Grad Writing: Weekly Segmenting Plan

 

The Goal of Segmenting Grad Writing 

It can be overwhelming when you’re facing a new writing project! In psychology, chunking refers to the process our brains go through of dividing larger pieces of information into smaller pieces to help retain information in our short-term memory (APA Dictionary of Psychology). In our everyday lives, we often work through problems the same way, and it can be incredibly helpful to break larger tasks into smaller ones to make them seem less daunting. 


During the next twelve weeks, our goal is to support you in your writing goals, whether through consultant feedback or good, old-fashioned accountability. With the idea of chunking in mind, we’ve divided our time together into three segments designed to scaffold the development, drafting, and completion of a full project. 


As grad students and developing writers ourselves, we understand that we are all working on vastly different projects, including different topics, lengths, timelines, and end goals. We also know that the writing process is recursive and looks different for every writer. So a single approach to completing a project is not going to work for everyone. Feel free to follow along if our structure aligns with yours, check in on a blog post every once in a while, or disregard these segments entirely and just come hang out with other graduate students. We’re just happy to have you along!


Weeks 1-4: How(e) to Begin

Getting started can be the hardest part, but setting a good foundation for your writing project can often directly lead to success in the long run. On our blog and during writing hours for these first four weeks, they’ll focus on brainstorming and planning, goal setting, strategies for beginning different types of projects, and more. 


Potential Blog Topics:

  • Brainstorming Methods 

  • Setting Short-Term and Long-Term Goals

  • Building a Sustainable Project Timeline

  • Outlining and Planning Methods 

  • Finding the Motivation to Jump the First Hurdle 

  • Strategies for Beginning a Thesis 

  • Understanding your Genre


Weeks 5-8: How(e) to Draft 

Once you’ve got an idea and you’re ready to run with it, getting all of the words on the page is the next step. These words don’t have to be perfect, but taking some of the pressure off doesn’t make writing any easier! On our blog and during writing hours for these next four weeks, we will focus on motivation and self-care, strategies for generating ideas during this stage, strategies for consistently meeting your writing goals, and more. 


Potential Blog Topics: 

  • Maintaining Motivation Throughout a Project 

  • Self-Care for the Drafting Stage 

  • Strategies for Meeting your Writing Goals 

  • What to Do When You’re Stuck in a Writing Rut

  • Generating Ideas Throughout the Writing Stages 


Weeks 9-11: How(e) to Revise

Now that you have material to work with, it’s time to revise towards your own goals, whether that’s publication, presentation, or just submission for a course. On our blog and during writing hours for these next four weeks, we will focus on the difference between editing, proofreading, and revising; strategies for revising towards various outlets, and more. 


Potential Blog Topics: 

  • Revising versus Editing versus Proofreading 

  • Strategies for Improving Clarity

  • Revising for Conference Presentation

  • Revising toward Journal Publication

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