Post by Jing Zhang, GIC Peer Mentor 2021
Half a day has gone by, and the sun is setting. You look up and realize the staff has started cleaning up the café. Time to gather your things and get some dinner. Except, you only typed several sentences this whole time and the deadline is fast approaching. How to write research papers? You wish you had the answer. But don’t worry, maybe this article can get you started.
Writing papers is an integral part of the graduate student experience – we have to write all kinds of reports for classes, projects, or conferences. Here, I’ve created a list of tips across the three stages of writing: before, during, and after.
Before writing:
- Follow the guidelines. No matter if you are writing for a class project or for a publication, there are always rules to follow. Usually, research papers have pre-defined structures. Introduction, methods, results and conclusion, and each section has specific elements that need to be covered. Some have restrictions on word limits, citation formats and so on. The most important thing is to follow the rules, and they will also serve as a road map for your papers.
- Dive into the literature. Great papers are always built on other great papers. Do a literature search and see what other people are saying on this topic. This can help you build your argument or provide context of the project.
- One great place to get started with the literature search is the UCI libraries (https://www.lib.uci.edu/). You can find numerous books and articles across many disciplines through its many databases. If you have trouble finding the resources you need, you can easily connect with a libertarian through online chat or make face-to-face appointment, or speak to its powerful virtual assistant ANTswers (https://www.lib.uci.edu/ask-librarian-reference-services).
- Use a citation manager to keep all the articles together. A few popular tools include Zotero, Mendeley, Refworks, and endNote (https://guides.lib.uci.edu/soceco_uppp/biblio_management_software). You can use them to keep track of the papers, generate citations, or take notes.
During writing:
- Create an outline. When we start writing, it’s easy to get lost in the details and forget about the big picture. It saves time and energy to list each section and key arguments for the paper. You could also discuss the outline with your peers or supervisors to make sure you start off on the right foot.
- Keep your inspiration going. When writing the first draft, it’s important to keep the trend of thought going without worrying too much about the grammar – leave that for the editing stage. Plus, getting the words out will make you feel super productive, and you will want to keep going.
- After you finish your draft, make sure to go through it to correct typos, grammatical errors and the logical flow. Share it with your peers or supervisors to get their feedback.
- Join a class in Academic English. Writing is difficult, especially for international students whose first language is not English. UCI has the Program in Global Languages & Communication dedicated to help international students write and communicate professionally in English (https://www.humanities.uci.edu/glc/graduate/index.php)
- Join a writing group. Everything is easier in a group, and writing is no exception. We can share tips and advice, hold each other accountable, and celebrate each other’s achievements. You can form a writing group with your cohort, lab mates, or through the Graduate & Postdoctoral Scholar Resource Center, GPSRC (https://grad.uci.edu/services/gpsrc/writing-support.php).
- Talk to a writing consultant. It’s always good to have a fresh set of eyes look at your paper, and you can easily make an appointment with a writing consultant through the GPSRC (https://grad.uci.edu/services/gpsrc/writing-support.php).
- Make sure to cite your sources appropriately to avoid plagiarism. We take academic dishonesty seriously, so always give credit to ideas that are not yours to avoid academic misconduct (https://aisc.uci.edu/students/academic-integrity/definitions.php).
- Manage stress. Yes, we know writing can be stressful, you are not alone. Make sure to spare some time for your hobbies or hangout with friends and vent about how hard writing is. Sometimes you can overcome a writers’ block by relaxing for a bit. If you need help managing stress, the Counseling center offers workshops designed for graduate students (https://counseling.uci.edu/services/groups.html). You can chat about the difficulties you are facing and learn new ways to deal with them.
After writing:
- Hey, you are done! Congratulations! Have some fun!
Hope this article was helpful in your writing journey.