No video

How to improve your writing: A guide for PhD students and academics

  Рет қаралды 186,187

James Hayton PhD

James Hayton PhD

Күн бұрын

For details of my online academic writing course for PhD students: phd.academy/th...
Writing is an essential skill for any PhD student or academic, but it's also a huge source of stress. This is partly due to the scale and complexity of the task, but also due to a general lack of training in writing.
Many of the most common pieces of advice (like, "just get words down and sort it out later") simply do not work. In this lecture given at the University of Tübingen in October 2022 I explain some key principles of structure and process that can be applied to any project.

Пікірлер: 98
@James_Hayton
@James_Hayton Ай бұрын
If you like this video, check out this other live talk on The Basic Principles Every PhD Student Needs to Know: 👉 kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jNh9qqSA2aidg2g.html
@steevensonrosema8125
@steevensonrosema8125 Ай бұрын
I am going to start my PhD studies this coming fall. I was worried about writing a thesis, but I have come across your video. I feel more confident about writing in my field. Thank you, Dr. Hayton.
@James_Hayton
@James_Hayton Ай бұрын
Best of luck!
@akmalbakar5078
@akmalbakar5078 Ай бұрын
Im a research scientist in industry and I found this incredibly helpful. Particularly about how other aspects of the research might be causing the issues in writing. Thank you!
@JennyChengSvicS
@JennyChengSvicS Ай бұрын
Found this on my feed. I regret that KZfaq didn't recommend this soon when I'm still in uni :(
@NecroSonic1
@NecroSonic1 Жыл бұрын
Good applicable points. Other than structure I find that tone is also an important yet underrated aspect of academic writing. Of course some disciplines might enjoy more liberty than others but I find that many academics writes in a needlessly boring style. When I began writing my PhD dissertation I would also feel obliged to write in a style where I would distance myself from the writing and strive to make myself invisible as the author of the text in some misunderstood attempt at objectivity. When I read through my dissertation around a 100 pages in I found it to be terribly boring and felt like it could have been written by someone else. So, I decided to scrap the whole thing and start over and write it in a more personal style with humor and excitement and I hoped that it would not be dismissed as being less scientific. It was much more fun to write and edit the new version and at the defense it turned out that the assessment committee really valued the personal style of writing. One even said that it had been such a joy to read and that it would make assessment work much more delightful if more dissertations would feature creative and unique styles of writing.
@James_Hayton
@James_Hayton Жыл бұрын
I agree- tone is a little more difficult to coach, so I tend to focus on structure as it's more fundamental to good communication and often I need to prioritize. If people get a good grip on structure and there's enough time, then I might work on getting them to express more of themselves with excitement and humour about the subject
@thudao7391
@thudao7391 Жыл бұрын
I have this concern though. I also struggle with style and tone in writing. For some reason, every time I tried to incorporate some personal style and humor into my writing, it backfired. My supervisors said that it gave off a lighthearted vibes and that no one would take this seriously. So I gave up doing so.
@youneschebini5280
@youneschebini5280 Жыл бұрын
the biggest problem with academics is boring writing style, why they just don’t be direct and simple in their writings? Is it lack of confidence or lack of engagement? Or just trying to layer the simple direct truth?
@mktsp2
@mktsp2 Жыл бұрын
@@James_Hayton I doubt that
@James_Hayton
@James_Hayton Жыл бұрын
@@youneschebini5280 I agree. They should be clear and direct. And yes, they do often dress their work in overly complicated language due to a lack of confidence.
@fernandocortes1187
@fernandocortes1187 Жыл бұрын
16:07 Stress among PHD Students 20:00 Structure 9:40 How to show what you know 28:00 The process...use a mind map to guide the writing 48:14 Q&A e índice de lo visto
@Monamie44
@Monamie44 Жыл бұрын
Writing up my PhD thesis now. Many thanks.
@AmberSoleil1
@AmberSoleil1 Жыл бұрын
He missed “crying under your desk” in his process section
@paperclips1306
@paperclips1306 10 ай бұрын
Does that work. If it works I will also cry under the desk.
@marryamakbaar3014
@marryamakbaar3014 9 ай бұрын
It's absolutely necessary to cry, that's built in human system to coping mechanism ! It's important for us and normal 😌 don't worry about it !
@areliousmuckle8249
@areliousmuckle8249 6 ай бұрын
😮 so I'm not the only one.
@AmberSoleil1
@AmberSoleil1 6 ай бұрын
Definitely not! Stay strong! :P @@areliousmuckle8249
@kalaisai680
@kalaisai680 4 ай бұрын
I can't even cry😂😂
@asthasharma8770
@asthasharma8770 8 ай бұрын
So extensive guidance. Glad to listen to this video. Lots of important tips and the speaker has immense patience.
@BrodieGiesbrecht
@BrodieGiesbrecht Жыл бұрын
Your lectures are extremely helpful, thank you for posting these! Believe it or not, writing has been my favorite part of my undergraduate degree so far. I'm sure these tips will help me improve!
@James_Hayton
@James_Hayton Жыл бұрын
I enjoy writing too! I don't think people should suffer through it
@parishayjahanzeb2578
@parishayjahanzeb2578 Жыл бұрын
Hi Hayton, I wish, i knew this at the time of my grad school. I was literally struggling with writing at that time .I stuck myself confronting three things 1. Knowledge of particular discipline on given topic. 2. Research methodolgy (worrying about the research principles) 3. How to structure my ideas ( the most frustrating part). Thank God i saw your videos. it will surely help in my academic career. May Allah bless you.
@steevensonrosema8125
@steevensonrosema8125 Ай бұрын
@@parishayjahanzeb2578 Hi, I have been struggling with these three things in my PhD now. That is why this video is useful for me 😁. Thank you for showing that I am not the only one 😭
@TVWJ
@TVWJ Жыл бұрын
I always tell them to start constructing the story, without worrying too much about the language. Could be power-point style. Formulate a main message for the entire article, and present the new evidence for that message, and construct the arguments, and put the things in the right order. Once you have done that, then you can focus more on the text.
@JorgeZiyad
@JorgeZiyad 10 ай бұрын
I want to thank you for posting this video. It has got many information that I find valuable.
@lily08799
@lily08799 3 ай бұрын
Amazing presentations! It is indeed very important to learn to select from numurous evidence to tell a comprehensive story.
@ashleynguyen4802
@ashleynguyen4802 Ай бұрын
Thanks for your video, it helps me so much for academic writing skill!
@PRIMULA567
@PRIMULA567 Жыл бұрын
Your talks are so good, wow!!! Well done. I am in my first semester of my Master's degree in Genetics and now I am writing my research proposal, this is so helpful. THANK YOU!!
@sarah1of4
@sarah1of4 8 ай бұрын
Really liked the fundamental problem around 8:10 - made me feel a bit better about the current tangle!
@castalia6778
@castalia6778 Жыл бұрын
I can't get enough of these lectures. Mr. Hayton, thank you so much!
@eulissaharvey5640
@eulissaharvey5640 Жыл бұрын
Eulissa Harvey I totally agree, one should have details. For me, gathering details gives me the the oportuinity to communicate effectively.
@mkbestmaan
@mkbestmaan 5 ай бұрын
It is great to witness wisdom in a testimony, masterclass talk. Metacognition talks help a lot. Thank you for the inspiration.
@0101799
@0101799 4 ай бұрын
Thank you so much for your lecture, Dr. Hayton! I will apply the skills you taught us in Portuguese! Greetings from Macau! :)
@elalaelasariuinjakarta7548
@elalaelasariuinjakarta7548 Жыл бұрын
Thank you, Dr. Hayton, It's a great video. I will try to apply in Indonesia. Cheers!.
@user-es9dd9wm1x
@user-es9dd9wm1x 8 ай бұрын
Best presentation on improving writing I've come across - thanks for sharing your lecture
@user-es9dd9wm1x
@user-es9dd9wm1x 8 ай бұрын
Is it possible to get access to the slides ?
@topromanticsong-trs7528
@topromanticsong-trs7528 7 күн бұрын
Thank you so much for sharing, Sir!
@James_Hayton
@James_Hayton 6 күн бұрын
You're welcome!
@stern_noon
@stern_noon 11 күн бұрын
Thank you for sharing this, it's so helpful.
@TVWJ
@TVWJ Жыл бұрын
For introductions - a way to get around that: Write a sentence: "in this article we present..." ("This research will... " !) and complete the sentence stating what you are going to do in the article. That sentence will contain a number of key words and concepts (these are related to the "situation, problem, current knowledge on the topic, and the approach you have chosen to address it). Find these items, they must be explained in your introduction. This will basically select what you need to explain (avoid irrelevant information), and also force you to put the things in a meaningful order. It is kind of writing your intro "backwards" - but by doing that, you have a clear focus when you write your introduction.
@James_Hayton
@James_Hayton Жыл бұрын
How does your approach force you to put things in a meaningful order, without addressing the relationship between ideas? I'm sure you can do it, but I've seen countless students use your approach but the writing is a total mess. The challenge in explaining the writing process is understanding those instinctive things we do in a way that someone else can follow. In your other comment, you say to formulate a main message and present evidence for it... but sometimes it's better to put the main message at the end as the argument and evidence leads the reader to the new conclusion... is this what you mean by writing backwards?
@TVWJ
@TVWJ Жыл бұрын
@@James_Hayton Hi James. What I mean is that it is easier to select the material you need if you have the main message of your article as a focus point. I tell my students (I am an industrial coach) to write that sentence down. Of course, you have to address the relationship between the ideas and concepts, in the article itself this will be in your argumentation - the results and discussion parts. In introductions, having the final sentence in your head, with all the keywords/concepts in it helps to select what you should actually explain in the introduction and what not. If that one sentence you write down should make sense to a reader, you have to think about in what order you have to go through the keywords in that sentence, and of course explain what the relationship between the points is. That is then the storytelling part. I find this an efficient way to decide what you should put in and what you can leave out. It helps you to stay on the main track, and not get lost in sidetracks, as I often see in manuscripts (as a reviewer) and also in published articles. So my strategy is not to replace the thinking - there is no easy workaround for that ;-), but it is a useful guideline in what you should be thinking about.
@fredkiller5132
@fredkiller5132 Жыл бұрын
You are the best! Been a fan since "... Without Going Insane". 👍👍👍
@httv8677
@httv8677 Ай бұрын
Thank you so much. I take notes a lot.
@chitararajeshkumar5934
@chitararajeshkumar5934 3 ай бұрын
Thank You sir for the informative session
@mamoako1521
@mamoako1521 Жыл бұрын
14:47 Basic structure for the introduction of any project
@tawfiqezaz3455
@tawfiqezaz3455 Жыл бұрын
Thanks for your useful tips
@mehnazhossain4632
@mehnazhossain4632 3 ай бұрын
Well thank you.
@studyandworkbuddy
@studyandworkbuddy Ай бұрын
14:36 Structure
@ledwinahungwe6001
@ledwinahungwe6001 Жыл бұрын
Powerful presentations
@Gorboduc
@Gorboduc Жыл бұрын
Upvoted the second he said that Just Write™ is trash advice.
@NHSHEARTTRANSPLANT
@NHSHEARTTRANSPLANT 6 ай бұрын
Thanks! A lot
@SengkhounLim
@SengkhounLim 2 ай бұрын
Thank you for this video.
@econshariful
@econshariful 6 ай бұрын
I am half way to finish this amazing video. Would you please share the PPT?
@tasnimsarker4653
@tasnimsarker4653 Жыл бұрын
Thank you so much professor.
@user-ec1hz4zn8i
@user-ec1hz4zn8i 8 ай бұрын
wow! Thank you so much
@luisalfonso5205
@luisalfonso5205 Жыл бұрын
Your videos are so enjoyable! I'm currently stuck in the process of submitting my first draft at journals. Do you have any recommendations or videos that could be helpful for this process?
@James_Hayton
@James_Hayton Жыл бұрын
show the work to your supervisor and get feedback before submitting- also ask your supervisor about the process as they'll be able to guide you
@rubabanaqvi3774
@rubabanaqvi3774 Ай бұрын
Excellent talk . Great insight. Please could you tell me should AI be employed for academic writing
@James_Hayton
@James_Hayton Ай бұрын
Short answer is no. You can use it for proofreading, but if you are using it to generate text then that-s a very bad idea. You need to be able to defend everything you write, and if it turns out you don't know what you've said (or don't understand what you cite, or cite invented papers as AI often does), then you will fail.
@dlaminirozay3016
@dlaminirozay3016 9 ай бұрын
I can hear what you are saying but it's hard to get the papers for information iam trying to attempt I stuck lot I wish to excel on this.
@PhDsoonish
@PhDsoonish 9 ай бұрын
You are right Dr. Hayton, I need write 3 papers each ones in a different languages, I do NOT knows where to start. The papers is due buy December 21, 2023. This is old video I hopes you is still alive?
@RIGTV-nb5jy
@RIGTV-nb5jy Ай бұрын
Great
@diarimachan
@diarimachan Жыл бұрын
1.5 hours and keeps my attention
@ninirema4532
@ninirema4532 Жыл бұрын
Dear prof Dr sir Very sweet good morning 🌄🌄🌞🌞🌞 Thank you very much 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏❤😅
@yousefalqurashi777
@yousefalqurashi777 Жыл бұрын
When writing a Dissertation in humanities - particularly in philosophy and theory of something (political theory for example), it is a whole other story. you are just flowing in a sea of narratives and trying to fix up something from almost nothing. no data, no problem, no analytics, just philosophy. I hope that you have something on this issue
@James_Hayton
@James_Hayton Жыл бұрын
most of the students I've worked with have been in the humanities, and I can tell you that my approach evolved from working with those students. You need structure. There is no other way. If you understand how structure works, you don't need to be adrift in a sea of narratives, you can systematically and logically construct an argument in exactly the same way as in the sciences. If you don't have a problem or question to answer, what are you doing?
@Heyu7her3
@Heyu7her3 Жыл бұрын
I did my undergraduate studies in Philipsburg and had to do a thesis. While I agree that the theoretical writing is very different from empirical writing, you do still have some sort of problem that you solve or address in some way (through sources, proofs, thought experiment, etc). There's still a structure -- of course, not like an empirical paper, but still there.
@James_Hayton
@James_Hayton Жыл бұрын
It's not really that different at all. The key is that you can use structured thinking to figure out what you want to say, but to do short, standalone pieces to explore specific aspects of a problem. As you figure out more of the pieces you start to notice connections and patterns, then you can put together a complete document once you've clarified your thoughts and know what you want to say
@yokkanyanat1532
@yokkanyanat1532 Жыл бұрын
@@James_Hayton Thank you so much! This suggestion helps me too.
@mehnazhossain4632
@mehnazhossain4632 3 ай бұрын
I start with the introduction which was dissonant with conventional advice. That brought in doubts. On what one should do rather than what have been doing. That was confusing. Past.
@user-bx2cc5fv3w
@user-bx2cc5fv3w Жыл бұрын
Hello. Dr.Hayton. Very nice resource. Can i get the slides that you used if possible? Thanks
@mavicityrelayson2924
@mavicityrelayson2924 9 ай бұрын
I need a workaround on that being completely offline thing. Most of my stuff are in the cloud.
@James_Hayton
@James_Hayton 9 ай бұрын
you can block distracting sites and leave essential ones accessible
@mehnazhossain4632
@mehnazhossain4632 3 ай бұрын
Aren't the details guided by the science. Research methodology. And methods? I might have missed the point?
@James_Hayton
@James_Hayton 3 ай бұрын
Yes, the details are guided by the science... I don't understand your comment
@nothydropump845
@nothydropump845 Ай бұрын
What do you think of large language models and the possibility for them to 'academicize' our texts for us without altering the contents of the text? Is it possible that writing excellence will lose some value to academia?
@nothydropump845
@nothydropump845 Ай бұрын
Also you say 'there is no other field in human activity .....and to ignore the details' but you know there is a lot of sports related activities where teachers will tell you that, with science to back it up
@nothydropump845
@nothydropump845 Ай бұрын
or would you call those teachers coaches...
@James_Hayton
@James_Hayton Ай бұрын
If the input is rubbish, AI can't fix it. Academic writing will always be a valuable skill, but AI can be useful for proofreading
@James_Hayton
@James_Hayton Ай бұрын
Going quickly without thought only applies once you have a high level of skill (for example in a competition setting, where you rely on the skill development you've done in training). If you want to improve or modify a skill, you have to slow down and pay attention (you can't do this in a competition setting)
@nothydropump845
@nothydropump845 Ай бұрын
@@James_Hayton Still though, what if the input is logically sound and also objectively valid, but is just said in grammatically incorrect ways or ways not seen as academical? Let's take 2 imaginary people who go to college, are smart, and lets assume they both write a paper which is logically sound and empirically valid, and both writers manage to communicate their ideas in such a way that the reader is able to fully understand. Now let's say that one writes in a perfect academic style and the other writes with vocabulary which a 12 year old would understand. In current academia, the second submission would be failed (even if the contribution the paper makes to the science field it is proposed to is important). I argue that a.i (in the near future) will be able to academicize the second paper, making it on par with the first. Now i am not saying that writing skills are therefore void and useless, but what i am saying is that person 2 does not deserve to be failed for his paper on the grounds of it being written simply. I understand that the second person would and should be failed in all time before now, but in the modern digitalized era, i think it is time to de-value writing as measure of intelligence
@vectoralphaSec
@vectoralphaSec Жыл бұрын
I thought you were Greg Miller from a distance.
@augustinzouzou6786
@augustinzouzou6786 7 ай бұрын
How can I be in touch with you Dr ? I want to write my Thesis in Finance , please let me know to reach you
@MadofaA
@MadofaA Жыл бұрын
9:40 the effect on our writng ability of being educated to pass tests.
@sumantranray2414
@sumantranray2414 Жыл бұрын
your videos are on important topics. But why are they soooo lengthy > 1 hour ?
@James_Hayton
@James_Hayton Жыл бұрын
i do shorter ones too. Take your pick!
@khansvirtualdiary
@khansvirtualdiary 8 ай бұрын
📝📨🖥️
The best PhD literature review the world has ever seen
18:26
James Hayton PhD
Рет қаралды 11 М.
The basic principles every PhD student needs to know
1:09:14
James Hayton PhD
Рет қаралды 243 М.
❌Разве такое возможно? #story
01:00
Кэри Найс
Рет қаралды 3,8 МЛН
Glow Stick Secret Pt.4 😱 #shorts
00:35
Mr DegrEE
Рет қаралды 9 МЛН
КАКУЮ ДВЕРЬ ВЫБРАТЬ? 😂 #Shorts
00:45
НУБАСТЕР
Рет қаралды 3,5 МЛН
How To Improve Your LISTENING SKILLS | LBCC Study Skills
48:47
Long Beach City College
Рет қаралды 4,1 МЛН
Lecture #9: How to Read so that you *Retain* Information
23:20
Jeffrey Kaplan
Рет қаралды 2,4 МЛН
PhD: How to write a great research paper
1:00:38
Microsoft Research
Рет қаралды 195 М.
LEADERSHIP LAB: The Craft of Writing Effectively
1:21:52
UChicago Social Sciences
Рет қаралды 8 МЛН
6 Levels of Thinking Every Student MUST Master
17:12
Justin Sung
Рет қаралды 1,6 МЛН
Basic Academic Writing
38:07
Walter Lowe
Рет қаралды 150 М.
Judy Swan, Scientific Writing: Beyond Tips and Tricks
1:25:49
Public Communication for Researchers
Рет қаралды 387 М.