"Many of us fear the blank page. Writing is as much a part of science as experimentation, yet graduate students are rarely trained to do it well. Often, students don't know where to begin and become frustrated when the words don't come easily. The stress mounts, leading to delays, overwhelm and stagnation. In our roles as writing instructors, we work with graduate students to develop their writing skills, and we often come across people who face these challenges."
"Take stock of what you have already accomplished and what remains to be done, and then translate that inventory into specific, actionable tasks. Students often come to us with goals such as, 'write the methods section' or 'synthesize the background literature'. But if a goal does not clearly suggest a course of action, it needs to be broken down into smaller steps that are more tangible."
Many graduate students fear the blank page and lack formal training in scientific writing, which leads to frustration, delays, overwhelm, and stagnation. For large or long-term writing projects, concrete, actionable goals improve manageability and clarify the steps required. Breaking vague goals into specific tasks—such as describing particular papers, contacting collaborators, or inserting figures—creates a clearer path forward. Generating focused prompts (for example, explaining possible explanations for an outcome) reduces uncertainty and guides progress. People benefit from structure and accountability to stay rooted in goals and maintain momentum.
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