Category: Academic Writing

Responding to Student Writing to Encourage Revision

Meghan Hancock, Assistant Director for Graduate Student Writing

The University of Louisville Writing Center’s website isn’t only meant for students to make appointments and browse for writing resources. It’s also there for faculty to utilize when teaching writing in their courses. Our Resources for Faculty page provides helpful information from what to expect when your students make appointments at the Writing Center, to how to schedule consultants to come to your class to talk about what the Writing Center does.

We also recently dedicated a section of our website to Resources for Teaching Writing. In this section, we provide some strategies for faculty to think about using when teaching writing in their courses. These strategies grow from topics we have thought a lot about as writing instructors ourselves, and also from common topics we hear our colleagues discussing when it comes to teaching writing in their classrooms.

Below, you will find what we have provided for strategies to help you when you are thinking of ways to respond to student writing in your classroom.

Instructor comments on students’ writing is an important part of helping students become effective academic writers, and can provide the productive feedback a student writer needs to revise a particular assignment. Responding to student writing can be a challenging task, however, particularly when deciding what feedback to include in a response. Too much feedback can be overwhelming for students, while too little feedback can leave students feeling they don’t have a clear direction for revision.

At the University Writing Center, our consultants work with students to help them understand instructors’ responses as well as come up with plans for revision based on instructors’ responses. Here are some strategies, though, that may help when structuring and formatting commentary on student writing, as well as in prioritizing types of feedback.

Some forms of comment have proved to be more effective than others.

Research on student writing has demonstrated that a draft covered in corrections and cryptic comments such as “vague” or “needs more detail” is not as effective as fewer, more detailed comments. Explaining what kind of detail is needed, for example, is more helpful to students. Also, students report that the comments they find most helpful to their writing are those that point them forward to how best to revise the next draft (or complete the next assignment) by suggesting new ideas, strategies, or questions, rather than only making criticisms on the current draft. Finally, pointing out to student how and why a piece of a draft or paper is effective also helps the student learn to recognize and potentially replicate the writing in future assignments.

Different comments can serve different functions in response.

End comments commonly take the form of a letter written to the student about overall or more holistic strengths and weaknesses of the writer’s paper, as well as what productive directions for revision the responder would recommend. Marginal comments are your chance to point to specific places in the paper. These places could be anything from a thesis statement that needs work, to an unclear sentence or paragraph, to a quotation that needs more explanation. End comments can also be a chance to explain how marginal comments play into the bigger picture of the response. In other words, try to refer to some specific marginal comments in your end comments as examples for what the student can work on in a revision.

It helps to distinguish in comments between higher- and lower-order concerns.

Higher order concerns, like overall organization, whether a paper has a clear argument, what kinds of examples the writer is using for evidence, etc., are the most effective places to begin in responding to student writing, as these conceptual issues are much more challenging for writers to address in a revision. Although problems with grammar and style can be frustrating to read, correcting those errors for students is not an effective approach to either revision or teaching grammar and style. Instead, respond to these issues by telling the writer what patterns of error you are noticing in their writing (for example, run-on sentences, subject/verb agreement, or comma use) so they can be more conscious of them in the future.

Explain to students your approach to response.

Different instructors can use very different approaches to responding to student writing. Comments can vary in emphasis, length, and detail. It can be helpful to students to explain how you approach reading their work and what you will emphasize in your comments. Such explanations can be included in the assignment if you wish. In addition, it can be helpful to have students respond to your comments, both to ensure they have read them and to engage in a more dialogic process. For example, if you have commented on student drafts, you might ask students to send you an email in which they explain their plan for revision based on your comments. You can check such email quickly and see if the students plan to address your concerns.

Use other forms of response such as conferences or audio comments.

If time allows, try conferencing individually with students to discuss your written comments with them as well as give them the opportunity to ask you questions if any of your comments are unclear to them. If this isn’t possible, try to dedicate the last ten or fifteen minutes of a class meeting for your students to read your written comments and ask you questions or raise concerns. Some instructors also find success using audio comments that can be recorded digitally and even attached to student texts. For an example of how to use audio comments, see this link.

Try responding at different points in the writing process.

Responding at different stages in the writing process can both save time and offer students clearer direction as they work on the writing. For example, asking for a brief proposal for a paper, or responding to the first two pages, can help catch issues of focus and analysis early in the process and takes less time than reading longer papers.

Read the paper first, before commenting.

Jot down some notes on a separate piece of paper instead, focusing on common themes you notice that you might want to address in your response. This will keep you from commenting too much and will allow you to prioritize what you comment on when you read through the paper the second time. Also, if you are handwriting your comments, try not to use a red pen if you can help it. Many students associate this color with past negative responses to their writing in school and it may cause anxiety for them.

Encourage students to visit the University Writing Center.

We often work with students to help them plan how to revise assignments based on instructor comments and would be happy to work with your students.

Here are some links that might also be helpful when thinking through how to respond to student writing:

Responding to Higher Order Concerns and Lower Order Concerns – The Purdue OWL

“Beyond the Red Ink: Teachers’ Comments Through Students’ Eyes” (Video) – Nancy Sommers

“Responding to Student Writing” – University of Delaware Writing Center

“Using Audio Comments to Respond to Student Writing” – University of Wisconsin- Madison Writing Center

“Responding to Writing of Non-Native Speakers of English” – University of Minnesota Center for Writing

We’re Always Learning About Writing: The Importance of the University Writing Center as a Site of Research

Bronwyn T. Williams, Director

The obvious work of the University Writing Center takes place during the writing consultations. If you walk in and see the room filled with people in conversation about writing project, it might be easy to think about the individual teaching as all that happens here. Yet another important aspect of our work in the Writing Center is not immediately visible during consultations, but is vital to helping us engage in effective teaching with the writers with whom we work. In addition to being a place where people can get support for their writing projects, the University Writing Center is an active research site into the theory and practice of Writing Center work. By learning more about writing and how writers learn, we improve our work and contribute to the scholarly conversations in the the field of Writing Studies. For example, many of the graduate students who work as consultants in the Writing Center also engage in research on everything from how international students work in online consultations, to how to teach ideas about genre in writing, to how Writing Centers work in community colleges. Such research can form the core of a graduate students’ dissertation or MA project, or result in publication in the scholarly journals and books in our field. You can find a list of some of the research projects that have emerged from the Writing Center on our webpage.

Engaging in research is vital to the work we do in the Writing Center. Writing doesn’t stand still. By that I mean that writing is a complex social endeavor that we are constantly having to study to understand. It’s widely accepted in our field that writing is more than just making or deciphering marks on a page. The way we write, the way we learn to write, and what we write are all shaped by the social world that surrounds us. Everything from technology to language to changes in the culture around us influence how reading and writing happens. For example, the rapid changes in digital technology have changed the writing and reading practices of everyone in the University (as is obvious if you’re reading this blog). If you ask twenty people at the University how changes in technology have influenced student writing, you might get twenty different answers, some of which might be accurate and others wildly wrong. Our research, like all research at the University, is intended to help us move beyond our initial opinions and gut instincts to gain a clearer understanding of the complex nature of student writing and student writers today. With such an understanding we can work more effectively with writers to help their work communicate their ideas in creative and critical ways, and to teach them skills and approaches that will help them be better writers in the future.

In addition to working to understand more about how people write and how we can teach them to be better writers, we work to conduct research in an ethical and participatory manner. We do our best not to regard the writers involved in our research as lab rats that we can observe with detachment and analyze at our pleasure. Instead we want to conduct research that is collaborative and participatory in nature. We want to do more than simply comply with University ethics guidelines (which we do, of course). We want to model research with writers in the Writing Center as something that they learn from, and benefits them directly, even as we learn more for ourselves. One of the core values of Writing Center work is a dialogic approach to teaching and learning. We work in conversation with students and faculty who come to the Writing Center. We start from where they are, and respond to their concerns as we also discuss with them the ideas and questions we find in their work. This same kind of participatory and dialogic approach helps shape our research ethics and practices and is part of our identity. We believe in a model of research that is reciprocal and engages everyone involved in learning and creating knowledge.

Tomorrow, we’re taking some of our research on the road. Along with Adam Robinson, Associate Director of the Writing Center, and Ashly Bender and Jessica Winck, two of our Assistant Directors, I will be attending the annual conference of the national Council of Writing Program Administrators. The CWPA is an organization that discusses both the practice of administering writing programs, as well as pedagogical approaches to teaching writing. At the conference, we’ll be presenting on a panel titled, Writing Centers as Enclaves: Creating Spaces for Pedagogical and Political Change. After the conference, I’ll be writing more about this idea next week. As with any academic conference, we’re looking forward not just to presenting our ideas, but in learning from the conversation from the people there. It is all part of connecting research and teaching in order to improve all of our practices in the Writing Center.

No Dissertation without Self-Care & Self-Advocacy

Brittany Kelley, Consultant

Last week, I worked as a consultant at the Dissertation Writing Retreat. We were all at different stages of dissertating: finalizing the prospectus; building the lit. review chapter and gathering data; and narrowing a mountainous amount of data into a book-length project. Yet, we were all facing similar challenges, similar internal questions:

How can/do I possibly make it through a project so big?!
How can I set good writing routines? What does that even mean?!
I’ve got all these things I love right in front of me, how do I choose which ones to write about?!
What about my committee?

We also all shared some similar challenges in our writing: writer’s block; organization issues; typos; identifying just the right amount of content. You know, all those things you can expect.

But, by and large, we all started to see that the biggest challenge we faced was to remember that we needed, first and foremost, to care for ourselves as we dissertated. That we needed to give ourselves moments of rest. We needed to acknowledge even small victories. We had to remember to ask for what we need.

In other words, we all realized that there could be no dissertation without self-care and self-advocacy.

It seems to me that this is true of all writing situations. Writing is a way we figure things out. It’s a way that we communicate our needs and ideas with others. And it can be exciting as much as terrifying. It can be emotionally draining (and, I find, it often is). The dissertation process can be even more so, because it seems like it’s a proving ground, rather than a starting point. So, it’s important to remember self-care actions, such as:

Set small goals (100 words per day), and then provide small rewards when you meet them (one episode of a favorite TV show; one hour to do absolutely nothing school-related, etc.).
Always schedule in time for real rest. Schedule at least one, free weekend day per week. Or one full week during the summer. Take time away from the project. Allow yourself to recharge and incubate ideas.
Take time to visit your notes, and “throw-away” pages. Show yourself how much work you really have done.

And, of course, advocate for yourself.

If you need some strict deadlines, then set those up with your committee chair.
Remember that your committee is there to guide you, but that the project is yours. In other words, work with your committee to help you meet your goals for your project.
Make frequent meetings with committee members. Sometimes talking it out first is what you really need.
Consider forming a writing group with peers. Low-stakes writing communities can really help you stay motivated and confident.

The dissertation can take a lot out of you. And, as my dissertating compatriots and I discovered last week, it’s important to take the time to recharge, to care for yourself, and to advocate for yourself as you research and write.

So, happy writing! And remember to take care.

How I Write: Christy Metzger — Student Services Director

Our “How I Write” series asks writers from the University of Louisville community and beyond to respond to five questions that provide insight into their writing processes and offer advice to other writers. Through this series, we promote the idea that learning to write is an ongoing, life-long process and that all writers, from first-year students to career professionals, benefit from discussing and collaborating on their work with thoughtful and respectful readers. The series will be featured every other Wednesday.

Christy Metzger is the director for the Office of First Year Initiatives at the University of Louisville. In August 2006 she began her work in this field when she was charged to undertake the university’s more coordinated first year experience efforts. Christy earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in Spanish and Psychology from Transylvania University and a Master of Arts in Higher Education Administration from the University of Louisville.

How I Write: Christy Metzger

Location: Belknap Campus (Strickler Hall 126)

Current project: I’m working on my own This I Believe-style statement for Book-in-Common.

Currently reading: The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri and the Anne of Green Gables series by Lucy Maud Montgomery

What type(s) of writing do you regularly engage in?

Since I finished my Master’s degree, the vast majority of my writing is business writing, which I undertake for my job. No matter what the task, it’s important that I’m mindful about how I craft my message; I do believe that attention to tone, language, clarity and a mistake-free end product makes a big difference in whether I’m successful in my work or not.

Email consumes most of my writing time, as it does for many of my colleagues. I think it’s harder to persuade, clarify, inform, activate, etc. over email than it is with an in-person audience, so depending on the subject matter and recipient it may be a quick email or it might be one I really have to draft and revise. (I do a lot more drafting and revising than I do quick emails.)For executing our programs themselves, I’ve written things like facilitation guides and instruction manuals, reading guides and tips, and classroom materials. And to promote and assess our programs, I will create program brochures, web content, requests for funding, surveys and annual reports.
When/where/how do you write?

Usually I’m writing in my office at work. However, if what I’m writing feels like a more difficult task I might take that home to work on – perhaps nestled into a comfortable chair or outside on my deck when it’s warm.

When I was writing papers in graduate school, I found I was most productive at a coffee shop, where the ambient noise kept me alert but where I didn’t have the distractions (or beds) of home to sidetrack me.
What are your writing necessities—tools, accessories, music, spaces?

I type faster than I write by hand now, so I much prefer to write on a computer. I enjoy having a cup of coffee nearby, whatever notes I need, and some sort of music in the background (right now it’s afternoon decaf with peppermint mocha creamer and Don Williams crooning old country standards). If I’m at home, it’s certain that my sweet dog is nestled right up next to me.
What is your best tip for getting started and/or for revision?

My best advice is to first be clear about the key ideas you are trying to convey. That way, you can focus your writing product around that. When I started writing longer papers with open-ended topics and many different sources, I found that it helped me to begin to put my notes about each article in an outline form in a Word document. Along the way, I’ll pop in key points and thoughts I am having in response to the reading, as well as important quotes I might want to use later. The Word outline format lets me group similar ideas and move things around, and it’s from these notes that my papers grow. Sometimes whole paragraphs practically write themselves because I’ve already done a lot of the thinking along the way. When at all possible, I have someone else read and proof my writing.
What is the best writing advice you’ve received?

The best advice I received was about writing emails to my colleagues. I’m much more cognizant now that my main idea or request needs to be in the first few sentences of the email so that it’s quickly seen by the recipient. I have a tendency to want to provide a lot of context to help my reader understand why what I’m conveying is important. However, because of that my main thought or request often wound up at the bottom of a lot of writing, where it was perhaps overlooked. (I even moved my main idea up in this paragraph in case my reader lost interest to this point.) It’s a small point to make, but I do believe it can make a tremendous difference.

The Last Stretch – Making it through Final Papers

Jamison Huebsch, Consultant

It can be stressful near the end of the semester. You have final papers due, perhaps in most of your classes, and you’re often not sure if they will be finished in time and to your professor’s standards. At least I’m often worried about that. Perhaps you haven’t even started your final papers yet. If so, don’t panic because it happens to the best organized of us, but try not to let nerves stop you for working on your paper. After all, the night before its due will come not matter what, and it’s best if you’re not trying to pull an all-nighter cranking something out. To help out I’m going to offer some tips on getting your final paper across the semester finish line, so that you can enjoy your break with everyone else:

Manage Your Stress! :Take note that I didn’t write “Don’t stress”. That is almost impossible, as people have been stressing out about finals since classes instituted them. Finals are a stressful time, so learn to manage it instead. Since you know you are going to be stressed (and maybe are already suffering from some), managing your stress so you can remain productive is very important. Some of the most helpful tips on dealing with finals stress can be found in an article by our own Carly Johnson here: (https://uoflwritingcenter.wordpress.com/2014/03/17/keep-calm-and-start-your-final-projects/).
Getting started:If you haven’t started on your final papers yet, it’s time to brainstorm. Your professors will give your guidelines for what will be acceptable paper topics, but it can be hard to pick what you should write about sometimes. Since almost every paper will be based on issues discussed in class, you might think about what have been the major themes in the class so far. Perhaps you had a favorite book or topic, and you can expand on that. Other times you wish something had been covered in class but it wasn’t, so you can explore it on your own. Regardless of what you pick, deciding as early as you can and getting to work on collecting your research and materials is crucial. Bounce ideas off friends who haven’t gotten sick of you talking about school. Making an appointment with the Writing Center can also be helpful, even if you’ve gotten started late, as we can help you at any step of the way from brainstorming all the way to revision.
Plan Your Work:Hopefully you already have an idea for your final paper. Review the guidelines your professors have given you for your final paper. You might work on an outline, or start your bibliography or reference list. Sometimes it can be helpful, if you have the time, to annotate your research sources as a form of pre-writing. I personally find it helpful to make a checklist of any major requirements the paper should have, in my own work this is often things like which sources I have to add to my literature review or which theories apply to the topic I’ve chosen. Your class may vary, but making up a list of important details to cover can help you to avoid missing anything important. It also gives a real sense of accomplishment as you tick off things from your list as you write them, and this can be very important on large projects when you might spend days writing. Completing small goals and recognizing it can help you stay motivated.
Revision:Once you’ve a draft done of your final paper, you’re nearing the finish line already. However revision and polishing are important steps before the final draft stage, and can often make a big impact on your final grade. The first thing would be to review any feedback you have gotten from the professor on past work. Usually you’ve turned in some sort of preliminary assignments, giving you a chance to see what the teacher thought you did well or what you still needed work on. When you revise take the time to do multiple passes, each one focusing on a specific goal like improving your transitions or checking if you used passive voice. Try reading your paper aloud, to yourself or a friend, so that you can hear how it sounds (and this is a good technique for catching errors). Double check your thesis, and make sure that it agrees with your paper all the way through to your conclusion. This is another good time to consider coming to the Writing Center if you can.
Relax!:To twist a meme: Summer is coming! Once you’re done with your paper, take some space from it. If it’s due tomorrow, then go celebrate being finished. If it’s not due for a while, then take a day (or two!) off before giving it one last once over for revision. It can be very helpful to get some distance from your own work when doing revision. Once that is done however, go turn it in! Summer awaits!Make sure you get plenty of rest, and enjoy what time off you have, if you are like me you will be back in class doing it all over again soon enough. As you near the end of your particular academic goal, You might even begin to miss the whole crazy cycle.

Making Your Writing Process Work for You

Layne Gordon, Consultant

In the Writing Center this semester, I have worked with several students who are either returning to formal writing after awhile, or are being asked to do formal writing for the first time. (By formal writing here, I’m referring to things like research papers or argumentative papers that typically require the use of outside sources.) Most of these students have expressed some form of anxiety over the writing process itself—the most common of these being an uncertainty over how to begin the paper.

It has long been established in the field of composition that the writing process is not as linear as past scholars used to believe. You know the old drill: brainstorm-draft-revise-edit-done, with some additional steps sometimes. Instead, it is more of a fluid process in which the various writing activities blend and can even occur simultaneously. For example, I often edit while I’m drafting rather than after. And I frequently make an outline of my paper after writing an early draft rather than before. Contemporary scholars have taken note of these phenomenon and now understand that writing is a highly recursive activity. However, despite this progressive theoretical understanding, many students still have a very real concern over constructing a paper in the “right” way. In the Writing Center this semester, I have found this to be especially true of more formal academic assignments.

So for those students feeling such anxieties at this point in the semester, I offer this advice:

Create a writing process all your own. If you are struggling to write an introduction, skip it for now and work on a body paragraph. If you aren’t quite sure yet what you want your overall point to be, try skipping to the conclusion of your paper and writing about what you want to have proven by the end. In other words, don’t be afraid to try new things in your writing process. To give a personal example, for years I was really against incorporating free-writing into my writing process. But this semester, I decided to try something new and start several papers by simply writing whatever came to mind on the topic. It turned out this was a great way for me keep writing without getting stuck and it let me see how my thoughts were working out on the page rather than trying to sort through everything in my mind.

My point here is twofold:

if you are struggling to write a paper because you are adhering to a process that somebody else told you was a good idea, then now might be a great time to try something new.
if you have been sticking to the same process for some time, then it might be worth switching it up to see if you could improve on your personal process. No one way of writing will work for everyone, and taking the time to explore what works for you can not only make writing your term papers easier, but also more enjoyable.

Of course, you can always visit the Writing Center to get more help at any stage of the writing process and to get ideas and strategies for writing.

How I Write: Thomas Geoghegan — Graduate Dean

This week the “How I Write” series features Thomas Geoghegan, the current Associate Dean for Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies at the School of Medicine, as well as a faculty member in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He recived his BS degree in Biology from the University of Massachusetts/Boston, and PhD in Biological Chemistry from the M.S. Hershey Medical School associated with Penn State. Thomas Geoghegan joined the faculty at UofL in the Department of Biochemistry in the School of Medicine in 1979.

How I Write: Thomas Geoghegan

Location: UofL School of Medicine

Current project: Associate Dean for Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies

Currently reading: David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell

What type(s) of writing do you regularly engage in?

I began my career as a bench scientist (molecular biologist) writing papers and grant applications (not always successfully I might add). I also teach and of course needed to write lecture notes, study guides and test questions (again not always successfully). I no longer write scientific grants and manuscripts. I do however continue to teach and write reports of activities of our office. For a short time I also wrote a blog on graduate education (once again not always successfully).
When/where/how do you write?

I mostly write in my small, cramped, and overly cluttered office.
What are your writing necessities—tools, accessories, music, spaces?

For the most part a pad and paper, and computer.
What is your best tip for getting started and/or for revision?

Tip for getting started – get started; no really get started. People write differently but everyone has to get started. I’m big on getting something down on paper and editing the hell out of it. In fact I’ll spend 5-10 times more time editing than writing.

My best tip is to post a bullet list with principles of writing right in front of you. When you’re stuck (and everyone gets stuck) it refreshes your memory and get’s you started again.

One caveat; my son is a journalist/writer. He sits down to write and most of the time it comes out perfect, with few revisions. Proving that much to my dismay as a molecular biologist , it’s not all genetics (because I can never do that).
What is the best writing advice you’ve received?

Most of my serious writing is (or was) scientific. And the best advice I got was to “keep it simple stupid”. The more you try and elaborate, the more complex and less understandable your arguments are.

Keep Calm and Start Your Final Projects

Carly Johnson, Consultant

I hope you all had a relaxing spring break, full of sunshine and unassigned leisure reading. As we begin this countdown to finals (and Derby) it is difficult to garner the motivation to begin your final projects. However, as someone who has spent many a tear-filled, coffee fueled night feverishly typing a final paper hours before it is due, I can tell you truthfully that it is better to start sooner rather than later. At this point you may be saying to yourself “yeah, but I work better under pressure” and I thought the same thing—until I embarked on what I call “Carly’s 5 fool-proof methods for staying focused and sane throughout finals week,” which I will share with you now:

Take it one step at a time, and reward yourself along the way.I like to set up a schedule for myself prior to finals week that allows me to get a little bit done each day. When I am on a roll achieving these tasks, I reward myself by watching Netflix for a couple of hours, or purchasing a fancy smoothie. This enables me to stay on schedule while still allowing myself to have a little taste of the relaxation that awaits me over the summer.
The solution to writer’s block is not avoidance.When I would get stuck on how to start a paper, I used to think that putting it away for awhile was the answer…and then “awhile” ended up lasting three weeks, and suddenly it was due. Don’t let yourself fall into this trap. If you’re stuck, ask for help, either from your instructor, your peers, or by making an appointment with the writing center. Address these small mental roadblocks before they become big issues.
There is such a thing as too much coffee.During my late night writing sessions, I always thought the more coffee I drank, the better my paper would become—but the fact is that too much coffee (or other caffeinated beverage) will make you jittery and will cause your thoughts to race, which will end up making you feel more stressed than when you started. By staying on task with the schedule mentioned in #1 above, you can avoid these all-nighters entirely.
Feeling stressed? Go on a run.Even if you are someone like myself who only tends to run if there is an emergency, I have found that physical exercise allows you to drain yourself of that excess negative energy, and clears your mind so you are prepared to tackle those final projects. If running isn’t your thing, check out some of the classes offered at the Student Rec Center (I highly recommend the Zumba classes held on Tuesday and Wednesday nights).
Reschedule social events for an after-finals celebration.If you struggle with turning down fun events with friend while you’re studying, plan an event for after finals week that you can look forward to. That way, when you pass on plans for the evening you can invite them to your post-finals party, enabling you to be social and productive simultaneously.

With these five methods, you can be sure to avoid the dark days of finals week, don your Derby hat and ease into your summer vacation knowing that you have overcome the pitfalls of procrastination. Good luck, stay focused, and remember that the writing center is always here to help!

How I Write: John Cumbler– Historian

This week’s featured write is John Cumbler, a professor of history at the University of Louisville who is also in phased retirement. He has published 6 books on social, economic and environmental history. His seventh book From Abolition to Equal Rights for All is now in press and should be out this fall. John Cumbler has also published a couple dozen articles but says he enjoys writing books more. He enjoys research and writing, although teaching is his real passion.

How I Write: John Cumbler

Location: Gottschalk Hall, University of Louisville

Current project: I just finished my last book project- an environmental history of a fragile eco-system. I have a couple short pieces on which I am working, but I am taking a break before I launch into a new book length project.

Currently reading: Mysteries and Game of Thrones

What type(s) of writing do you regularly engage in?

History pieces, either articles or book length projects. I also write advocacy pieces for popular media.
When/where/how do you write?

I write away from other people. I usually write at home when I am alone. I mostly write in the late morning and early afternoon, but if I am caught up in something I can write into the night.
What are your writing necessities—tools, accessories, music, spaces?

I began my writing career with a pencil and paper and then I would type up what I had written. By the time I was working on my second book I was working directly on the typewriter. My third and fourth books were a combination of paper and pencil and personal computer. By the time I was working on my fifth and sixth book I worked solely on the computer. Being alone is key for me.
What is your best tip for getting started and/or for revision?

Do what works for you! I find it helps best to put down as much as you can on the first go. I work as long as the ideas seem to be fitting together. When they stop fitting together I take a break. I start up again either later in the day or the next day. Some people work best by disciplining themselves to work for a set period of time. That does not work for me. I work when it works for me to do so. When it doesn’t I take a break. Ideas push my writing. Getting started is hard, but putting down something helps move you along.
What is the best writing advice you’ve received?

Pick up the pencil and start writing. There are always reasons to put off writing, but eventually you have to begin. Better to begin early and fill in the blanks than to keep stalling until you have everything. Everything is a high bar to get over. My advice to all my students is do what works for you.

Five Strategies to Keep Writing, Even When You Don’t Want To

Ashly Bender, Assistant Director

At the University of Louisville, Spring Break is next week and the Derby festivities are not far behind. The end always seems near in the Spring semester, but at Louisville perhaps it seems always within in reach. After all, university classes are all over by the first week of May to make room for the hats and horses!

For these reasons, and probably others, March is the final push before the end of the semester and final projects. To help you stay motivated, focused, and productive during these weeks, here are five strategies to keep yourself writing and working. Feel free to use them at other times of the year! 🙂

Write 100 words every day. The key to finishing any large writing project is to make a habit out of writing every day—or nearly every day. This habit makes it easier to write because your mind becomes accustomed to the practice and also because it keeps your project fresh in your mind. Some days, obviously, are harder than others, so my personal strategy is to make sure I wrote 100 words every day. This is a small amount that keeps me accountable, keeps my project fresh in my mind, and allows me to feel productive even on days when I’m feeling writers block. Also, often if you can eke out 100 words, more come flowing. But if they don’t, you’ve still met your goal for the day. For a quick reference, the sentences in this strategy make up 145 words, including this sentence.
Tally the number of hours you work, and reward yourself. A good friend of mine who just defended her dissertation uses a strategy of rewards to motivate herself. For every hour that she works, she earns one tally. In the evening or on the weekend, she can trade in tallies for hours of play or relaxation time. If you can hold yourself to it, this kind of reward system is great for making sure you stay on task when you’re supposed to be working. The strategy also helps you schedule time for working and time for relaxing so that you don’t have to feel like you’re working all the time.
Take a break. If you’re really feeling overwhelmed by your project, it may be time to take a break. When we’re struggling with a project, we can get caught up in thinking about the struggle or the impending deadline and lose our ability to actually do productive writing or work. That’s the point at which walking away, for a little while, can actually be helpful. “A little while” might be 15 minutes, an hour, or even a day. You don’t want to take too long of a break, or else going back to the project will seem daunting. Before you take your break, try writing down questions you’re having, what you need to write about next, or other goals you have for the project.
Write on a different “surface.” Dan McCormick wrote a couple weeks ago about how different tools or “surfaces” help us think about our projects differently and can lead to break-throughs. If you’re feeling worn out on a project, try writing about it on paper or in a different program. You might even try writing in a different location. The key here is to change things up a little to open the possibility for new thinking and new ideas.
Talk instead of write. Especially if you’re feeling stuck on a project, it might be a good idea to talk about it instead of writing about it. You could, of course, come in to the writing center. Even I have met with another consultant to just talk about what I wanted to write about—that way I could hear it out loud and another person could help me figure out if it made sense. The consultant wrote down things I was saying, what I seemed excited about, what was interesting to her. After the appointment, I had some notes to move forward with. Another option is to use voice recording software. Word has a talk-to-text function (though it needs a little training), Dragon is a great talk-to-text program, and then there’s always just basic sound recording software on your phone or computer.

So, even though the allure of warmer temperatures, Derby, and other summer events are just around the corner—don’t give up on your projects! Try any or of all these strategies to find out what will keep you writing and working. And, remember, the Writing Center is a great resource for all stages of the writing process.