (TRANSITION) + (ONE KEY IDEA) + (DEVELOPMENT OF KEY IDEA). p.110

[Brad Balderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of all the books I read in 2020, this one was one of the most important. Patricia Goodson presents 50 exercises designed to gradually expand and improve your writing muscle. I’ll be honest - I didn’t do any of the exercises. Far more important in this book is the philosophy of writing, the passion instilled in the pages, and the kind hand that Partricia extends to the reader as she systematically rebukes and persuades away from erroneous misconceptions and inefficient strategy that hold people back from being the best academic writers they can be.

Okay, I’ll admit, I did the first few exercises, and in-fact what you’re reading now is a result of the writing habit that resulted from this. The first exercise being; sit down and write regularly. It doesn't have to be long; let’s call it ten minutes.

When you write, keep the flow going, don’t stop. Think on paper, keep the stream going. Don’t stop to edit. Don’t stop to re-phrase. Don’t stop to look something up. Capture your current understanding of something on the page, and let iterations of editing afterward polish the text. Write, not for perfection, but to learn what you know. Writing activates a line of reasoning, it forces you to think more clearly - writing is organised thinking.

Another important part of this book is how she backs up alot of the strategies and ideas on how to approach writing with research papers on academic performance. Take the last statement from the previous paragraph - did you know academics which make writing a regular part of their schedule are many times more productive? I think the reason for this is that writing is a muscle and a skill - and is extremely organised and precise thinking. If you write regularly, you are exercising your capacity not only to write in terms of phrasing, grammar, flow, etc; but you are also exercising your capacity to think, to concentrate, to pay attention and to say what you believe and why you believe it.

Another important thing I learned from Patricia was that every academic - as the common skill which unites us all - is a writer. Clearly then, this is a fundamental skill to develop if you want to be a successful academic.

I have this book to thank for all the reviews I’ve written on goodreads, blog posts, and the quality of writing in the scientific papers I contributed to - the writing habit this book motivated me to develop really, really profoundly improved my ability not only to write, but also to think clearly.

A few things I have to add to this book:

1 ) Writing with pen and paper is far more effective for generating text than typing. I came up with this idea based on research which showed students who wrote notes by hand were more likely to remember what they wrote; by reading a collection of translations by Cicero that reading/writing/speaking all go hand-in-hand as skills, and are all heavily dependent on memory; the observation that back in Einstein’s day they all wrote with pen and paper; and finally the observation that the techniques to generate text presented in this book (namely writing without editing) are much more natural when writing with pen and paper.

2) Rhetoric is the foundation discipline from which all other disciplines of thought develop - according to Aristotle. I’ll expand on this particular point when I review ‘The Art of Rhetoric’.

3) I think writing is the human equivalent of ‘autocrine signalling’. Autocrine signalling is a kind of cell-cell communication (by cell I mean biological cell) whereby a cell will release signals which stimulate itself, and surrounding cells which happen to be in the vicinity. Equally, when humans write it not only is useful to stimulate and communicate thoughts to others, but I think primarily it helps to stimulate and communicate thoughts to ourselves! Writing then is not something you have to do to communicate to others; writing is an imperative tool for the academic in order to develop their own thoughts as precisely as possible, which afterwards we might as well share with others - if only to encourage them to share with us.

Some other important things I learned from this book:

1) Writing and thinking are basically the same; if you have trouble writing about something it's probably because you don’t have the knowledge at hand. Write what you do know, look to identify gaps; read more about topics you don’t know AFTER you write to identify gaps in your knowledge, and then write with greater understanding.

2) The most important thing about writing is to be persuasive - and to be persuasive your reader needs to follow the logical line of reasoning - this is only possible if each step is as transparent as possible. Think of your writing - especially scientific writing - as a mathematical proof; you must show each step for the whole proof to make sense.

3) The structure of scientific papers is highly centered to be a non-mathematical kind of derivation of some new knowledge; or perhaps you consider it as ‘putting an idea on trial’.

4) When writing methods, it's far more persuasive when you show the line of reasoning; the justification why you chose one method over alternatives. I know we’re taught to write methods like a recipe as undergraduates, but this is simply not persuasive and great scientific writers also justify. There is alot of decision making in the methods of a paper, make these decisions clear and transparent so the reader can go along with you (and to justify to yourself that you thought carefully about those choices !)

This book also points to several others to help develop your writing; while ‘The Art of Rhetoric’ by Aristotle is not one of them, I highly recommend reading that during/after reading this book - I’ll review that at a later date.

Overall, this book taught me many valuable lessons about writing. Patricia is clearly not only a great writer, but also a great teacher. I really recommend reading this book if writing constitutes an important part of your work, or you simply would like to cultivate good habits of regular, organised thinking.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most academics understand that to make an impact, publishing is imperative. Yet, it is challenging to maintain a regular writing practice in a job with competing demands, many of which seem more pressing than writing. This book doesn't challenge this conception, but it does make it less excusable to neglect one’s writing practice. The author provides motivation, along with 50 different exercises to develop, maintain, and refine one's writing practice. In short, this book contains exercises that apply to every writer, and the general ones were the most helpful to me.

She starts with the idea that one's writing practice ought to be a priority, and discusses several strategies that everyone can use to make it so. The first exercise given to establish and maintain a writing practice is to scheduling writing sessions in advance. She talks about ways to do this, including the importance of conceptualizing oneself as a writer. Scheduling writing sessions in advance is the tip I have absolutely found most helpful. We all have full calendars, but there are always spaces in the day that we can use for writing, and if not, we can carve time out. We can all eke out 15 minutes a day to write, and sometimes, once we sit down, the time may even multiply. She reminds us that, "Prolific academics create writing time where none exists and then carefully protect it from intrusion" (p. 29).

Let me share a couple other exercises that I have found helpful. One was to "write quickly, edit slowly." This exercise encourages speed-writing and helps to separate the writing brain from the editing brain. This has been helpful to me as I write, especially when I am stuck on a section or idea. I simply speed-write about it, for at least 5 minutes, without editing. Once done, I revisit the draft and see if I can pull out a few gems to aid my progress.

Other exercises I found helpful include reading about writing, writing to learn, and copywriting. Also included are some editing exercises like tightening loose paragraphs. At times, I found some tips like keeping a writing log useless. However, the beauty of this book is that after reading the first chapter, the other chapters and exercises can stand alone, so there is something here for almost every writer.

So if you want to become a better writer, pick up this book and get started! You will find the only thing that's been stopping you is yourself. In the immortal words of C. S. Lewis, "What you want is practice, practice, practice. It doesn't matter what we write...so long as we write continually as well as we can. I feel that every time I write a page either of prose or of verse, with real effort, even if it's thrown into the fire the next minute, I am so much further on."

[Monica English · Rating 4 out of 5]

I referenced this for much of my graduate program, and it was indeed helpful at times. I believe the tips and practice exercises in this book actually did help me become a faster writer.

[Susan Iverson · Rating 3 out of 5]

i like the POWER model and the writing exercises have accessible, and well-aligned to various stages of the research process

[MindOverMatter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been reading this book on and off for a very long time, experimenting with the advice and it is really good once stripped down to the most essential advice and understood why it works (which not necessarily is included in the book).

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic gem of a book.

[Paulina Nuñez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Creo que es esencial para quien quiera adentrarse en la publicación académica moderna

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though this book imparts similar advice to many dissertation advice manuals, it has a couple unique things going for it. First, it isn't aimed exclusively at dissertators, which is helpful because a dissertation is hardly the only thing an academic must write. Second, it contains 50 actual exercises that are actionable and helpful for working through all types of academic writing. And, while I wish that some of the advice weren't so heavily oriented toward quantitative social sciences, I'd say that more than half the exercises could be helpful to academics in all fields, making this book a worthwhile investment even if one decides to pick and choose amongst its suggestions rather than using it like a workbook. Indeed, this is exactly what I plan to do as I experiment with some of these exercises as writing prompts in an upcoming dissertation boot camp I'm facilitating.

[Abhijeet Lele · Rating 4 out of 5]

For academicians only.