1. Study Methods & Motivation
- Reread Chapter 3. How to do Abstract Reading, Chapter 4. How to Do Abstract Integrative Reading, and Chapter 5. How to Identify and Designate What is Important
- Identify a plan of action for improving my reading skills
2. Brief Holt Handbook
- Review basic language terminology and rules by skimming chapters 2-14
- Review my writing over the past few years and identify common grammatical errors I commit
- Identify a plan of action to avoid these errors in the future
- Edit all academic articles with lessons learned.
3. The Art of Nonfiction
- Read every chapter
- Write up a summary of each chapter
- Write 1 op ed
- Write 1 book review
- Edit all academic articles with lessons learned
4. Brief Holt Handbook, again
- Chapter 1 and Chapters 36-40
- Compare with Art of Nonfiction - write a comparison article
- Write 1 op ed
- Write 1 book review
- Edit all academic articles with lessons learned
5. Writing in the Discipline
- Read Preparing to Write Research, Developing an Argument, and Writing in the Social Sciences.
- Compare with Holt and Art of Nonfiction - write a comparison article
- Edit all academic articles with lessons learned
6. MIS Quarterly and Information Systems Research
- Review articles published in the past 5 years (particularly Best Paper awards)
- Identify common formats and styles
- Write a blog post on these identifications
- Edit all academic articles with lessons learned
- Identify a plan of action to continue to improve my writing skills
These six reading assignments and various writing assignments will make for a heavy workload this summer. With selling our house and moving, I may not be able to complete everything on this list. But I at least I have something to push myself into being the best writer that I can be. I should, however, be able to make a large dent into this project over May and June. July will be mostly consumed with moving. I may find time in the evenings, if I'm not too tired. Then, I have have just 2 weeks in August before returning full time to academic requirements. I would also like to spend some time during the summer learning some advanced web techniques, so occasionally, I may put this project on hold.
I think step 6 will be what you get the most out of. Don't forget the aesthetics of academic writing. It's the only thing that keeps it from being compltely monotonous!
ReplyDeletePerhaps, but I have found that not all of my writing issues come from understanding academic articles. Some of my issues are more fundamental. Everything that I have identified above I have done before, but some of them I have not revisited in the past 10 years. Apparently, those skills didn't stick. So I decided to review from the ground up. If I thought all of my value would come from 6, I would do just 6 and skip all the rest.
ReplyDeleteSounds like very good goals. Do you primarily write by hand or by typing? If the latter, then I suggest in addition printing out your pieces and editing by hand notes. I've been doing that with my confectionery reviews and find it gives me a much better perspective on my writing, rather than editing piecemeal on the fly in a text editor.
ReplyDeleteBenpercent,
ReplyDeleteI primarily write by typing. And yes, I often do print out my pieces and edit by hand. Great reminder on the value of doing it though. I also set an article to the side for a while and come back to it a week or more later. Often, I see it with a fresh perspective.