Writing regularly as a thesis-completion strategy

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2022-01-27 16:00:05

Published in Tanya M. Machin, Marc Clarà and Patrick Alan Danaher (eds.), Traversing the Doctorate: Reflections and Strategies from Students, Supervisors and Administrators (Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), pp. 179-192 pdf of published chapter

After supervising many PhD students, I discovered research on methods that make academics more productive. I invited my students to follow a writing programme designed to overcome tendencies towards procrastination and excessive perfectionism. The programme involves a shift from focusing on content to focusing on the mechanics and thoughts involved in writing. I also discovered that brief regular contact with students is more effective than longer, less frequent meetings, and that learning to share early drafts of writing helps overcome debilitating perfectionism. Best of all, the regular-writing approach reduces stress and offers the promise of a smoother transition to post-PhD productivity.

In 2008, I had been supervising PhD students for 20 years when I happened on a short book by Tara Gray (2005/2015) titled Publish & Flourish. This led me to change my approach considerably. In supervising, I now focus more on the process of doing research, especially writing, and less on the content. The results have been positive.