If youโre a regular reader of this blog, you will know that Iโve spent the last few years working on a book about graduate writing. That process is now drawing to a close: Thriving as a Graduate Writer will be published in June! Between now and then, Iโm going to use this space to share brief excerpts. In addition to my discussion of principles, strategies, and habits for effective academic writing, the book has short โasidesโ that allowed me to engage with topics outside that main narrative. Over the next four months, Iโll share my favourites of those asides. As always, Iโd love to hear what you think!
Since graduate students are so often on the receiving end of advice, some of you might find it helpful to be able to engage in a quick translation process.
Advice: You should do X.ย
The person telling you to do X is probably suggesting a way to achieve something (letโs call it Y). Unfortunately, they arenโt talking about the importance of Y or telling you how you might achieve Y; they are just telling you to do X. If all you do is attempt X, without understanding its connection to Y, you might actually make your situation worse. A little further investigation on your part can help translate the advice into something more helpful:ย
Translation: You should do X because Y.ย
Once you have that formulation, to can adapt the advice to your own purposes:
Advice you can use: You should do something to achieve Y.ย
To make this more concrete, letโs consider a perennial favourite bit of writing advice:ย
Advice: You should write in the morning.
This advice is fine if you are a morning person; however, if you are not, you may end up struggling to force yourself to write according to someone elseโs temperament. Or maybe you are a morning person, but your life circumstancesโthe demands of paid work or care workโprevent you from using that time for writing. To avoid the frustration of advice that doesnโt work for you or your life, you can try to understand the underlying reason for the advice:ย
Translation: You should write in the morning to avoid wasting your best energy of the day.
Advice you can use: You should find ways to avoid wasting your best energy of the day.
Now the ballโs in your court. You need to identify when you have the most energy and find waysโwithin the context of your lifeโto preserve that time for writing. This translation technique has the potential to help you to use supervisory advice, especially when you find it overly attuned to the specificity of someone elseโs writing situation. The clichรฉ that all advice is a form of nostalgia can be true. But itโs possible to translate such advice into a more suitable form, thereby deriving the benefit of advice in a way that makes sense in your writing life.
Thriving as a Graduate Writer will be available in early June from the University of Michigan Press. To pre-order your copy, visit theย book page. Order online and save 30% with discount code UMS23!
rcayley
Book Cover showing title: Thriving as a Graduate Writer