Postdoc publication

[Palace]

I don't even know how to start writing about my concern as it is quite embarrassing. I was lucky enough to score 

a postdoc position but I have great weakness in writing. I basically can't write. I am on a 1 year postdoc position

and we are required to publish 2 articles. Both articles need to be published in high impact factor journals and I am 

already 3 months  into my postdoc. I can't even get my ideas together let alone writing. I would appreciate any 

insight.

[howlx]

What field/department are you pursuing your postdoc in? Does the institution you’re at provide any writing help services? Maybe this is something you can look into. 

[Palace]

Hi. Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately they don't for the postdocs as we are already expected to be 

able to write. I am in the field of international relations and political sciences. 

[howlx]

Is this something that you can address with a professor or mentor in the department? Sorry I can’t be of much help to you, but perhaps looking into some non-university writing services would help you out. All the best to you.

 

 

 

[PianoPsych]

Is English your second language? Don't be afraid or embarrassed to ask for help, whether you're expected to write well or not. You'll probably find others share the same difficulties. We all have our strengths and weaknesses.

I've found that I got better at writing as long as I read a lot and wrote a lot (this is from Stephen King haha).

I would recommend reading books on writing and getting as much written feedback on your writing as possible. "Write it Up" by Paul Silvia is great for pubs (he is from Psychology, I'm not sure how relevant it is for IR and political sciences though)- I'm sure there are others. There are probably journal articles on how to write journal articles for that matter.

Lastly, are you doing well mentally? I can't fathom writing well when I'm feeling down or extremely stressed out.

[Palace]

On 12/11/2019 at 10:18 AM, howlx said:

Is this something that you can address with a professor or mentor in the department? Sorry I can’t be of much help to you, but perhaps looking into some non-university writing services would help you out. All the best to you.

 

Yes you are right. Thank you very much for the advice.

 

[Palace]

On 12/12/2019 at 8:15 AM, PianoPsych said:

Is English your second language? Don't be afraid or embarrassed to ask for help, whether you're expected to write well or not. You'll probably find others share the same difficulties. We all have our strengths and weaknesses.

I've found that I got better at writing as long as I read a lot and wrote a lot (this is from Stephen King haha).

I would recommend reading books on writing and getting as much written feedback on your writing as possible. "Write it Up" by Paul Silvia is great for pubs (he is from Psychology, I'm not sure how relevant it is for IR and political sciences though)- I'm sure there are others. There are probably journal articles on how to write journal articles for that matter.

Lastly, are you doing well mentally? I can't fathom writing well when I'm feeling down or extremely stressed out.

Hi thanks for the reply. Yes English is indeed my second language but that's not much of an issue. What I lack is having an analytical mind. I don't have an analytical mind and that's what makes it difficult to make sense of what I want to write. I do quite well on literature review but when it comes to data analysis everything collapses. Thanks for the reading recommendations. I will read through it. 

[PianoPsych]

On 12/13/2019 at 10:09 PM, Palace said:

Hi thanks for the reply. Yes English is indeed my second language but that's not much of an issue. What I lack is having an analytical mind. I don't have an analytical mind and that's what makes it difficult to make sense of what I want to write. I do quite well on literature review but when it comes to data analysis everything collapses. Thanks for the reading recommendations. I will read through it. 

I see, that's tough. I do believe analytical skills can be learnt but sure, you might be less naturally inclined to that kind of work. A lit review is quite analytical though, you are analyzing the links between papers and uncovering the main themes that emerge. Lit reviews can definitely be published in high-impact journals too. Does your position require you to publish empirical work? 

[Palace]

Hi thank you very much for your time. Yes indeed. I have to publish empirical work which even makes things more complicated but I guess

at the end of the day if I want to join academia I have to improve this skill as well. How about you, yourself? How do you publish? I mean

when you sit down an write how do you organize your thoughts? And how do you incorporate that  into academic writing?

[PianoPsych]

On 12/16/2019 at 1:36 PM, Palace said:

Hi thank you very much for your time. Yes indeed. I have to publish empirical work which even makes things more complicated but I guess

at the end of the day if I want to join academia I have to improve this skill as well. How about you, yourself? How do you publish? I mean

when you sit down an write how do you organize your thoughts? And how do you incorporate that  into academic writing?

Hey- sorry for the late reply. All good- it's nice to be able to do something while I wait on my applications lol.

I'm not sure if I'm qualified enough to answer your question, (@Psygeek or @t_ruth if you see this feel free to pitch in!) but I think writing involves a combination of "big-picture" stuff (the structure of your journal article, the story you want to tell, the findings you want to emphasize, the take-home message) and detail (paragraph transitions, punctuation, sentence structure, etc). Both are skills you can develop. Good writing habits are also paramount--you may wish to check out "Atomic Habits" or "How to Write a Lot" for starters. There are tons of articles and books on writing.

I often just write down what's on my mind, then go back and edit. The editing process is where most of the organization happens, and I spend a lot of time working on re-organizing the details of my writing. (For this reply, I spent maybe 5-10 minutes writing and another 5-10 minutes editing). For the big-picture, I like to leave my writing for a few days, and come back to it with a fresh perspective (friends, colleagues, peer-review students etc might also be helpful here).

Hope this helps!

[PokePsych]

> order/bullet point before you write. Outline what you want to write. Don't go in blind and just think it comes to you. This is probably the most critical step

> Editing is normal and expected. First drafts always suck. That is NORMAL

> A first edit should therefore not be perfect. Rather, get your thoughts on paper in a logical order. Then make them 'pretty'

> Writing takes TIME

> Good writing takes FEEDBACK

> Structure. Structure. Structure. What order of 'arguments' or 'evidence' makes most sense?

> Make sure that there are transitions!

> Vary in sentence length. Do not vary too much in word choice, particularly with regard to your central topic (in that you should use consistent terminology). Thesaurus is fun, but tempting.

> EXPLAIN terminology (at least for social science papers). People do not always mean the same by the same terms.

> pay attention to how your favorite papers are written. It will tell a lot. It may also give you ideas on how you *should* structure your papers

> I personally take blocks of time to write since I really need to focus and emerge, some people prefer to write a little bit each day. What works for each person varies.

 

There are a lot of books available on writing, but most of all it really takes practice and feedback. Figuring out your style and voice also is a matter of time. It's not something you can learn in just a day, its something that takes effort. However, even 'poorly' written papers can become good with good feedback.

[t_ruth]

These things are so field specific, so general advice is tough, but:

Usually, mentors are required to have postdoc mentoring plans. Do you have one? Can you draw on that to work with your mentor and publish some things together? Generally postdocs aren't all-on-your-own positions. Reach out to your postdoc advisors or other faculty in your department. Perhaps they would like to collaborate on something? Are there particular data you need to publish on or a particular topic? This can guide who you reach out to.

You can also reach out to grad students to see if they need some help on their projects. Lit reviews are hard to do, and if you have skill in this, I'm sure it can be put to use.

Finally, use this opportunity to get training on the method skills it sounds like you need. Can you audit a method class? If so, use the opportunity to make a publication-worthy class project.

Good luck to you! I can't underscore enough that you should be working closely with your postdoc advisor on all of these things. That is 100% the point of a postdoc!

[PokePsych]

Also if you are in the US/North America there is usually a writing center. But they are not always good with the specific expectations of specific fields.

Note that style can also be journal specific. You should always write with your audience in mind. A science paper is different from a managament journal. And both are different from a psych journal. But my research could be submitted in all. But its easier to edit.

[juilletmercredi]

On 12/13/2019 at 6:09 AM, Palace said:

Hi thanks for the reply. Yes English is indeed my second language but that's not much of an issue. What I lack is having an analytical mind. I don't have an analytical mind and that's what makes it difficult to make sense of what I want to write. I do quite well on literature review but when it comes to data analysis everything collapses. Thanks for the reading recommendations. I will read through it. 

This, I think, is kind of a different question from not being a good writer.

I find it difficult to believe that, as someone who completed a doctoral degree and has secured a postdoc, you don't have an analytical mind. I'm betting that you do, and you're mostly apprehensive on whether or not you are 'good enough' to produce what your postdoc requires. You probably are, but a postdoctoral fellowship is in part a training opportunity - your PI is supposed to be helping you grow into being an academic.

So if you're having issues turning your ideas into papers, set up some time with your PI (or hopefully, you have regular 1:1s) and bring your ideas and talk through them. Get input from your postdoc advisor on how to shape these ideas into good projects. I would think of them not just in terms of papers but projects. A good postdoc project will yield more than one paper. Same thing once you are ready to put together an analysis plan.

Presumably, you are also not the only postdoc in your research group or department? Make friends with some other postdocs and workshop each other's work!

[ZeChocMoose]

55 minutes ago, juilletmercredi said:

Presumably, you are also not the only postdoc in your research group or department? Make friends with some other postdocs and workshop each other's work!

I was the only postdoc in my unit - so even if you are the only one - I suggest to workshop your writing with either assistant professors in your general area or advance level PhD students.  I think both can be helpful for different reasons.  When I was a post doc, I also tried to reach out to post docs outside of my area, but didn't find it that helpful as most of the other post docs at my university were STEM focused and I am not in a STEM field.

Do you know about the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (https://www.facultydiversity.org/)?  If your university is a member - you can get access to their resources for free.  They have workshops about how to build a publishing pipeline, how to write a winning proposal, how to identify and get over writing blocks, etc. that you might find helpful.