{"id":916,"date":"2021-11-09T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-09T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/cshb\/?p=916"},"modified":"2022-03-18T20:01:32","modified_gmt":"2022-03-18T20:01:32","slug":"tool-4-your-writing-is-your-thinking-scientific-writing-part-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/cshb\/2021\/11\/09\/tool-4-your-writing-is-your-thinking-scientific-writing-part-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Tool #4: Your Writing is Your Thinking \u2013 Scientific Writing \u2013 Part 8"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In this last and final installment (for now) of this mini-series<\/a>, I want to share one more tool with you. This one is hard to show, though if you read all of the drafts for the paper, I\u2019ve been sharing with you, you\u2019d see it. This is less of a tool and more of a statement of belief, but once I started thinking about writing in this way, it became more enjoyable, useful, and (dare I say) easier. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tool #4: Writing is Thinking. Don\u2019t worry about the perfect words now (that\u2019s what editing is for); allow the movement from vague idea to actual words on paper to help you clarify your ideas and sharpen your thinking. <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is so much research on the power of words in peoples\u2019 lives. For example, James Pennebaker has a long history of research<\/a> on the relationship between expressive writing and health (physical and mental). One explanation for why writing about traumatic experiences and negative emotions can improve health is that it helps verbalize the unverbalized. Our brains treat words differently than non-words and this matters for our functioning. If this is true of emotional experiences, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s too far of a stretch to say that taking vague ideas (\u201cI know what I want to say, but just don\u2019t know how to say it!\u201d) into words on paper can also impact the nature of the ideas themselves. (Just think about the massive developmental shifts that happen in children as they learn language; language is an important mechanism of these changes!) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photo by Glen Carrie<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Once I started viewing writing as a means <\/em>to help me think, <\/em>it became less of a burden. Rather than needing to have a clear idea of what I wanted to say before I said anything, I had the freedom to write, change, and develop my idea as words escaped onto paper. My writing now is a way to highlight what I know, what I don\u2019t know, and what I need to find out more about. I now approach writing with the explicit understanding that as I write, my thinking will develop; clarity will come and go (and eventually come back if I persist long enough). The thoughts about my paper at the beginning of the process are necessarily different <\/em>than my thoughts at the end because through the process of writing they have been refined, reflected on, scrutinized, and developed. That is a great thing. There is so much freedom in knowing that where I start doesn\u2019t have to be (and won\u2019t be) where I end. I don\u2019t have to get it right the first time.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the paper that I\u2019ve been talking about throughout these example blogs<\/a>, I had four friends (one psychologist, one theologian, and two philosophers) provide feedback on what I thought was a great, almost ready to submit draft. I asked such a diverse group because the intended audience is primarily philosophers\/theologians, but I am talking about psychology; I wanted feedback from individuals who could speak to the topic from a variety of interests and expertise. I was hoping that these diverse experts could point out blind spots in my thinking that I couldn\u2019t see myself. I found that each contributed important points to think about. For example, the theologian said,  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would have liked to see a little more integration with theology\u2026\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This was an idea that I didn\u2019t really know what to do with (though, I think he was right). However, when my psychologist friend said across a number of comments, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I was able to better contextualize what my theologian friend was saying. My paper was out of balance (literally with my structure and word count) and I spent too much space exploring interesting ideas that were not relevant to my central point. This meant that I didn\u2019t have enough space to actually engage the theology I really wanted to. With this feedback and criticism, I was able to reflect on the purpose of these sections and my word choices to make some structural and linguistic changes that, as I see it, ultimately improved my paper.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Importantly, as I reflected on the feedback, I used the comments as a means to look for patterns <\/em>rather than comments constrained to very specific sentences. Although a specific piece of feedback might be tied to a specific word or sentence, I don\u2019t want to just think about that word\/sentence. It\u2019s like the adage about giving a person a fish versus teaching them to fish. When we apply feedback to only specific sentences, we\u2019ve been given a fish (and that sentence may be improved). But, when we ask ourselves how that critique or comment might be relevant to other aspects of the paper, we are learning to fish (or, here, to write). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The feedback here and the rounds of revisions ultimately helped me align words on paper to a better organized idea in my head. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I think it\u2019s fitting that I end this series with the statement (confession?) that writing is my means of thinking. Fitting because so often I hear students make comments about how they don\u2019t know what they want to say and so they can\u2019t write. It\u2019s true that I\u2019ve told students that you need to have a good idea of what you want to say before you write, but a good idea is not the same thing as your final idea (or a perfect idea). I want to free you from the pressure of knowing exactly what to say before you\u2019ve said it. You can (and should) start writing before you know exactly<\/em> what you want to say. However, when you say something the first time, that should not <\/em>be the final time. When you use writing to develop your thinking, it is absolutely imperative that you revise your work1<\/sup>. Failing to revise your writing short changes your thinking process; your first draft (or your second draft) is not your \u201cdone draft.\u201d Really give yourself\u2014and your writing\u2014the time it needs to scaffold, challenge, and hone your thinking.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Photo by Xan Griffin<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Scientific writing, even though it has an \u201cend\u201d (you will eventually turn your paper in!), it is meant to capture a story of discovery. And discovery is ongoing.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d love to hear from you: what do you think of this idea? What do you think of the relationship between writing, feedback, and thinking?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, although this mini-series is ending, that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s over. (What?) What else do you want to know about writing? What problems, ideas, or tools do you want to know more about? Let me know (and I\u2019ll get to writing soon)!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

___________________________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1<\/sup>Even if you don\u2019t explicitly think of writing as thinking, it\u2019s really important that you edit and revise. I think my argument holds whether you recognize the influence of writing on your thinking or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you found this blog helpful, check out the overview of the whole series\u00a0here<\/a>, so that you can find more useful information to develop your writing.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this last and final installment (for now) of this mini-series, I want to share one more tool with you. This one is hard to show, though if you read all of the drafts for the paper, I\u2019ve been sharing with you, you\u2019d see it. This is less of a tool and more of a statement of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[143,125,145,126,144,11],"tags":[12,29,18],"class_list":["post-916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-academic-life","category-cshb-faculty","category-cshb-student","category-dr-erin-smith","category-research","category-research-journeys","tag-cbu-faculty","tag-education","tag-students"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/cshb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/cshb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/cshb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/cshb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/cshb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=916"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/cshb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1225,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/cshb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916\/revisions\/1225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/cshb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/cshb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.calbaptist.edu\/cshb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}