Walden University Writing Center Blog

MAY the Writing Force Be With You: How to Use Freewriting to Get Past Writers' Block

noreply@blogger.com (Walden Writing Center) — Sat, 21 May 2022 12:00:00 +0000

Because of punniness, May has unofficially become Star Wars month. And as a writing instructor, I love a good pun.

I also love Star Wars movies. I love the concept that people of all different backgrounds, histories, identities, can come together to work for an important change. I love that so many of the franchise's heroes are misfits: a scavenger with a bounty on his head, a thief who lost her parents as a child and was abandoned by her guardian to fend for herself, a farm boy from a plane that no longer exists, a run-away Stormtrooper, a re-programmed Imperial security droid. And I love the idea that our thoughts can be super powers.

I think this is an important idea to remember when staring at a blank page or a blank document on the computer screen. While I know that willing words to appear doesn't actually work (and I've tried!), there is something almost as simple that does. It's called freewriting, and it's a technique I've promoted to students for years. But I never realized its true power until I hit a major roadblock in my dissertation.

Freewriting involves writing non-stop for a set amount of time. I used a five-minute sand timer to start; and it's surprising how long five minutes can feel when you're not allowed to stop creating words on a page. I've read that writing by hand can be especially helpful*, but I personally set a timer and told myself to type until it ran out. I started by trying to type out what it was I couldn't get past. It looked something like this:

how do i move from one topic regarding the protagonists of these novels to talking about realworld

situations and how they might influence and be influenced by such novels and why this is important

to anyone else in the world

I forced myself not to delete or worry about grammar or punctuation. The not deleting was especially difficult for me, but it was also what ultimately led to my breakthrough. As the sand ran from the top of my timer to the bottom, my document started to meander:

the idea that i know i can't move into a new thing the concept of real world and literary

representation and characterization and my general themes the themes need to transition but how do i

where can i go from the theme of this protagonist to the theme of this other protagonist and

differntiate enough do i need multiple chapters about these protagonists to make sure i can write

about all the ideas i wanted to mention....

By attempting to articulate my problem--and not worrying whether or not I was articulating it well--I realized what was keeping me from moving on: I was organizing my chapters in an ineffective way. I had created an outline and, while it helped me remember different points I wanted to make, I was trying too hard to stick to its structure. I hadn't even realized I was doing this...at least not consciously. By allowing myself to ramble without any specific objective or goal, I allowed my brain to follow its own course rather than the one I'd initially intended.

In the Star Wars films, characters go through physical, emotional, and developmental journeys--and they usually don't go as planned. And while they might "have a bad feeling" about where something is going, they push past fears and frustration and disproportionate odds to attain their goals.

Fortunately, we're not (usually) up against an Imperial foe when it comes to writers' block, even if it sometimes feels that way. But I encourage you to channel your inner Jedi and trust your instincts when it comes to working through a difficult project. Walden students are focused on making positive social change with their scholarship. And that's a Force I can really get behind.

*If you're interested in the benefits of writing by hand, here are a few great reads:

Mueller, P. A., & Oppenheimer, D. M. The pen is mightier than the keyboard: Advantages of longhand over laptop note taking. Psychological Science, 25(6), 1159-1168. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797614524581

Tank, A. (2020, November 23). The psychological benefits of writing by hand. Fast Company. https://www.fastcompany.com/90578555/the-psychological-benefits-of-writing-by-hand

Kacy Walz is a writing instructor from St. Louis, MO. She is not a Jedi (sadly), but she is a doctor of philosophy. Along with her work on the blog, Kacy also cohosts the Walden Writing Center podcast. Her favorite Star Wars film is Rogue One.

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Making it Through the Messy Middle

noreply@blogger.com (Walden Writing Center) — Tue, 05 Apr 2022 12:00:00 +0000

My family and I recently moved into a new house, and with new views and rooms has come the challenge of turning this empty house into a home. One aspect I was especially excited about was the way the empty house served as a blank canvas for me to create a home for my family.

Fast forward a few months, and I’m in the middle of my living room with my collection of decor strewn around me as I stare at my empty bookcases. My goal is to create beautiful vignettes in my bookcases. That one small word—vignette, a fancy way of saying 'beautifully put-together decorations on a surface'--belies the incredible amount of trial and error, frustration, and confusion I was dealing with as I worked to arrange my books, keepsakes, and pieces of art.

My first instinct was to walk away: Walk out of the room, away from the problem, and come back to it another day—or maybe never.

But, as I sat there with my anxiety growing, a realization dawned on me: What I was doing, the moment I was in in this design process wasn’t wrong: I wasn’t failing, it was just the messy middle of my process. The middle part of the journey where you know where you want to go (sort of?) and possibly how to get there (almost?), but the path isn’t quite clear yet; the fuzzy middle stage where your vision is just a little bit clouded, but (you can almost feel it) clarity is just around the corner.

I know the messy middle well. I enter into the messy middle on every writing journey I’ve ever had. Each time I sit down to complete a writing project, whether it’s content for our website, a blog post, a presentation, or an article, I have found myself in the messy middle. And, because I have so much experience with the messy middle, I can recognize it when it arrives, and I know how it feels—it feels like crafting a vignette on my bookcase. I often want to get up, walk away, and give up on my project. However, since I write for a living, I also know how to work through and around the messy middle so I get to a place of clarity in my writing.

· Take a step back: Just as with writing, I took a step back from my design problem. I did walk away—but only for a short break—and came back with fresh eyes. Taking a break from something you’re in the messy middle of can provide you perspective. Instead of focusing on everything that’s not quite right, after stepping away you can better see what you like and build from there.

· Ask for help: In the messy middle of creating my bookcase vignette, I pulled my husband into the room to provide me his perspective. Then, I took a picture and posted it to my Facebook community for their insight. Both groups gave me helpful feedback that allowed me to see what was and wasn’t working. This works well with writing too! Alternative perspectives can help all writers understand what is and isn’t working in your writing; writing is usually for an audience beyond yourself, after all, as Kacy explained in her post last month.

· Use input judiciously: When I asked for feedback on my bookcase vignette from my husband and Facebook community, I got a lot of opinions. Opinions are good, and much of the feedback was really helpful. However, if I had used all of the suggestions, my bookcase would have looked a hot mess. Instead, I had to use the input I received wisely, picking and choosing the input that helped me achieve my design goal. Similarly, when you receive input on your writing, especially a long writing project like a doctoral capstone study, be mindful to use feedback judiciously, in a way that helps you get closer to your writing goals. Otherwise, you may get lost in a maze of feedback that sends you in different directions.

Don’t get attached: Sometimes getting out of the messy middle means letting go of something you’ve been trying to make work from the very beginning—and thus, something you might be attached to. For my bookcase, I had been trying to fit so many keepsakes that I love—and had been brought with me from my old house—but that didn’t all fit. So, I had to emotionally let go of the idea that all of my beautiful things would work in the space, and this allowed me to see new possibilities. The same thing happens in writing: We can sometimes get so attached to a certain sentence or idea, that it’s hard to let go of it even though it’s not working.

· Create a “reserved” space: When working on my bookcase and editing the number of things I had in it, I would often take off items and put them in a box behind me. I told myself that anything in this box was on hold or reserve, and I could always add it back in down the line. Doing so made me more less afraid to remove something, because I wasn’t making a permanent decision. The same technique works with writing; rather than deleting sentences, paragraphs, or sections when you’re in the messy middle of a writing project, cut and paste that writing into a “reserved” Word document. You can then pull it back into your project at any point, if needed.

Now that you’ve heard me talk about how I worked with and through my messy middle when decorating my bookcases, I hope you can see how you, too, can learn to embrace and work with this part of your writing journey rather than against it. Think about your own experiences with the messy middle of other projects, hobbies, or work. How did you work with and through those middle points of your process? How can your experiences there help you with the messy middle stage of your writing?

Let us know in the comments your tips for the messy middle and how you’ll use what I’ve learned to help you with your writing!

Beth Nastachowski has been with the Writing Center since 2010, and she currently manages the center’s webinars, modules, and videos. She spends her time running after her son, husband, two cats, and dog in St. Paul, MN.

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Bargain-Priced Candy Hearts and the Importance of Audience

noreply@blogger.com (Walden Writing Center) — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 13:00:00 +0000

We've reached my favorite part of February: when all of the Valentine's Day candy goes on sale.

One particular type of candy that has grown on me over the years is the conversation, candy heart. When I was little I thought they tasted like chalk, but maybe they've improved the recipe over the years? Regardless of flavor changes, the messages on the hearts have definitely been updated.

Digging through a little box of colorful hearts, I can't help reading each little message as it comes up: "love", "laugh", "be mine", "smile", "you & me", "cute", "rock star", "hug me", and others are fairly obvious. But then there are hearts with messages like: "TTYL", "DM me", "lol" and "LYMY". I actually do understand the first three (talk to you later, direct-message me, and laugh out loud) but the fourth is a complete mystery to me. (EDIT: I've looked it up and apparently it stands for "love you, miss you".)

This variety of mini-comments makes me think of what we mean when we advise writers to consider their audience. Maybe some of you already knew what LYMY meant. Maybe others would be confused by hearts reading "XOXO" or "BFF". Fortunately, the candy will taste the same whether you know that x's and o's are sometimes used to represent kisses and hugs in correspondence, or that BFF stands for "best friends forever," but scholarly writing does not benefit from the same sugary advantage.

Anything we write has an intended audience--even if that intended audience is ourselves or an intended audience of no one. When you write for coursework there is the obvious audience of the faculty who will grade the work, but there is also often an implied audience. Perhaps you've been instructed to write a lesson plan to share with another educator; a business memo to be shared with a large corporation; an interpretation of and diagnosis for a certain case study. You'll of course want to make sure you respond to each component of the assignment prompt, but you should also consider who you're conceptually writing for.

- What kind of information can you assume your audience will already have about the topic?

o Would you need to explain what TTYL stands for?

- What context does your audience need?

o The fact that they are Valentine’s candy would suggest that messages like “smile” or “call me” have a different sentiment than they would coming from a photographer or a business card.

- What are you ultimately hoping to achieve with regards to your audience?

o When you send a Valentine to a friend, the message will likely be different than the one you send to your romantic interest.

To help you remember how to acknowledge the importance of your intended audience, here’s a somewhat forced acronym relating back to candy hearts:

How: how are you expected to present your information? The mode of communication will provide some clues into who your intended audience might be.

Expectation: what can you expect your intended reader to already know?

Additional: what extra background information will your reader need you to provide in order to fully understand what you’re trying to say?

Response: is there something you hope your reader will do with the information after reading? Are there potential questions or arguments you could circumvent by addressing them in your writing?

Task: what is the ultimate task you’ve been given with regards to the assignment? Would your reader be able to easily determine it based on what you’ve written?

To my intended audience: I hope you had a fun Valentine’s Day—or are at least similarly benefiting from reduced-price treats. And I hope this acronym and post in general are memorable enough to help you in your next writing assignment!

Kacy Walz is a writing instructor from St. Louis, MO. She is currently working on a PhD in Literature from the University of Missouri. Along with her work on the blog, Kacy also cohosts the Walden Writing Center podcast. She enjoys piña coladas and getting caught in the rain.

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2022: Just Keep Swimming

noreply@blogger.com (Walden Writing Center) — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 00:30:00 +0000

In his 2017 bestselling book Finish, author Jon Acuff writes, "I thought the biggest problem for people was the phantom of fear that prevented them from beginning...Fear was the ghost holding them back and starting was the only way to beat it. I was half right. The start does matter. The beginning is significant. The first few steps are critical. But they aren't the most important. Do you know what matters more? Do you know what makes the start look silly and easy and almost insignificant? The finish."

Last March I introduced the blog's 2021 theme of Motivation. This year--a year actually beginning in January!--I'd like to continue that concept into a new theme: the theme of Momentum.

As Acuff points out, starting is important. And motivation can help us get to the starting line. But momentum is what gets us through the slog of the "messy middle." According to Acuff, the most important point of any major goal or project is what happens "the day after perfect."

The day after perfect is what Acuff calls the period of time that follows the first instance someone doesn't live up to their own idea of what the completion of their goal should look like. It's the day after the first time you hit snooze instead of waking up early for a run, the night after the night you fell asleep without writing in your journal, the meal after you passed on the salad bar and went straight for dessert. It's the moment you might be tempted to say, "Well, I've already messed up, might as well just give up entirely!"

There's an old cliche that says something to the effect of, 'just because you break one plate doesn't mean you should throw every other plate on the ground.' And this seems totally obvious, but it's amazing how often I find myself tempted to do just that. Metaphorically, I mean...

So this year we're going to try to build on our motivation and find the momentum to keep moving forward even after our plans go slightly askew. The topic will be applied to writing-related issues, but hopefully these ideas will be useful in all areas of life. Here's to 2022!

Reference

Acuff, J. (2017). Finish: Give yourself the gift of done. Portfolio/Penguin.

The Benefits of Regret

noreply@blogger.com (Walden Writing Center) — Fri, 31 Dec 2021 15:00:00 +0000

I can't believe it's already the end of December. It seems this past year was both unending and insanely short. (Or is that just me?) I introduced the blog's theme of motivation in March and--while it hasn't been a full year--it seems fitting to look back at that theme and start planning for 2022. (It will probably be March again before I'm able to write 2022 without either first writing 2021 or feeling the need to double-check that I'm not making up a year).

My WriteCast cohost, Claire Helakoski, will be posting an episode focused on SMARTER goals at the beginning of next month and the discussion we had got me thinking about how we can use reflection--as well as careful planning for the future--to ensure we move forward in our most important goals. In particular, I'm wondering if there's a way to reframe supposed 'failures' and regrets so they can propel us in a positive way rather than holding us back.

Much research has been done on the ways thoughts impact reality. As productivity coach Michael Hyatt (2021) put it, "we tend to experience what we expect...our success ultimately depends on our ability to tell the difference between reality and the story we are telling ourselves...when we believe we can't, we don't. The difference is all in our heads" (p. 18). Similarly, author Stewart Stafford argued, "the possible is just the impossible that we've come to accept" (QuotesLyfe.com). Basically, how we frame things in our own minds is important.

This is why I think it would be a good idea to (re)frame how we might usually think about our past mistakes, regrets, and anything we might consider a failure. Some of my favorite motivational quotes run along the lines of, 'failures are actually opportunities for learning' but at times this can seem cliché or flippant. Personally, I find these quotes inspiring in general, but less helpful in times I find myself overthinking things I've done or avoided doing. If you're like me, hearing "don't think about pink elephants" instantly conjures images of those animated "heffalumps" from "Winnie the Pooh and the Very Blustery Day" (or some other version of elephants in shades of faded red). And quotes like "we learn from failure, not from success", at a time when I'm overthinking, read as platitudes rather than sound advice (Stoker, 2000, p. 103).

Research has also found that attempting to 'just get on with things' rather than allowing yourself to deal with regret is actually more damaging than we might think. Janet Landman (1993), a psychologist from the University of Michigan posited, "Regret may not only tell us that something is wrong, but it can also move us to do something about it" (p. iii). And University of Illinois researchers Neal Roese and Amy Summerville (2005) conducted an in-depth study about regret and found "people's biggest regrets are a reflection of where in life they see their largest opportunities; that is, where they see tangible prospects for change, growth, and renewal" (p. 1273). Basically, we tend to particularly dwell on mistakes we've made where we are most easily able to determine what misstep preceded, or what alternative action could have likely changed the outcome for the better.

So, here's my suggestion as we move into another new year: allow yourself to have and think about your regrets from 2021 (or earlier). Ask yourself what it is about those experiences you find most difficult to stop thinking about. Doing so could help you solidify an action plan for if and when you encounter similar situations in the future.

I hope this is helpful in allowing you to move positively into this next year. Let me know your thoughts on this post and others in the comments! What kind of posts would you like to see in 2022? Thanks for reading--see you next year! :)

References

Hyatt, M. (2021). Your best year ever. Michael Hyatt & Company, Inc.

Landman, J. (1993). Regret: The persistence of the possible. Oxford University Press.

QuoteLyfes.com. (n.d.) Steward Stafford quotes. https://www.quoteslyfe.com/quote/The-possible-is-just-the-impossible-that-258026

Roese, N. J., & Summerville, A. (2005). What we regret most...and why. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31(9), 1273-1285. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167205274693

Stoker, B. Dracula. Dover Publications, Inc.

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How to Find and Keep Your Confidence as an Academic Writer

noreply@blogger.com (Walden Writing Center) — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 14:00:00 +0000

How does confidence impact writing and the motivation to write? What adds to our confidence when it comes to writing, and what diminishes it? How can a writer maintain, develop, or rebuild confidence in their writing skills?

I've been pondering these questions lately. In fact, I decided to do a bit of research into the topic to find out what the literature says about confidence and academic writing. As a writing instructor, I want to make sure I'm doing all I can to help boost the confidence of the students I work with--in addition to teaching about things like structure, synthesis, flow, and formatting.

To begin with a definition (because it's probably best to know what the thing is before we discus how to increase it!), Merriam-Webster (n.d.) described confidence as "a feeling of or consciousness of one's power" and "faith or belief that one will act in a right, proper, or effective way." In other words, confidence is trusting that we are capable of accomplishing a goal we've chosen to pursue or a task we've been assigned. Confidence is feeling good about our ability to be who we want to be and do what we want to do.

When I shared my findings with the rest of the writing instructor team, one of my colleagues pointed out that Walden students are often brimming with confidence. After all, you need to be confident in your ability to accomplish your goals if you're going to take on a whole new degree program on top of the demands of work and home. Nevertheless, even the most self-assured among us have probably experienced a blow to our confidence now and then--and the demands of academic, APA-style writing have been known to discourage otherwise optimistic students.

Reciving a disappointing grade, or criticical feedback that doesn't seem helpful understandably brings us down, especially if our confidence when it comes to writing is already shaky. Also, if we feel we're alone in the writing process, or like we don't know enough about academic writing as a genre to be able to do it well, we definitely won't be enjoying the good feelings confidence brings.

But there is hope. (We definitely wouldn't publish this post if we didn't think so!) When it comes to academic writing and APA style, the Walden WritingCenter’s website offers a number of resources to help students learn more about the expectations involved. We also strongly encourage you to reach out to your professors to clarify what is required of you for any assignments that seem confusing or unclear, or to discuss any feedback they provide. Finally, forming meaningful relationships with your fellow students--for instance, creating spaces where you can vent to, commiserate with, and encourage each other--can help keep those feelings of loneliness at bay.

These are just a few strategies that have been helpful for students who want to build and/or maintain confidence when it comes to academic writing--regardless of level or program. What are some strategies you've found helpful? We would love to hear from you and for you to share your wisdom with your fellow Walden students!

Reference

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Confidence. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/confidence

Grete Howland is a writing instructor who's been with the Walden Writing Center since 2019. Before joining the Writing Center, Grete taught English and creative writing to middle and high school students. When she's not working with words, Grete loves paddle boarding, running, wine tasting, and hanging out at home with her husband and dog.

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Keep Your Motivation on Track with the Pomodoro Technique

noreply@blogger.com (Walden Writing Center) — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 13:00:00 +0000

Two of our recent blog posts on motivation (and several other Walden Writing Center resources created in the past) mentioned the Pomodoro method as a helpful technique for productive writing. The technique was developed by university student Francesco Cirillo, who was inspired to develop a time-management system based on a tomato-shaped kitchen timer. The heart of the system is breaking down tasks into three 25-minute sessions of uninterrupted work followed by a 5-minute break, and then one final 25-minute work session followed by a longer break after the completion of four consecutive sessions, or about two hours of work. For clarification, the traditional schedule for following the Pomodoro method looks like this:

-25 minutes work
-5-minute break
-25 minutes work
-5-minute break
-25 minutes work
-5-minute break
-25 minutes work
-20-30-minute break

The Pomodoro Technique can be a great motivator in any stage of the writing process. Rather than focusing on completing an entire piece of writing or a specific page or word count, you commit to engaging in a part of the work for a defined period of time. A 10-page paper, a research project, or a thoughtful discussion post for a class assignment can seem overwhelming--but pledging to work on a portion of the assignment for 25-minutes is an achievable goal.

Here are some key factors that I find make me more successful in implementing the Pomodoro Technique:

Tailor the System

I recommend that you experiment with the system and find the time spacing that works best with your own neurology. If 25 minutes of work and a 5-minute break doesn’t quite fit, you may find you work better in 30-minute chunks of time with 10-minute breaks. Maybe you will need to write for 10 minutes and take a 3-minute rest. Don’t be afraid to work the system to meet your working style.

Treat Yourself

A reward system tied to achieving your goals might also be helpful. Some folks are motivated sufficiently by the act of checking items off a to-do list, but I confess that I like a more tangible reward. The short break is a type of reward, but If I have a particularly challenging day where I cannot find the motivation to stay on task, I may add more rewards into my short breaks to keep me interested in pushing forward. In a five-minute break, I can do a quick game or dance party with one of my children, which is not only fun, but allows me to reconnect with family before getting back to writing. Throughout the day, I track how many Pomodoro sets I have completed, and if I have met my daily writing goal, I have a small reward like a square of dark chocolate and a cup of Earl Grey tea. When I meet a weekly writing goal, I want a more significant reward like a 2-hour binge of my latest favorite show or a grown-up playdate (NO KIDS!). What brings you joy? Use that to reward yourself for getting the job done.

Tackle Distractions

During your work time, set yourself up for success by keeping distractions at bay. Mute your phone, don’t answer the door, find a quiet space or put on sound-canceling headphones, and take advantage of tools and apps on your computer (such as Microsoft’s Focus Assist or the Stay Focusd Chrome extension) to avoid the distractions of instant messaging, social media, and email notifications. If random thoughts intrude that you can’t ignore, quickly jot the ideas down in a notebook to deal with later and get right back on task.

Don’t overthink the Pomodoro system, or you might plan yourself into procrastination. You don’t need the perfect timer, a semester time grid, or a reorganized workspace to get started. Any digital or analog timer will do, so you can start right now. What can you write about for 25 minutes? I hope you’ll report back on how it went, maybe over a cup of Earl Grey.

Lauri Barnes is a Writing Instructor at Walden University, and has worked in online writing centers since 2014. She has over two decades of teaching experience and loves supporting writers through the writing process. She is an aficionado of coffee, tea, mysteries, data, Star Wars, Doctor Who, all things nerdy and geeky, science, faith, kindness, and hope. She lives in the panhandle of Florida with her husband, daughter, two sons, and their cat.

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"Sprint" Towards Motivation!*

noreply@blogger.com (Walden Writing Center) — Fri, 30 Jul 2021 13:00:00 +0000

Sometimes just getting started writing can be the most daunting task. Even though I am an experienced writer, I still struggle when I start a writing project. However, once the first few sentences are on the page, I can generate ideas much more easily, and I experience what psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1997) calls flow. In a state of flow, I lose myself in the joy of writing and forget about time and outside pressures.

Flow is different than just enjoying an activity like binge watching a series on Netflix or eating a favorite food. You cannot engage in flow as a passive participant. Flow is experienced from the joy of actively producing (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997), and it is something that has been studied in education and writing, but also in sports such as archery, golf, and billiards (Gute & Gute, 2008). Athletes who sprint build muscle recovery ability and increase their resistance to fatigue (Girard et al., 2011); similarly, writers who engage frequently in short bursts of writing develop fluency and the ability to focus quickly on a writing task (Literacy Information and Communication System, n.d.). The flow states kicks in when the writer or athlete has formed the habits, knows what to do, and engages fully in act of writing itself.

So how do you get from the monolithic blank page to an enjoyable state where the writing you have planned becomes a natural expression rather than halting stumbles of a few words that you type and delete in fits of frustration? Although achieving a state of flow does require mindfulness and experiencing a challenge, researchers have found a positive correlation between a perception of encouraging feedback and the experience of flow. This indicates that the more people trust their ability to meet a challenge, the more likely their performances are to meet their expectations (Gute & Gute, 2008). Turning off your inner critic and writing boldly and fearlessly, giving yourself permission to make mistakes that you know you can deal with later, can help open the pathway to flow.

Many writers experience difficulties getting started on writing projects in isolation. Once more, science provides insight into why this may be true, as studies conducted on flow have found that social flow, or flow experiences created in a group setting, were rated as more enjoyable than solitary flow (Salanova et al., 2014; van den Hout et al., 2018; Walker, 2009).

Student writers can apply this research in a practical way. Using in-person café writing groups and social media to create a sense of community in writing, without any judgment on the quality of the work, can be valuable techniques (Mewburn et al., 2014). This is where the social media challenge to “writing sprints” comes in.

In a writing sprint challenge, the goal of the activity is to write for a given block of time and report back only on the number of words produced. Comparing sprint writing to longer intensive boot camp or binge writing sessions,[1] studies have shown that frequent sprint writing produces more in the long term (Friesen, 2014). In a sprint, writers announce challenges or personal goals on social media such as Twitter, Facebook, discussion boards, etc., and they can be set to any length of time. Some find the structure of “sets” such as the Pomodoro method[2] helpful, whereas others would rather sprint more spontaneously with their writing.

Whichever method you prefer, publicly throwing down the gauntlet in a space where other writers can bear witness to the challenge (in a private writing group, on a class discussion board, or just on a Walden University Facebook page) is a great way to create accountability to just start writing. Using social media to your advantage rather than as a distraction can be a great source of motivation. These challenges can help you produce more writing than you would working alone. So, here’s a challenge: try a writing sprint sometime this week. Set a timer for 10-30 minutes and keep writing until it goes off. Once you get started writing, (especially if you know others are engaged in writing as well), you might achieve the rewarding flow experience that leads to the successful completion of your writing project.

References

Cirillo, F. (n.d.). Pomodoro technique. https://francescocirillo.com/pages/pomodoro-technique

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997). Creativity: Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention. HarperCollins.

Friesen, E. L. (2014). Structures, snacks, sprints, and socializing: Strategies to increase writing output for AT practitioners. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, 217, 788-791.

Girard, O., Mendez-Villanueva, A., & Bishop, D. (2011). Repeated-sprint ability — Part I: Factors contributing to fatigue. Sports Medicine, 41(8), 673–694. https://doi-org./10.2165/11590550-000000000-00000

Gute, D., & Gute, G. (2008). Flow writing in the liberal arts core and across the disciplines: A vehicle for confronting and transforming academic disengagement. The Journal of General Education, 57(4), 191-222. https://doi.org/10.1353/jge.0.0026

Literacy Information and Communication System. (n.d.). Increase the amount of student writing. https://lincs.ed.gov/state-resources/federal-initiatives/teal/guide/studentwriting

Mewburn, I., Osbone, L., & Caldwell, G. (2014). Shut up & write!: Some surprising uses of cafés and crowds in doctoral writing. In C. Aitchison & C. Guerin (Eds.), Writing groups for doctoral education and beyond: Innovations in practice (pp. 218-232). Routledge.

Salanova, M., Rodriguez Sanchez, A. M., Schaufeli, W. B., Cifre, E. (2014). Flowing together: A longitudinal study of collective efficacy and collective flow among workgroups. The Journal of Psychology Interdisciplinary and Applied 148(4), 435-455. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.2013.806290

Van den Hout, J. J. J., Davis, O. C. & Weggeman, M. C. D. P. (2018). The conceptualization of team flow. The Journal of Psychology 152(6), 388-423. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.2018.1449729

Walker, C. (2009). Experiencing flow: Is doing it together better than doing it alone? The Journal of Positive Psychology, 5(1), 3-11. http://doi.org/10.1080/17439760903271116

[1] There has been some conflation of the term “writing sprint” with what is actually a “writing binge” where writers spent an intensive multiday period writing on a single topic.

[2] The Pomodoro method was pioneered by Francesco Cirillo (n.d.), where tasks are chunked into 25-minute blocks of time, with a short break allowed, and then another 25-minute block of time, followed by a short break, and this pattern continues until 4 of the 25-minute blocks have been completed, and a 20-to-30-minute break is allowed.

*The terrible, punny title of this post was crafted by the current project manager of the blog. Lauri should not be held responsible.

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Motivation to Revise

noreply@blogger.com (Walden Writing Center) — Tue, 15 Jun 2021 15:00:00 +0000

You did it! You finished a draft of your document—huzzah! And now it’s time for the often-skipped, less desirable part of the writing process: revision. You might be wondering, ‘why should I take time to revise when I just spent all this time writing a draft in the first place?’ Well, I’m glad you asked! Here are some motivational arguments for and approaches to revision!

Why Revise?

Revision is an opportunity to take the great thing you wrote and make it better. And it can always get better! So, if you like your work to really shine, revision is for you!

Not feeling like you have time to revise? Or maybe you just feel like your draft is good enough already? Revision is still for you! Doing a quick re-read can still help ensure that you hit all the main points requested by your assignment prompt. It can also ensure that you remember to cite everything and avoid plagiarism. Plus, even small steps at revising can help you communicate more effectively and hone your writing skills!

How to Revise

It can be tough to open up that paper you just finished and say, ‘alright. Now let’s revise!;. It can feel discouraging. Or at least less than super exciting. But it doesn’t have to! Here are some revision strategies to help motivate you.

1) Make a paper review appointment. By making a paper review appointment, you will have the opportunity to have someone else look over your work and provide feedback and next steps for revision! This takes some of the mental work and discouragement away from the revision process 😊.

2) Try a reverse outline. Make bullet points of the main points in your document in a separate document or side comments. Look these over and compare them with your assignment—do you answer all the questions? Do you repeat yourself anywhere? These are good areas to revise if so!

3) Take a break. Make sure to build in a day or two away from when your draft is due so that you can take a break from it and come back with fresh eyes. It can be really motivational to look at something fresh and remember all the great work you did, and things you want to fix or change will jump out at you more.

Still need more motivation?

If you’re still feeling the revision blues, check out some of these resources and other approaches to revision:

· In particular, I recommend the Writing Goals module to help focus your revision ideas

· Review some steps and tricks via our revising webpage

· Watch our Strategies for Revising, Proofing, and Using Feedback webinar

What helps you revise? Let us know in the comments!

Claire Helakoski lives in Michigan with her family. Claire has worked at Walden for over 5 years and you can read many of her previous posts on the blog, as well as find her over at WriteCast as a cohost.

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Consider Your Future Audience When Writing Gets Tough

noreply@blogger.com (Walden Writing Center) — Mon, 17 May 2021 15:30:00 +0000

Have you ever come across a piece of writing, whether it was a novel or poem or even an academic paper, that impacted you in a memorable way? Maybe the author described something with words so beautiful it brought a literal smile to your face, or maybe they expressed an idea in a way that never occurred to you before and it changed the way you think about life.

I have. It’s part of why I love reading all kinds of literature, and it’s part of why I love writing. It’s also part of why I love teaching writing. The written word can change people’s lives; it can even change the world.

At the same time, writing is hard. Really hard. It’s especially difficult when you’re working within a variety of constraints like keeping up a scholarly tone, sticking to the conventions of Standardized Academic English, needing to include a certain number of sources, and following APA style. Shouldering all of those expectations on top of the already exhausting tasks of coming up with ideas and thinking about how to best communicate them, it’s easy to lose sight of the potential that your writing has to make an impact.

Yet it’s that very potential that can serve as a motivation to push through that difficult writing process. It’s that very potential that can get you through the outlining, and the drafting, and getting feedback, and then making even more changes based on that feedback. Remembering that your writing matters is a great tool for manifesting motivation.

Whenever I’m at an impasse with an essay or article that I’m working on, whether it’s because I have writer’s block or I’ve just spent so much time with the piece that I’m sick of it and want to give up, I think about who is going to read it. I call to mind what I want them to feel as they make their way through my words and ideas. Sometimes I even picture an actual person in my mind’s eye: I imagine their head nodding along in agreement, or their eyes widening with inspiration, or a smile growing on their face as they enjoy what I’ve put so much effort into creating.

It might feel silly or awkward at first, to dream of your writing having such an impact. Maybe it even feels a little arrogant to think that something you created could mean that much to someone else. And it’s certainly true that not every piece of writing we produce is going to be our best work. Nevertheless, I encourage you to give it a try next time you find yourself searching for the inspiration to keep going with a draft: Imagine your classmates seeing a topic from a new perspective because of what you brought to the table in a discussion post. Imagine your professor delighted by how clearly and logically you articulated your point. Imagine your written work actually changing the world.

There are a lot of methods out there for drumming up the motivation needed to get through a writing project, and each person has their own set of tools that works for them. For me, the prospect of simply being done with a piece, of being able to check it off a list, is not always enough to get me across the finish line. I believe that there can be a greater significance to my work than that, and I’ve found that I can use that belief to re-energize myself when I’m struggling.

I hope this strategy resonates with some of you out there, too. I’m excited to hear what other tools you’ve found helpful in your quest for motivation, and I look forward to continuing to bear witness to your world-changing work!

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Are You Hitting the Pandemic Wall Too?

noreply@blogger.com (Walden Writing Center) — Fri, 09 Apr 2021 13:00:00 +0000

When Kacy shared with me her vision for the blog in 2021, I was excited to hear about the focus on motivation. As I mentioned last September, productivity usually isn’t a problem for me. I wrote that September post earlier in the pandemic, and when I look back now, I realized I’m in an entirely different headspace now.

As we head into the one-year anniversary of COVID lockdowns, I’ve hit what I’ve heard others refer to as the pandemic wall. The term “the pandemic wall” comes out of a Twitter thread from NPR host Tanzina Vega (she talks about “pandemic burnout”), and it refers to “the particular and sudden feeling of spiritual and emotional exhaustion with life during covid times” (Judkis, para. 7 ).

I find myself thinking about the pandemic wall a lot lately, as my friends, family, and I are finding everyday tasks--both at work and at home--harder and harder to complete. My motivation seems to have vanished.

In reflecting on my waning motivation, I realized that the tools that I had relied on in the past to help fuel my motivation just weren’t available to me anymore. Last fall, I talked about how finding the right environment can help my motivation. In the past, when I was feeling restless and unproductive, I would often find a cozy coffee shop where I could get some writing or work done. Finding a different space to center myself was what got me through my master’s degree, and it’s been something I’ve relied on during my 10+ years as a remote worker.

Of course, in this time of COVID, going to a coffee shop just isn’t an option; it’s not realistic or safe, and so opportunities for finding a new environment to help with my motivation are limited. I suppose I could try moving from my home office to my kitchen, but of course I also don’t leave my house during my down time, so I’m pretty sick of my kitchen right now too. That strategy that had worked well isn't available to me right now, but I also realized I’ve unknowingly found a few workarounds.

Recently, I’ve started using an app called Tomato Timer. The app uses the Pomodoro technique of alternating between focused work sessions and frequent breaks (“pomodoro” is Italian for tomato). I find it incredibly helpful and satisfying to watch the app count down the time until my next break, and I often find myself trying to work a bit faster to get a project done before the timer ends. The Pomodoro approach helps me push distractions to the side, since I’ll have a break soon in which I can easily get more coffee, check Twitter, get more coffee, walk around a bit, and get more coffee.

The other strategy I’ve started using is a daily meditation habit using the app Headspace. I’ve always wanted to be more mindful, and with my inability to focus recently, I thought now might be the time to start building my meditation practice. I’ve incorporated Headspace into my nightly routine before I go to bed, and I’ve started using short 5-minute meditations during my Pomodoro breaks. It’s been a helpful way to reset my focus, and while I’m still a novice, I’m going to continue to build my meditation practice.

I in no way want to imply that the Tomato Timer and Headspace apps are solutions for the impact of the global pandemic we are still experiencing: we can’t time manage or meditate our way out of a global pandemic. And, honestly, we should all be clear with ourselves that our productivity probably won’t be the same as our pre-pandemic levels. It’s okay to feel unfocused and to struggle with motivation—that struggle is not a personal failing on your part; it’s a result of the world we live in right now and is not your fault.

It has been helpful for me, however, to reflect on the ways I’ve replaced my old strategies for finding motivation with new ones. Maybe that same reflection can be helpful for you too. If you’ve felt unfocused and unmotivated recently, consider where you’ve found motivation in the past. Is there a new way you can replicate that strategy? What resources or tools do you have at your disposal, however small they might seem? What support system can you lean into? How might technology be a tool?

Share your thoughts in comments to this post, and good luck out there, everyone. We will eventually be able to visit our local coffee shop without worry.

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Motivation: My theme for the Walden Writing Center Blog and life in general in 2021

noreply@blogger.com (Walden Writing Center) — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 14:00:00 +0000

2020 was...a year. One way to illustrate the kind of year it was: I'm introducing myself and the yearly blog theme for 2021 in March.

My name is Kacy Walz and I've been a Writing Instructor at Walden University since the end of 2016. I've written a few posts for the blog in the past and, this year, I'm excited to take the reigns. I'm also excited to share the theme of 2021's upcoming posts: motivation.

I'm going to be honest with you. I have ulterior motives (pun completely intended) for selecting this theme. I'm a doctoral candidate currently working on my dissertation. And I've been finding it harder and harder to motivate myself to sit down and write lately.

Something that never fails to inspire me is working with Walden students and witnessing the incredible things they do in their scholarship and day-to-day lives. I'm so grateful for that and I believe that tapping into my work at Walden will help get me to the proofreading stage of writing.

Along with our amazing students Walden also has some excellent and inspirational staff members, and I'm so lucky to call them colleagues. I know their writing will help me develop and maintain the motivation I need to finish and I hope you'll also find motivation as we progress through this year and beyond.

So what do you say, 2021? Let's do it.

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March Live Webinars

noreply@blogger.com (Walden Writing Center) — Sat, 06 Mar 2021 14:00:00 +0000

It seems like each month is somehow both flying by (is it really already March??) and also taking forever. But a new month also means a new webinar schedule! We'd love to see you at a live webinar, but if the times don't work for you, you can always check out the recording in our archive.

This month we are offering the following live webinars:

APA for Doctoral Capstone Students

Date: Thursday March 18th

Time: 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. ET

Audience: Doctoral Students

In this webinar, participants will learn from Writing Center Form and Style editors about the use of APA in doctoral capstones: Expectations, common errors, and resources for understanding more complex APA rules.

APA Reference List Workshop Part 1: Top Overall Formatting Errors and How to Fix Them
Date: Tuesday March 30th
Time: 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. ET
Audience: All Students

In this workshop-style session, students will learn the purpose of an APA Style reference list, how to identify and fix common reference list formatting errors, and resources for further help.

Optional: To fully participate, students should bring a reference list of their own to work on. The list can be one for a current or past assignment, and it will not be shared.

Click on the webinar titles to register for the live sessions. Hope to see you there!

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Inclusivity in Academic Writing and APA: The Singular “They”

noreply@blogger.com (Walden Writing Center) — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 02:30:00 +0000

Last year, Walden University adopted the newest edition of the APA Manual, APA 7. While many rules stayed the same between APA 6 and APA 7, a few rules changed, including one that has caused excitement across the university: APA 7 officially endorses the use of “they” as a singular third-person pronoun (see Section 4.18 in APA 7).

What do I mean by the singular “they”? Essentially, writers can now use “they” to refer to one individual or many individuals, just like “you” can be either singular or plural. Here are a few examples of the singular “they” in writing:

While my boss provides regular employee feedback, they also take mid-year reviews seriously.
The respondent noted that they did not fully understand the question in the survey.

My daughter has appreciated their nonbinary student high school support group.

While the Writing Center has advised Walden students to use “they” as a singular pronoun since our 2017 Inclusive Language Policy announcement, APA 7’s endorsement means that the singular “they” has taken another step on its journey to mainstream use by entering Standard Academic English standards. The singular “they” is actually much older than you might think. If you’re interested in etymology like me, you can read the Oxford English dictionary’s comprehensive history of the singular “they,” which traces the first documented use of the singular “they” back to 1375.

The singular “they” has a long history and is one that also includes controversy as many grammarians have treated it as grammatically incorrect. More recently, however, academics have recognized that the singular “they” can provide writers a much needed tool in their writing. Using “they” as a singular pronoun allows writers to reflect the gender identity of individuals they are talking about. This practice is particularly helpful for nonbinary individuals who may not identify with gendered pronouns like he/him or she/her.

The singular “they” also allows writers to avoid gender bias in various situations in their writing. For example, the singular “they” provides writers a way to avoid misgendering individuals when their pronouns aren’t known. For example, let’s imagine a situation in which we are able to gather in person again: Maybe a Walden student is attending an in-person residency, and in their reflection paper on the residency, they want to talk about someone who asked a question across the room in a session. The student doesn’t—and can’t possibly—know that person’s pronouns. In this case, APA recommends using the singular “they.” Similarly, if you’re writing about a hypothetical situation, use the singular “they” to avoid gender bias. Research shows that when nouns are gendered (as is the case in languages like Spanish and German), speakers describe objects differently based on their gender. The language we use does impact our perception of who we are taking about, and the singular “they” helps us avoid that bias.

The use of singular “they” in academic writing and APA is one more action we can embrace to ensure our communication is inclusive, and it’s not only happening in academic writing. You might see people you email self-identify their pronouns in email or on social media, or you might see pronouns identified on someone’s name badge at work or at a conference. Many members of the Walden community have embraced the idea of self-identifying their pronouns, and I’m glad to see that APA is now following suite by adopting the singular “they.”

Now that you better understand the history and context around the singular “they”—and gendered pronouns in general—I encourage you to begin using the singular “they” in your writing. Like many changes to writing rules, it may take some practice to get used to, so give yourself time to experiment with this pronoun. Try using the singular “they” in your other writing at work, with family and friends, and on social media. The more you practice using it, the better you’ll understand how to use this tool in your writing toolbox.

Resources to learn more about the singular “they”:

Chelsea Lee, “Welcome, Singular ‘They’”, APA Style
Walden University, Diversity and Inclusion: Gendered Pronouns
Jey Ehrenhalt, “Let’s Talk About Nonbinary,” Teaching Tolerance

Robert Krulwich, “Shakespeare Had Roses All Wrong,” NPR
Rachel Cunning, “Engendering Inclusivity in a Language Class,” Teaching Tolerance
Colleen Clements, “Thanks to the ‘Singular They’”, Teaching Tolerance
Oxford English Dictionary, “A Brief History of Singular ‘They’”
Walden University Writing Center, “Inclusive Language Policy Announcement”

Walden University Writing Center, “Singular ‘They’”
Beth Nastachowski has been with the Writing Center since 2010, and she currently is the associate director of the Office of Writing Instruction. She spends her time running after her sons, husband, and dog in St. Paul, MN.

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Navigating Standard Academic English

noreply@blogger.com (Walden Writing Center) — Fri, 22 Jan 2021 14:00:00 +0000

Many students may have other languages than English as their primary language. Other students may use an English other than Standard Academic English on a daily basis in their writing and speaking. (I know I do). If you don’t feel like you live and think in Academic English, this blog post is for you!

First, let me explain what I mean by Standard Academic English. When I talk about Standard Academic English, I’m referring to a formal tone of English used in academic writing (such as academic articles and books) where the intention it is to inform fellow experts in a particular field about a topic. Nuances of this particular style of writing are clarified by the American Psychological Association for academics in the social sciences (like Walden students).

Most of us don’t think, write, or talk in Standard Academic English. Standard Academic English is a standard that was set a long time ago, and it’s being challenged today by thinkers like Asao Inoue (you can find his academic research in the Library’s databases, but you can also find him on his blog Infrequent Words and Twitter) because this linguistic standard can be limiting to just about everyone since it isn’t how we normally think or speak. In particular, current discussions revolve around how this standard disadvantages certain races, ethnic groups, and language learners. It’s a tough topic to tackle, and hopefully these standards can change with time. Also, a less frequently used type of writing than what we typically encounter or use day to day, it can be tough to shift how we write to meet this standard. For now, though, we at the Walden Writing Center have some suggestions and advice to support anyone who Standard Academic English is a challenge for!

First, I want to clarify that all forms of communication are important—there isn’t a wrong way to communicate, just like there isn’t a wrong way to think. However, the way we express ourselves varies depending on our audience and the venue. The way you text your mother is just as valid and important as the way you chat with a friend, write a Tweet, or publish a blog post—but when you think about it, you probably do all of these types of writing a little differently based on reader expectations. Your mom expects you to be friendly, your Twitter followers expect you to be succinct, and your friends expect you to be casual. At the Writing Center, we don’t encourage students to align with academic writing expectations because other forms of communication are wrong. Instead, we do so to help you meet those expectations so that you can finish your coursework, dissertation, or publications in your field and meet the expectations of your faculty, readers, and publishers for academic writing venues.

The good news is that if you write and speak differently to different audiences and in different formats, you are already halfway there as an academic writer and working on SAE! This is because those shifts in tone represent you the communicator doing the work of shifting your phrasing and content for a different venue. Read more about code-shifting and academic tone in one of our blog posts. Academic writing is just one of many publication and communication venues! So by learning the more formal tone expected in academic writing, you can implement it just like you implement emojis in your texts or citations in your coursework 😊.

At the Writing Center we have lots of great resources to support you as you grow in your writing skills and navigate academic English—either from a foreign language perspective or just as someone who doesn’t always think like an academic. One main thing is to read a lot! Pay attention to how your course reading sounds, what words they use, their sentence structure. Read aloud and get that tone of voice in your head—this will make it easier to make minor shifts in your writing for a particular venue.

Here’s a list of other resources that you might find useful:

What is Academic Writing? webinar
Roundup blog post of scholarly writing and tone resources.
How Academic Writing Helps you Beyond Academia—WriteCast podcast episode [transcript]
Tips for Multilingual Students/Language Learners—WriteCast episode [transcript]

The Writing Center is here for you as you navigate the nuances of Standard Academic English. Questions? Approaches that work well for you? Let us know in the comments below.

Claire Helakoski is a writing instructor at the Walden Writing Center. Claire also cohosts and helps produce WriteCast, the Writing Center's podcast.

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Learn by Writing; Learn by Listening

noreply@blogger.com (Walden Writing Center) — Tue, 29 Dec 2020 14:00:00 +0000

Faculty Voices: Writing Advice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjgUvtcxGMc&feature=emb_title

When I am learning something new, I try to seek out someone who has the skills and abilities that I’m trying to learn and ply them for advice. For example, when I was learning how to plan for my first wilderness canoe trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, I made dinner plans with my old school chum Chris so I could ask them for advice on how to pack, what to bring, where to go, and how to stay safe in the wilderness. Chris was extremely helpful and kind, and he explained a lot of ideas and techniques I didn’t know. But as the saying goes “you don’t know what you don’t know.” For something as important as wilderness survival, canoeing, and camping, what I didn’t know could lead to discomfort, injury, or worse.

I’m not going to compare scholarly writing to wilderness camping, don’t worry. But they are both complex skills that take time and persistence to learn and perform well. Since scholarly writing is a whole language in and of itself, there are likely a lot of things you don’t know that you don’t know.

When it comes to writing, like any complex skill, self-study and practice are invaluable. But I recommend you get in the habit of asking for help and advice so you might know what to study and practice. Practice doesn’t make perfect; practice makes permanent. If you practice wrong or in a counterproductive way, you’re going to repeat those missteps every time you write. That’s why you should seek out successful writers and relish in their advice. Now, we can’t all get face time with Stephen King (although his Twitter feed is fire), but luckily for Walden students, we have access to a whole team of successful, skillful, and helpful writers: our Walden faculty.

You may not have the same career and research goals as your faculty. However, there is still a lot you can learn from taking their advice. Being able to learn from someone who has reached great success in a field that you are interested in could be one of the most important benefits of your Walden education. That’s why I’ve found the Faculty Voices video series to be such a wonderful source of writing advice as I continue to develop my own writing skills and habits.

The advice from Dr. Critchlow in “What writing advice do you wish you could give all students” taught me something that I didn’t know I didn’t know: It’s better to get the ideas down first and then go through and shape them into something formal and beautiful. I especially appreciate Dr. Critchlow’s advice to “take your time writing. Write it all out, and don’t edit while you’re writing.”

I’ve always written under the assumption that the finished product of my writing was most important. What Dr. Critchlow’s advice helped me learn is that the ideas are most important, and brainstorming, prewriting, and development are necessary to enhance those ideas. The shaping and forming of my prose should come later once there is something to work with.

For example, something that has always derailed my writing momentum is that persistent internal editor that just won’t be quiet. Even as I write this sentence, I’ve revised it already three times: Reworking the subject first, then replacing the verb with one that is more active, then flipping the entire sentence structure around to highlight my own act of revision. My writing process is arduous because I have trouble finding that writing “zone” where ideas flow and writing is a joy, not a chore. My writing takes forever, and it is a struggle. It’s also hard for me to hold an argument together for any length of time because I’m constantly fiddling and tinkering with the prose. The beauty of my writing is never allowed to flourish because it is always so mediated and edited.

As scholarly writers, Dr. Critchlow’s advice gives us permission to put aside that internal editor and focus instead on the ideas that underpin our writing. The ideas are what matter. No one is studying at Walden University to get an advanced degree in scholarly writing. We use scholarly writing as a vehicle to do something else: Something beautiful that will improve our communities and enrich our own personal and professional selves.

Turning off the internal editor is not easy, but it is something I will strive to do in my future writing. Why? Because there is always time later to edit the individual mechanics of each sentence. For now, though, when I’m trying to get in the writing zone, I’m going to remember what Dr. Critchlow said and seek the beauty in my writing. The beauty that comes from engaging with complex and important ideas.

Hopefully the writing advice in these Faculty Voices videos will give you some concrete, helpful tips that you can use today. When you’re done viewing, reflect on what you learned and consider these questions:

What is the most helpful piece of advice that I’ve ever received about my writing?
What did that advice change about my writing process?

Max Philbrook is a writing instructor in the Walden University Writing Center. Max’s instructional approach is to help writers of every background develop their voice among the many competing requirements of scholarly writing. Outside of supporting the social change mission of Walden writers, Max enjoys hiking in the forest with Zoie and Kirby: Max’s Australian Shepherd buddies.

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Forget You Read This: Your APA Bookmark

noreply@blogger.com (Walden Writing Center) — Fri, 20 Nov 2020 14:00:00 +0000

When new students (either undergraduate or graduate) begin their academic work at Walden, the one thing they I always hear about is APA. Some students are already familiar with APA, while it’s completely new to some. If so compelled to search on Google or within some of Walden’s own websites, APA is revealed to be a “set of rules” one must usually apply to academic papers to ensure they are written “properly” within the guidelines of all of Walden’s coursework. Beyond this brief introduction, there are also tales (horrific tales?) that APA contains hundreds of rules about formatting, headings, citations, and other strange rules that every student – especially you! – must commit to memory if you’re to succeed in your coursework. APA, you may have also heard, is impossible to learn, containing so many rules no one person can ever know it all.

If this is what you’ve heard, you now have my permission to forget all of it. I might even encourage you to forget this blog post.

While a small portion of it is true – Walden students do need to be familiar with APA – the horror stories of having to commit all of it to memory couldn’t be further from the truth. The happy ending to this story - the big reveal before the curtain goes down – is that everything you need to know about APA is located on the Writing Center website.

Now, it is true that APA gets easier the more you apply it to Walden coursework, committing the rules of APA to your memory is a naturally occurring process that occurs gradually over time. There is no APA-Olympics that will ever require you to take a timed “APA test” on which you will write down every APA rule under penalty of being removed from Walden. If this is an academic nightmare you’ve ever had, it is finally time to wake up. Your teachers at Walden absolutely understand how and why APA may be new to many of you, and the inherent challenges associated with applying (and thinking in) this new style of writing.

More than anything, APA is a tool designed to help you achieve your academic goals. As a structure of organization, it helps you to think about your coursework in an even, streamlined manner, applying the same kind of thinking and writing to all your assignments across all courses. While it is true that making small, incremental steps in learning one new APA rule at a time may provide you with a steady diet of energizing blips and whizzes, every new rule you learn is something you can save and apply to every new assignment you write. Once you learn and apply a new rule, it’s yours forever, which is why APA is a tool to help you grow.

So, before you forget you ever read this blog post, here’s one final thought. Yes, APA will be a part of your academic writing while at Walden, and it contain rules you’ll need to learn over time. The good news is you never need to worry about learning all the rules or having them crammed in your brain all at once. The Walden Writing Center website is designed to be your “APA brain away from home.” We wrote all the rules down for you so they’re there when you need them.

When applying APA to writing Walden papers there are a few basic rules one needs to remember: the basic template of APA papers, how to use headings, and how to use citations, all of which are clearly revealed on our website. Bookmark our site (https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/home) and commit its URL to memory.

And –if you can’t do that—try a Post-It for your wall!

James A. Horwitz is a writing instructor in the Walden University Writing Center. James received his MA and MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, having first earned undergraduate degrees in both English and Psychology. James has taught at the college-level for over 13 years and is passionate about student-learning, mentoring, and student writers developing their work.

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Providing Accessible References to Global Readers

noreply@blogger.com (Walden Writing Center) — Fri, 23 Oct 2020 13:00:00 +0000

With many changes in APA 7 focusing on the move to digital accessibility, it is important to understand the issues proxy servers can present readers and researchers. This will often require students to make modifications to DOIs retrieved from some databases, including the Walden Library databases, to ensure they are accessible to all readers. Please read below for further explanations and action items for how you can ensure the DOI numbers you include in your reference list are accessible to all readers.

A proxy server is an application that acts as a middleman between those seeking resources and those providing resources. Walden students (the seekers) are likely to see this in the databases of the Walden Library (the provider), which houses all journal articles and research that Laureate holds fair use licenses.

When including the proxy server (i.e., https://eds-b-ebscohost-com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/doi.org/10XXXX) in the DOI provided to the reader, the writer only makes this research accessible to those with a specific login to this system. In this case, a Walden login would allow Walden students access to this research through the Walden Library databases. Instead, writers should remove this proxy server to provide the non-specific DOI (in URL form as per APA 7 guidelines) that will allow all readers, including non-Walden students, to access this specific research.

To provide the most accessible link for your reader regarding a DOI URL, eliminate “ezp.waldenlibrary.org” from the URL. It should read simply as follows: https://doi.org/10.XXXXX

Here is an example:

Inaccessible: https://eds-b-ebscohost-com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ doi.org/10.1080/20479700.2017.1412558

Accessible: https://doi.org/10.1080/20479700.2017.1412558

As you can see from the above example, the first link will bring the reader to a login page before allowing them to access these materials. If the reader does not have an active Walden login, they will not be able to access these materials. However, once the proxy server is removed and only the active DOI hyperlink is included, this research becomes accessible to anyone with an internet connection.

Removing the proxy information from a DOI is an important step to provide accessibility to all readers of our research, and it also aids in future accessibility as the non-proxy DOI numbers and URLs will always be accessible, even when removed from, or moved to, different internal servers.

With this rule in mind it is also important to note the recent APA 7 change that requires all DOIs to be presented in an active URL form. This may mean altering the DOI URLs you have from the Walden Library databases to follow the URL format, along with removing the proxy server information.

If you ever are unsure if you are omitting the correct information you can also check your sources on www.crossref.org/guestquery to see and verify the correct DOI URL, without any proxy server attached. You can also learn more about formatting DOI URLs on our website and through the examples on our Common Reference List Examples page.

Meghan K Barnes holds a BFA in Professional Writing & English, an MFA in Nonfiction Literature, and a MAT in Post-Secondary Adult Online Education. These degrees lead to multiple opportunities including a Fulbright Scholarship to study the nonfiction work of Sylvia Plath in England, three Pushcart Prize Nominations, and four book publications.

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October Live Webinars

noreply@blogger.com (Walden Writing Center) — Fri, 16 Oct 2020 19:00:00 +0000

Next week, we're excited to host two live student webinars. "Welcome to the Writing Center" is a great webinar for you if you're new to Walden, haven't used the Writing Center much yet, or would like some guidance on what resources are most helpful depending on the time you have and your learning style.

October is a special month for the Walden community, as students, faculty, and staff come together with each other and in their communities to celebrate Global Days of Service. This year marks Walden's 15th Global Days of Service, a dedicated time to volunteer and enact positive social change through service.

To join in the celebration, our second webinar this month, "Using Restorative Writing to Enact Social Change," is a specialized discussion about using writing to transform pain into engagement and even potentially social change. In this interactive session, learn what restorative writing is, why it matters, and how to use it for healing, self-care, and building stronger communities.

If you can't attend the webinars live, visit our webinar recordings archive to access recordings and transcripts for all of our webinars. Better yet, register for the webinars below to receive the recording links by email as soon as they're available!

Welcome to the Writing Center
October 20, 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. ET
Register

This webinar will orient you to the many resources available at your fingertips, including paper reviews, extensive website and videos, Quick Answers, live and recorded webinars, self-paced modules, and social media. We'll specifically focus on which resources will be most helpful when you're short on time, have a few days to get help, or are looking to develop your writing skills long-term.

Using Restorative Writing to Enact Social Change
October 22, 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. ET
Register

Writing can be a useful tool for processing difficult events and discovering connections between your experiences and local, community, or global problems. In this webinar, you will explore how you can use restorative writing to promote wellness for yourself and your community. Information about the concept of restorative writing and how it evolved in academia will serve as the foundation for our discussion before you practice restorative writing during this webinar. Finally, you will reflect on how restorative writing can help you enact social change.

The Walden University Writing Center offers live webinars each month on academic writing topics such as scholarly writing, APA style, and practical writing skills.

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Where Do You Find Your Writing Motivation?

noreply@blogger.com (Walden Writing Center) — Fri, 25 Sep 2020 12:30:00 +0000

Faculty Voices: Walden Talks Writing Spotlight

Finding motivation to write has always been somewhat allusive for me. While I’m generally a pretty productive person, when it comes to writing, I often find myself procrastinating and waiting until conditions are just right to sit down and put words on the page.

Getting those conditions “just right” often means that I need to start writing well ahead of my deadline. For me, if I start writing without a deadline breathing down my neck, I can often trick my mind into thinking I’m working ahead of schedule, something my type-A personality really appreciates. This practice feeds my motivation, and I often find that writing comes easier to me when I’m writing working ahead.

The other component of writing motivation for me is finding the right environment to write in. As a staff member in the Writing Center, I work from home and on my computer five days a week, so I find that I can easily be distracted if I try to write in my home office. Instead, I try to go somewhere else to do my writing: Right now, I’m writing from a quiet coffee shop down the street. There’s something about the ambient noises in a coffee shop that let me focus on my writing. No one particularly minds if I stare out the window as I think, and I feel a sense of kinship with the other people here working on their own writing.

Recently, the Writing Center asked faculty contributors to our Faculty Voices: Walden Talks Writing project about where they find their writing motivation. Everyone has their own quirks about how or when they write best, and learning from others can help you learn what works for you.

Watch the video to hear what our faculty contributors had to say, then think about your own writing motivation:

Where do you find your writing motivation, and how can you cultivate that writing motivation to help you be a productive writer?

Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-cF1cKjFZ8&list=PLM7NbPzilFBfs8PSMipc-ezfmsl7S403J&index=3&t=5s

Beth Nastachowski Associate Director, Office of Writing Instruction.Beth Nastachowski has been with the Writing Center for 10 years and lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

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Writing About COVID-19

noreply@blogger.com (Walden Writing Center) — Tue, 01 Sep 2020 12:30:00 +0000

COVID-19 is inescapable for us all in the year 2020 as a pandemic that has resulted in widespread economic, social, and political consequences. As a Walden student committed to research for social change, you may find yourself interested in researching and writing on topics related to the pandemic. Here are some definitions and tips on writing about COVID-19 to provide you some initial guidance.

The World Health Organization (WHO) as an international public health leader named the disease and the virus that causes it in February 2020:

The disease is named coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
The virus that causes COVID-19 is named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

The term “COVID-19” refers to the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2. However, it also has wider application. The term is also used to refer to the pandemic resulting from widespread infections of that virus, as well as to the consequences of lockdowns and policies meant to limit the spread of COVID-19. For greater specificity, use “COVID-19” as a modifier for the specific aspect of medical, social, political, or economic consequences being addressed, as follows:

Executive orders that prohibited public gatherings caused COVID-19 closures, resulting in the closing of local libraries. People who contract SARS-CoV-2 can have a range of COVID-19 symptoms, from little to no symptoms (asymptomatic) to severe respiratory issues.
Following APA style guidance, look to a standard collegiate dictionary such as Merriam-Webster for spelling, which uses “COVID-19.” Note that you will see many variations on spelling and capitalization of the term in different publications, especially since the term is so new.

Although COVID-19 is an abbreviation for “coronavirus disease,” because it is listed as a term in the dictionary, it does not need to be introduced via abbreviations in your writing (see Section 6.25 in APA 7).

Other names for COVID-19 circulate fairly widely in political discussions, but many of these terms are explicitly racist and xenophobic and thus should not be used in research writing except as quotations or in discussions of the problematic nature of such terms. These names include terms such as “Wuhan virus” or “China virus” that name the location where the virus was first identified in an attempt to lay blame for the pandemic on a people, country, or government. For more information, consult the guidance issued by the United Nations (UN) on combatting COVID-19 hate speech.

For some examples of how psychology, health care, and public researchers and journalists discuss COVID-19, see the American Psychological Association’s page on APA COVID-19 Information and Resources.

As you consider different aspects of COVID-19 for research, keep in mind that as the pandemic is currently active, there is a lot of ambiguity about terminology along with heated political debate about the meanings of specific terms. Here are some examples of terms in wide circulation today that should you should carefully chose and define in your writing:

social distancing
quarantine, lockdown, stay at home orders, mask orders
personal protective equipment (PPE)
face masks, face coverings, cloth masks, respirators, N95 masks, surgical masks

As always, please email or chat with Writing Center staff if you have additional questions about how to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic accurately, clearly, and objectively in your writing.

Paul Lai, Manager, Website and Information Resources

Paul Lai manages the Writing Center's website. He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with his partner and their two dogs.

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September Live Webinars

noreply@blogger.com (Walden Writing Center) — Mon, 31 Aug 2020 16:48:00 +0000

And just like that...it's September! We've got a number of live webinars in the works and we hope to see you there! Can't make it to a live webinar? Check out our archive of recorded webinars on a wide array of different writing-related topics.

Writing at the Graduate Level
Wednesday September 9th from 12:00-1:00 p.m. ET
Audience: Graduate Students

We are not born knowing how to write academically, and you did not enter graduate school knowing how to write like a graduate student. After all, writing is a learning process. This session will discuss the characteristics of scholarly writing, giving you strategies to elevate your writing to graduate school expectations.

Writing and Responding to Discussion Posts
Tuesday September 22nd from 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET
Audience: All Students

As a Walden student, you'll write many discussion posts in your courses. Attend this webinar to learn the Writing Center's tips on how to create strong discussion posts and how to respond to your classmates' discussion posts.

The Walden University Writing Center creates content to help students with a range of topics related to scholarly writing, APA style, and the writing process. We host webinars, and offer paper reviews, live chat, and a podcast.

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August Live Webinar Schedule

noreply@blogger.com (Walden Writing Center) — Mon, 03 Aug 2020 12:00:00 +0000

Can you believe it’s August already? During this classic back-to-school season, check out our live webinar calendar. Hope to see you there!

Transitioning from Corsework to Doctoral Capstone Writing

Tuesday, August 4, 1:00-2:00 p.m. ET

Audience: Doctoral Capstone students

Writing a doctoral capstone document, such as a dissertation or a doctoral or project study, is a unique process with its own challenges. Often the shorter writing and research assignments you have done in courses do not accurately reflect what it takes to craft a book-length document that contains an original scholarly contribution, which is what your capstone will be. This webinar addresses the ways writing the doctoral capstone differs from writing for graduate courses and outlines some helpful strategies for how to approach the writing process as you move into the capstone phase.

Essential Elements for Writing Annotated Bibliographies

Thursday, August 13, 7:00-8:00 p.m. ET

Audience: Graduate students


This session discusses the do's and don'ts of annotated bibliographies using examples. This session is relevant for any graduate students who will be or have completed an annotated bibliography as part of their course work or in preparation for a doctoral capstone study. We also explain how annotated bibliographies can be used by all writers as a way to take notes and organize research. If you are currently writing or will write a large research paper, this is the webinar for you!

Writing Literature Reviews in Your Graduate Coursework

Tuesday, August 18, 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. ET

Audience: Graduate students


Are you writing a literature review in one of your master's or doctoral courses? This webinar is for you! Literature reviews often require a large amount of research and organization as you collect multiple perspectives on a topic and synthesize them together. In this webinar, you'll learn tips for how to successfully write a literature review for your courses.

Note: This webinar will not address literature reviews in doctoral capstones (dissertations and project studies). To learn about literature reviews in doctoral capstones, see the webinar "Reviewing the Literature and Incorporating Previous Research," as well as the Doctoral Capstone Form and Style website.

If you are unable to attend any of these sessions in person, we post recordings of every live webinar event on the Walden University Writing Center website. The recordings of these sessions are posted 24 hours after they take place, and you can watch them free and on-demand.

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Faculty Voices: Walden Talks Writing

noreply@blogger.com (Walden Writing Center) — Fri, 24 Jul 2020 13:30:00 +0000

With almost 700 (yes, you read that right!) blog posts in our 10-year history, Writing Center bloggers have shared their perspective on a variety of writing topics and many ways of thinking about writing. Writing is such a rich topic for a blog because there are so many ways to write about writing.

However, we realized that as much as you all enjoy hearing from the Writing Center about writing, the faculty perspective on writing is also extremely important and useful for students. Faculty are a wealth of knowledge, bringing their experiences as teachers and as writers themselves. Because of that, we are pleased to bring you our new project, FacultyVoices: Walden Talks Writing.

To develop these videos, Writing Center staff asked faculty contributors from across the university a series of questions. Drs. Allyson Wattley Gee, Catherine Kelly, Darci Harland, Gregory Campbell, Kim Critchlow, and Laurel Walsh generously gave us their time to provide their writing advice and views on academic integrity, social change, and writing a doctoral study. We are grateful for their contributions and willingness to collaborate with us. They each provided insights about writing that all students can benefit from, including sharing their own experiences and challenges writing.

All of the Faculty Voices videos can be found on our FacultyVoices: Walden Talks Writing page and integrated throughout our website, as well as via the list below. We hope you’ll choose one to watch so you can benefit from these faculty’s experience, advice, and expertise!

Faculty Introductions: Learn about each of our faculty contributors
Academic Integrity: Explore what academic integrity is and how can students avoid academic integrity
Writing for Social Change: Consider how writing and social change are connected and hear about our faculty contributors’ experiences writing to achieve social change
Writing Process: Learn how to develop a strong and effective writing process from our faculty contributors’ years of experience

The Walden University Writing Center provides a broad range of writing instruction and editing services for students, including writing assistance for undergraduates, graduate students, and doctoral capstone writers.

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July 2020 Live Webinar Events

noreply@blogger.com (Walden Writing Center) — Thu, 02 Jul 2020 14:47:00 +0000

Mark your calendar for upcoming Writing Center webinars!

The webinar details and links to register are below, and you can also find registration and more information on the Writing Center’s webinar calendar page. All webinars include live captioning.

We know students can’t always attend a live webinar, so we record all of our webinars and archive them in our webinar archive for viewing at your convenience. You’ll also find the slides and transcripts for each webinar there as well.

Preparing for the Form and Style: Common Errors and Editor Q&A
Date: Thursday, July 9
Time: 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. ET
Audience: Doctoral Capstone Students
In this webinar we discuss the purpose of the form and style review and where it occurs in the approval process as well as outline student, committee, and editor responsibilities in finalizing manuscript drafts to prepare for ProQuest publication. The last portion of this session is Q&A with three of the Writing Center's editors.

Writing Effective Academic Paragraphs
Date: Wednesday, July 22
Time: 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. ET
Audience: All students
Paragraphs are the building blocks of an academic essay, and the strength of your writing and argument depend on developing effective paragraphs. Learn how to develop effective academic paragraphs by using topic, analysis, evidence, and concluding sentences (including an explanation of the MEAL plan). You will leave this webinar with a better understanding of the components of an effective paragraph, as well as tips for creating cohesion between and within paragraphs.

Practical Writing Skills: Paraphrasing Source Information
Date: Tuesday, July 28
Time: 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. ET
Audience: All students
Join us for a discussion of what paraphrasing is and tips for paraphrasing. In the second half of the session, you will be asked to practice so you can walk away confident in your paraphrasing skills.

We hope to see you at the webinars this month!

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Walden University Writing Center Blog

MAY the Writing Force Be With You: How to Use Freewriting to Get Past Writers' Block

Making it Through the Messy Middle

Bargain-Priced Candy Hearts and the Importance of Audience

2022: Just Keep Swimming

The Benefits of Regret

How to Find and Keep Your Confidence as an Academic Writer

Keep Your Motivation on Track with the Pomodoro Technique

-25 minutes work-5-minute break-25 minutes work-5-minute break-25 minutes work-5-minute break-25 minutes work-20-30-minute break

Tailor the System

Treat Yourself

Tackle Distractions

"Sprint" Towards Motivation!*

Motivation to Revise

Consider Your Future Audience When Writing Gets Tough

Are You Hitting the Pandemic Wall Too?

Motivation: My theme for the Walden Writing Center Blog and life in general in 2021

March Live Webinars

Inclusivity in Academic Writing and APA: The Singular “They”

Navigating Standard Academic English

Learn by Writing; Learn by Listening

Forget You Read This: Your APA Bookmark

Providing Accessible References to Global Readers

October Live Webinars

Welcome to the Writing CenterOctober 20, 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. ET Register

Where Do You Find Your Writing Motivation?

Writing About COVID-19

September Live Webinars

August Live Webinar Schedule

Faculty Voices: Walden Talks Writing

July 2020 Live Webinar Events

-25 minutes work
-5-minute break
-25 minutes work
-5-minute break
-25 minutes work
-5-minute break
-25 minutes work
-20-30-minute break

Welcome to the Writing Center
October 20, 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. ET
Register