Strategies for Enhancing Scholarly Productivity
Enhance your scholarly productivity with effective strategies like creating a routine time for writing, setting realistic goals, organizing your writing space, and getting started with daily writing habits. Maximize your time wisely and prioritize writing tasks to achieve your summer goals.
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Strategies for Enhancing Scholarly Productivity during the Summer Howard Goldstein Associate Dean April 30, 2014
teach faculty meetings attend conferences prepare lectures collect data grade exams peer review manuscripts analyze data recruit doctoral students submit manuscripts revise manuscripts advise students write grants review grants 2
It is not that we have too little time to do all the things we need to do , it is that we feel the need to do too many things in the time we have. How Does It All Fit? There is no more time in the day to be found but you can learn to use that time more wisely. 3
TIME Create a routine time for writing: daily is best. Schedule an optimal daily amount. [Short, regular sessions (under an hour) are recommended following a non-productive period.] Protect and defend your writing time against encroachments from the external world. Maintain a balance between writing and other responsibilities and activities in your life. Increase planfulness and consistency of output when working with deadlines. [Binge writing at deadlines maintains patterns of blocking.]
Setting summer goals Be realistic in planning projects and setting expectations. Start with smaller, realizable goals. A goal without a plan is just a wish. - Antoine de Saint-Exup ry
SPACE Have a place to write that is comfortable, convenient, and functional. Arrange your space to minimize exposure to your highest risk distractions (away from cookie jars, telephone, television, etc.). Do not begin a writing session by cleaning and organizing your work space. Do this after you have written. [Finish each session with a plan for tomorrow.]
GETTING STARTED Have your writing place stocked with necessary materials and ready to go. Recall times in the past when you wrote productively. What were your patterns of writing then? What can you apply from those times to your present situation? Establish or re-establish a consistent habit and ritual of daily writing. This is hardest in the beginning. If you are just staring at the monitor, warm up with 5- 10 minutes of fluent writing. Write on a topic-- anything that comes to mind without concern about the nature or quality of the content.
BEHAVIORAL APPROACHES Make a chart of your daily writing productivity. Analyze each writing project and break it into easily attainable chunks. Generate specific, concrete daily goals that are realistic. Make success unavoidable each day by having goals that would be hard not to attain. Make a list of your most common work avoiding behaviors (e.g., email, television, non-essential busy work, eating, etc.). Develop strategies for reducing the likelihood of engaging in each of those activities during writing time.
REWARD DESIRED BEHAVIOR Notice if you are reinforcing the pattern of avoiding writing by rewarding yourself when you do not write, by engaging in pleasure seeking activities instead of writing during writing time. Make a desired daily activity contingent upon having done some writing. Examples: exercise, email access, reading the paper or a novel, talking on the phone, playing piano, watching a favorite show, or taking a shower.
COGNITIVE APPROACHES Notice "self-talk" about writing. Are those thoughts frightening, critical, demoralizing, overwhelming? Are these accurate thoughts or do they contain distortions? When you notice negative thoughts invading, think "STOP! Consciously replace distorted messages with positive, hopeful thoughts. Remind yourself of previous successes and the abilities you possess. This process becomes more effective with practice. Be mindful of perfectionistic, unrealistic demands on your writing process or content. Practice with 'free writing' can help temper an unreasonably harsh internal editor.
PEOPLE ISSUES Develop and utilize relationships with colleagues who you can share your work with. Work collaboratively with another writer(s) on a project. Avoid isolation: keep up or rekindle professional and personal contacts. Where there is a difficulty showing writing to others; begin with people who you like and trust, and are unlikely to savage your work. Slowly branch out from there to include others. Make a public commitment pertaining to your ongoing writing productivity.
Successful people create a research pipeline Projects at each stage of development Thinking about a study (Study 7) -- Activity Designing a study protocol (Study 6) -- Activity Initiating data collection (Study 5) -- Activity Finishing data collection (Study 4) -- Activity Analyzing data & presenting (Study 3) Activity + Product! Writing manuscript (Study 2) -- ~Product Manuscript in review (Study 1) -- ~Product Manuscript in press Actual Product!!! Etc.
Top Ten List 1. Follow a formal productivity regime 2. Set goals and stick to them 3. Minimize interruptions 4. Turn off your email when writing 5. Breakdown the task into chunks 6. Create an outline 7. Use templates (e.g., APA) and a citation manager 8. Don t obsess 9. Use a goal buddy 10.Reward yourself Paul Silva How to write a lot.
Timeline for Grant Proposal Preparation Plan ahead and anticipate 4-8 months to prepare a competitive federal grant application A typical timeline??? Sponsored Research resources and programs: http://www.research.usf.edu/dsr/internal- awards/
First Month 1. Set up notifications for funding opportunities 2. Solicit successful grant writers willing to review drafts and give frank, competent feedback 3. Acquire previously funded proposals 4. Read mission statements for target agencies, program announcements, RFAs 5. Draft Specific Aims, Revise Specific Aims, Hone Specific Aims 6. Share Specific Aims and get feedback and repeat step 5 7. Contact program administrators at target agencies
Second Month 1. Identify due dates for all components of the application (e.g., budget, IRB, e-COI, narrative pieces, biosketches, appendices) 2. Review application guide and compile forms 3. Revise specific aims 4. Begin elaborating hypotheses, rationale, significance, impact 5. Consider Pasteur s quadrant (combining practical and theoretical motivation for work)
Third Month Complete the first draft of proposal Give reviewers 2 or 3 weeks to provide feedback Work on other components while out for review Feedback in person or over the phone is often more efficient
Fourth Month Rewrite based on comments from reviewers Try to get more feedback from a person who has served on a relevant study section Give proposal a break for 2 weeks Review the literature to ensure you haven t missed something
Fifth Month Work with research administrators to finalize budget Prepare budget justification Complete other sponsored research requirements Complete final draft of the proposal Proofread everything! Ludlow, C. L., & Kent, R. D. (2011). Building a research career. San Diego, CA: Plural.
Research Mentorship Forums 2013-2014 2014-2015
Research Mentorship Forums Facilitating Success among New Faculty: Approaches to Mentoring Sustaining Grant Funded Research - Reflections and Tricks of the Trade NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program K Awards: Figuring out which ones are relevant and how to compete successfully for one What s Behind the Curtain? Applying Search Tools and Strategies to Finding Grants
Research Mentorship Forums Getting Ready To Publish? Peer Review, Journal Selection, & Available Tools APA citations and more: The wonders of EndNote! What Every PI Needs to Know about Managing Grants Strategies for Facilitating Scholarly Productivity during the Summer
Future Topics International Grants Data Sharing Plans Searching for Foundation Grants Successful grantsmanship (Brent Small, David Eddins) PROMIS grants Making best of small budgets (e.g., FTE allocations) IRB applications and experiences (Paul Stiles) Navigating impact factors in small fields and expanding horizons (as an outsider) Strategies for increasing citations Mass media coverage for research, working with journalists, and affecting policy [invite science editor from Tampa Bay Times; WUSF] Preparing dissemination plans (What if Wednesdays; podcasts) Service assignments (e.g., advisory boards, blog dissemination, etc.) Collaborative research with VA or other agencies Innovative thinking, lateral thinking, and disruptive change Qualitative research overview Advanced EndNote
For a productive summer Devote a couple of hours daily to reading and writing Make a writing plan Commit to writing at least one page daily Record daily data Reinforce yourself and take weekends and vacations off
Happy Hour Skipper s Smokehouse 910 Skipper Rd. Tampa, FL 33613 http://www.skipperssmokehouse.com/ Take Fletcher Ave (west 1.5 mi) Turn right onto N Nebraska Ave (go 0.8 mi) Turn right onto Skipper Rd Destination will be on the left
