Writing habit for a researcher

 

For a research scholar it is obvious to publish the research works in reputed journals, as these are the major output of his/her research. Moreover, this is obligatory for a scientific researcher to justify the research work and funding received from the funding agencies. After joining PhD, a research scholar mainly focuses on the experimental bench work which continues throughout the PhD program. This results in lack of other skills which are essential, such as planning of experimental design, reading, deep thinking, learning new analytical software and of course writing. As a researcher in the field of science since twelve years I have experienced different circumstances while writing research articles, research proposals, annual reports and technical pieces. I have also faced some general hitches during putting my written work for publication in journals. It was unfortunate for me that I was not guided by anyone to focus on improving my writing skills as a PhD student. Later, with time I realized that writing skills could be a real asset for a researcher. Writing habit during working period in a day can make things easier. How?

Take a pause on your working bench and note down

Throughout working on the bench your mind is already trained and alert for the technical part of the experiment you are doing, as you are following a pre-defined protocol. Therefore, it is obvious that your subconscious mind is engaged in some other thoughts. While working on the bench in the lab, did you ever get a sudden idea about an experimental set up or about a new interpretation of a data that you have collected and analyzed a day before? If you get and if you think that you will explore it later in free time, then there is a huge chance of forgetting it, and if you forget, then you may lose an extraordinary idea which may would create an outstanding impact on your thesis or publication. Therefore, the best way to archive that idea is to take a pause, write it down in simplest way in your notebook with date.

Materials and methods? Results for a manuscript? Already written.

Writing a detail protocol in the note book is an old school but fruitful fashion for a researcher. If you are repeating the experiment you should write it down again with a new date. Sometimes, people working in the lab have a habit to write down the overall experiment on computer as a document. This is a wonderful practice according to me, as later this will make easier writing a ‘materials and methods’ section when that experiment will be included in the final manuscript to be published. For a researcher it is also important to write down the result of each experiment immediately after successful completion of the experiment. It should be written in a proper way so that it could be included in the manuscript. Try to write a whole paragraph demonstrating the result step by step with an addition of brief interpretation. Prepare the figures demonstrating the result in proper way using required software during this writing. This habit is also very useful, since it would reduce the pressure of writing a research paper after completion of the project. If the experimentation method and result both are written elaborately after finishing each experiment, around sixty percent of the work for a paper is done.

Writing a paper should be a self-help habit

Researchers usually make the writing part of their work unnecessarily stressful by keeping the ‘to do writing’ works for future. In my experience, I found most of the researchers who has joined a PhD, neglects this writing habit, and most of the academic problems come with that negligence. It should always be taught to a PhD student that writing skill is the only skill by which works can be reached to the world. It is not good at all to depend fully on the supervisor for writing the paper. Supervisor can improve the quality of the manuscript with his/her experiences and expertise, but the initiative should be taken by the scholar. The first draft should be written by the scholar with the help of the co-authors and then the correction and linguistic decoration can be made by the supervisor. Learning of writing starts with that. A new scholar has right to make lot of mistakes in writing as this will help him to become an expert writer in future, but taking initiative to write is a self-help.

Enjoy the writing as a writer

If you do not enjoy a work, you cannot be an expert in that. Therefore, if you do not enjoy writing, you will not get expertise in it. But as an academic researcher, one should always remember that a senior academician has to be engaged fully in writing because that will be the main job for him/her. A full time science professor or scientist spends large part of the working hours in writing. This writing includes grants, reports, papers, reviews, books, letters etc. A good academic writer always enjoys writing. Whenever I asked senior scientists who impressed me with their pieces of writing (specially reviews or spotlight types of articles) that ‘how they written so well?’; they replied with a common answer, that they enjoy the writing.  Thus, a research scholar should not take writing as a burden or as a task. It should be taken as an entertainment. This enjoyment can make writing a habit for a researcher. After gaining some experiences a researcher should take part in synthetic review writing with his/her supervisor. Though, technically writing a review is more critical than writing a research article, since along with writing it needs skill of critical reading. But writing a synthetic review helps to gain a skill of synthesis of new idea by in depth adaptation of multiple theories. This can only be achievable if it is enjoyable.