So in this next module we're gonna kind of change modes here and for the rest of the
week we're gonna be talking about the writing process itself.
So this is very important because how you approach writing can really influence your
enjoyment of the whole process and, and can really influence how your piece comes
out of the end of the day so I am really like to put a lot of emphasis on talking
about the writing process and it really, this can apply to any type of writing that
you might be doing, not just scientific manuscripts.
But for scientific manuscripts what I really talking about here today is when
you've already done your experiments and you've got your data, you got your, you
know data organized in some way and at that point now you're ready to write up a
manuscript around that set up experiments and that set of data.
So what do you do, then? .
Well There's kinda two things that I think happen when you get to that stage.
So, a lot of people when they get to that stage it's like, okay, I've got my
experience, I've got my data, I really wanna rush this to publication,
Maybe it's, you know, something that's I wanna publish first.
So, some people will say, great, I'm ready to write, and the next day or right, you
know, the minute after they get their data all set up,
They're gonna jump right into. They pop open the computer.
The, pop open the Word document, and jump into writing.
So, just the, you know, get right into it. [inaudible] gonna, gonna barrel right
through it. So that's one approach.
Another very common approach is that people will get all of their experiments
and their datas all done, They're, they're ready to write the
manuscript, But it'll sit on their desk for a really,
really long time. So you know, they'll find the seven other
things that they have to do that are more important,
And it'll sit there for weeks and weeks and weeks, even months, and it won't get
done. They'll procrastinate on it.
So, actually I think both of those approaches are flawed.
I'm going to tell you why. So, and so hopefully, some of the tips I'm
going to give you today are going to explain why I think both of those
approaches are a little bit flawed. So, when I think of the writing process, I
actually like to break it into three distinct phases,
And I really like to separate these three phases in my head,
And I'm going to encourage you to kind of separate these three things.
It's, think of them as distinct. I'll tell you why.
So I think the way that a lot of people write actually is to convolute all of
those three steps. And that leads to all sorts of problems
that I've got to talk about. So, for me the writing process has these
three distinct phases. So there's what I call the pre writing
phase. So that's the when you're collecting,
synthesizing, and organizing all your facts your information that's going to go
into your piece or your manuscript. You're working out the take home messages,
You're figuring out the flow of ideas and the organization.
So a lot of people skip that step right? They just as I mentioned earlier they just
jumped right into the manuscript and they don't do any prewriting like that.
They think its more efficient and I guarantee you it's not but they think its
more efficient to jump right in to writing.
But I like to actually separate that phase out because what happens is a lot of
people, again, kind of convolute the prewriting and the writing.
So if you don't take time to do the prewriting stuff and you jump right into
opening the blank Word document on your computer, you end up convoluting
prewriting and writing, and it looks something like this.
So today I'm going to write my introduction section, so I pop open the
blank Word document. And the first time this is kinda general,
so I write the first sentence. Okay now I get to the second sentence Oh,
I need that specific statistic that's in that paper by Jones and Owl.
So now I got to find that statistic. So what am I going to do?
Okay I don't have it at my fingertips cuz I haven't done my pre writing step.
So I'm gonna toggle over to pub med. Try to find that paper.
Oh, Can't find it in pub med, so I'm gonna just over to google, good old google.
I found, I find the paper in google. Pop open the pdf oh, the statistic is not
in the abstract. I got to kinda riffle through the pdf.
Finally, I find the statistic. Oh, it's fifteen%, now I'm gonna pop that
statistic and that reference into my ongoing draft.
And notice that at this point, it's taken you about twenty, 30 minutes to write two
sentences. So, that is a very painful and inefficient
way to write and in fact, what that person was doing wasn't writing at all.
They were just fishing for information, collecting information.
And so when you convolute those two steps, it leaves you to write in this very
inefficient manner. Not only that, but because they're kind of
paying attention to one detail at a time, what often happens is they kind of lose
the big picture scope of the story. They haven't organized it or thought it
out, and they come out with something that's very, very disorganized.
And, of course, also, when you're toggling over to Google or PubMed, there's a
tendency to get distracted, right? You're taking your focus away from
writing, and writing is something that takes a lot of focus and energy.
But once you're over to Google, well, you might as well go to Amazon and order those
supplies you need, you might as well go check your email, you might as well get to
Facebook. Right?
You get it? You end up being distracted.
So I encourage students to actually do what I call this pre writing step,
To get, go through, get all your information,
Organize it, get your information at your fingertips,
Kind of lay out, What's going to go in your piece ahead of
time, before you open up that blank word document.
So that's the prewriting stuff. The writing the first draft, that, this is
when you would actually get at the computer, open up that blank word
document, And you compose prose.
And that step, for most people is the most difficult.
That's the hardest thing for most people to do is to actually write prose like, you
know, in front of the computer. And so I'm gonna give you some tips to
[inaudible], help improve, to help make that step a little bit easier, hopefully.
And then the, the third step is the revision.
That's after you've written the first draft, you go back and you revise it to
make it sound better. Now again, a lot of people convolute steps
two and three here. Notice they try to write and revise at the
same time, and that also leads to inefficient and problematic writing.
So that looks like something like you know, a lot of students tell me.
I can't move on the next sentence until I get the last sentence perfect.
They just refuse to move on until everything perfect.
And I used to be guilty of this too so I understand that impulse to wild life be a
perfectionist, But the problem with that is that is it
takes a really live long time to write because it takes you forever to go on to
one sentence. So you're not going to get that first
draft down quickly and efficiently. And you're also losing sight again of the
big picture of just trying to get the ideas down, get them organized and you
again end up with something that's disorganized,
And it's a really painful writing process. So those are the three steps.
I'm gonna go through each one of these in a separate module cause' I think it's so
important to talk about the details of these.
But for now, I want you to kind of think about your own writing process,
Reflect on your own writing process. And think about proportionally, like if
you've got 30 hours that it takes you to write a manuscript.
About what percent of the time do you spend in each one of those steps?
Pre writing versus writing, versus revision.
So take a minute and reflect on that. Think about how you allocate your time.
If you need, you can even pause the video for a moment, and kinda go though and you
know, evaluate your own writing process. So for most students I actually think and
I polled students on this before, Most students tell me that they spend the
majority of their time on step number two, the writing step.
Well that makes sense right, it's the writing process we're talking about, so
don't we spend the most of, most of your time writing right?
That's what everybody would think. So the emphasis tends to be on that
writing step, and people think, That they're spending a lot of time
writing, And they, and they may very well be.
They're spending a lot of time at the computer doing something that they think
is writing. Of course, again, it might be convoluting
with one of these other steps. So, I'm gonna try to shake up your writing
process a little bit, and tell you what I think, roughly what I think you should be
aiming for in terms of how you allocate your time.
So, this may surprise some of you. So this is what I think it should be,
roughly, and these percentages are not exact.
I'm just using them to kind of give you a sense of where I think you should
emphasize putting in your time. So I really think that you need to spend a
lot of time pre writing. In fact, the majority of your time should
be spent in this pre writing phase. And I'm gonna talk in great detail about
what should happen there in the next module.
But getting ready to write, getting organized, getting your information at
your finger tips. Then notice, that I allocated the very
little, smallest amount of time, to writing the first draft.
Now that may surprise some of you, because here I am, a writing teacher telling you
to spend less time writing. But what I'm trying to get at here, is
that I want you to start writing in a way that is very efficient.
Where you're writing quickly, because you're ready to write, and you're not
trying to revise at the same time. You're getting that first draft down
quickly, but in a nice, organized fashion. But spending less of the time on that
stuff, because that stuff is the hardest and it takes the most focus and the most
energy. And then, finally, I've put twenty% for
revision because I want to emphasize the idea that you should be spending more time
revising than you should writing the first draft and probably a lot of you don't do
that now, so I really want to put that emphasis on revision.
Revision is where elegance happens in writing, so that's where your writing
really becomes elegant. I'm going to show you some examples later.
So this is probably roughly how I allocate my time when I am writing a piece,
And you'll find exactly what works for you,
It doesn't have to be exactly these percentages,
But I have found that this is the most efficient way to write if I divide my time
this way. So, in the next couple of modules I am
gonna go through each of these steps and tell you exactly what should happen in
each of those steps. The proceeding program is copyrighted by
the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University.
Please visit us at med.stanford.edu.