Plan to Be Productive This Summer!

Most academics I talk to this time of year are looking forward to summer, when classes are over, meetings are few and far between and we have lots of time to write. We can finally pay attention to that writing project that has been inching along all semester.

Now that summer is here, we can jump in and devote ourselves full-time to writing and research productivity.

The joy with which we start our summers, however, is not always paralleled by a strong sense of satisfaction at the end. Many academics recall summers past when they planned to finish the book, send off the articles, and submit grant proposals where the plans did not materialize. In this post, I explain how you can have a productive summer, and how you can emerge from summer feeling refreshed, accomplished, and ready to take on the new academic year.

Start Off With a Break

You have worked hard all semester. Once your final grades are submitted and you have attended your last meeting, take a break. If you are really pressed for time, take just one day. If you can afford it, take a whole week. Whatever you do, begin your summer with at least one day without working and without any plans to work.

Make a Research and Writing Plan

After taking a break, the most important way to ensure you have a productive summer is to make a plan. And, no, I do not mean that your plan should look like this: “FINISH BOOK!” Instead, a plan must include a lot more detail. Your plan needs to be divided into weeks and broken down into manageable tasks. Most of us have about 12 weeks in the summer. Thus, your plan could look like this:

Week 1:

• Read three articles on due process
• Write section on due process for Chapter One
• Make plan for completion of Chapter One
• Complete at least two tasks on completion plan for Chapter One

Week 2: ..... Week 12: ...

As you can see, you do not have to know exactly what needs to be done to complete Chapter One to make your plan. Instead, you can include making a completion plan as part of your plan. Once you finish with Week 1, you can do the same for Weeks 2 to 12.

The benefits of making a plan are that 1) you develop a better idea as to what you can reasonably accomplish; 2) you set clear benchmarks for yourself and ensure you are making progress; and 3) at the end of the summer, you have a realistic idea as to what you have and have not accomplished.

Develop a reasonable summertime writing schedule

You will not be working 24-hours a day over the summer, no matter how few external obligations you have. In fact, you likely will not even be working consistent 8-hour days. The reality is that academic work is hard and requires an extraordinary amount of mental energy. Most people are unable to devote 8 hours a day, 7 days a week to academic writing, reading, research, and data analysis. People that try to do this quickly burn out.

Each of us has our own internal limits to how long we can reasonably expect ourselves to work. It is difficult to come to terms with our own limits. However, once we do, it can be remarkably liberating. I am the first to admit that I can write for no more than three hours a day on a consistent basis. Not too long ago, I learned that I can either spend all day at the office trying to get that three hours in, or I can simply spend three hours in front of my computer first thing in the morning and get my three hours of writing in.

Once I have done my three hours of writing, I have done the hard work for the day. At that point, I might collect articles I need to read, respond to emails, pay bills, or do any of the other myriad tasks that occupy my day. If it’s the summertime, I stop early to ensure that I make time to enjoy all of the benefits summer offers.

You too must come to terms with your limits and figure out how long you can expect yourself to write, read, and research each day. If you have no idea, one strategy is to track your time for a week or two to see how much writing, research and reading you actually do. Be careful, however, to note that you have at least two kinds of limits: how much work you can expect yourself to do in a short period of time and how much work you can do on a regular basis that is sustainable. You may be able to write for 8 hours a day for one week, but then find yourself unable to produce a coherent sentence the second week. That indicates that you overstepped your limits.

Once you figure out your limits you can develop a reasonable schedule. Keep in mind that many people are very productive over the summer working four hours a day, five days a week.

Write every day

The only way you can ensure that you actually have a productive summer, i.e., that you emerge with real progress on your writing projects is to sit down and write. The best way to ensure that you write a lot is to write every day, five days a week.

Thus, when you make your plans and your schedules, make sure that you plan to write every day of the workweek. If you have never tried daily writing before, this is the perfect time to start!

Have a fantastic, productive, relaxing, and refreshing summer! And, be sure to check back here for more tips on how to make this happen. You can even subscribe to Get a Life, PhD by email!

So, You Want to Start an Academic Blog? Four Tips to Know Before You Start

You’ve heard of blogging and the blogosphere. You’ve toyed with the idea of starting a blog yourself. But, you haven’t done so yet. Why?

I am sure there are countless reasons why an academic would not want to blog. But, let’s suppose for a moment that you do. How do you actually go about becoming an academic blogger?

To get started, there are four things you need to know: 1) The technicalities of starting a blog; 2) What your blog should be about; 3) How a blog differs from academic writing; and 4) How to get an audience for your blog.

Tip #1: How to start a blog

This step is actually quite simple. Just go to blogger.com or wordpress.com and sign up. There are other services available as well and you can even pay to get your own domain name.

Before you go to set up a blog, you want to think about two things. 1) What will your domain name be? 2) What will the name of your blog be? These sound quite simple. And, if you are famous, they are. Just use your famous name as the blog and domain name.

If you are not famous, however, you might want to think about coming up with a domain name and a name for your blog that immediately let the reader know what your blog will be about. Some examples of informative domain names are: http://everydaysociologyblog.com and http://science-professor.blogspot.com/. These domain names that make it clear what the blog is about. Domain names should be descriptive and easy to remember.

Tip #2: Your blog needs to be interesting or useful

If you are blogging just so that you and your mother can keep tabs on your daily life, then you can put whatever you want into your blog. If, however, you want to create content that people actually seek out and read, you will have to write on something that is either interesting or useful. Notice that your blog does not have to be both interesting and useful, but it should be one or the other. A blog on programming in SAS might not be very interesting, but could well be useful to many a neophyte.

So, think about your expertise and figure out what you want to write about that is useful and/or interesting. Your blogging could be about your research interests, but also could be about teaching, climbing the academic ladder, using software, gardening, or whatever strikes your fancy. I do recommend, however, that your blog have a central theme to attract a consistent readership.

Tip #3: Academic Prose Does Not Belong in a Blog, but Images Do

Effective blogging requires writing as clearly as possible, much clearer than is expected in academic writing.

Here are some basic tips: Use short sentences. Keep paragraphs to a few lines. Don’t use jargon. Write as if you were explaining things to someone you really want to understand you.
In addition to style, you also want to think about format and content.

Use Subheadings.

In blogs, it is also best to use subheadings to make your posts easy to scan. When people read things on the Internet, they are unlikely to read every word. If they do read a whole post, they are likely to scan it first to see if it is worth reading. Making your blog post easy to scan makes it more likely that people will read it.

Use Images.

Include an image in each post. Pictures make your blog more attractive, and people are more likely to read a post with an image. You can access free images from the Creative Commons at flickr.com. Just make sure you provide the proper attribution when you use these images.

Pay attention to the titles of your posts.

Give each post a short, descriptive title. Titles that start with "How To" or provide a list of tips are among the most popular titles for blog entries. People like to know what they might learn before reading a blog post. A good title goes a long way.

Tip #4: How to Get Readers to Your Blog

To attract readers, first figure out who your audience is. Is it other academics? Political activists? Homeowners? Schoolteachers? Parents? Having a good idea as to who your audience is will make it easier to find readers. Once who know who your audience is, you can figure out where best to seek them out.

Use social media.

Advertise your posts on twitter, facebook, and any other social media you use. If you don’t use any, it is a good idea to at least sign up for twitter and have your posts automatically tweeted when you post them. Really, if you are going to blog, you might as well go ahead and sign up for Facebook if you haven’t done so already.

Use a subscription service.

People subscribe to blogs using a variety of services. Make sure that you include email and feeder subscription links on your blog page. If you use a service such as blogger or wordpress, these “widgets” are easy to find and implement. One caution: Don’t use too many widgets to clog up your page. Just use those that are most important.

Get in on the conversation.

Comment on other blogs and include your url in your comments. If there are other bloggers out there who write on the same topic as you, say hello to them and let them know you’d like to be included in the conversation.

Guest Post.

Write guest posts for more well-known blogs. If there are blogs in your field with a higher readership than yours, you may send a polite inquiry to the blog owner asking if you might write a guest post. When you do this, be sure to tell them why you are asking them, and briefly describe what your guest post would be about. Some of the bigger blogs have specific submission instructions. Follow those instructions.

There also are web courses and other programs that can help you get started. One great example is A-List Bloggers:



Ready, Set, Blog!