How to Find and Keep Your Confidence as an Academic Writer
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?
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.
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.
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.
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
- 5-minute break
- 25 minutes work
- 5-minute break
- 25 minutes work
- 5-minute break
- 25 minutes work
- 20-30-minute break
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.
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"Sprint" Towards Motivation!*
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.
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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Motivation to Revise
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

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