Presented at LILAC 2022

1. Getting Your
Writing Groove Back
Dr Alison Hicks, JIL Editor in Chief
Dr Meg Westbury, JIL Managing Editor

3. Introduction

4. This moment
● It’s been a tough two years and we’re
exhausted
● Connection with values: social justice
and community
● Can we work with our exhaustion
and inspiration to further information
literacy research and practice?
● Can we find the energy to write?
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

5. Today’s session
● To understand that writing = thinking
and that quality writing comes
through revising and editing
● To understand the benefits of serial
writing and to help establish a
cadence of writing (and not writing)
● To become familiar with techniques
for freeing up your writing and
confident with ones you already have
● To reconnect with and/or discover
topics you are passionate about in
the field of information literacy
Photo by Eric Tompkins on Unsplash

6. Grace
● Impossible standards of perfection
● Writing does not equal self worth!
● Give yourself grace to:
○ Make mistakes
○ Not impress every reader
○ Take breaks
Photo by Michael Fenton on Unsplash

7. The Process of Writing

8. Myths about writing
● Myth: Everyone writes better than
me. In fact, everyone writes badly the
first several times and through
revising/editing, we arrive at something
passable.
● Myth: You need to have your
thoughts in order before you start
writing. However, the best way to
unblock yourself is by writing.
● Myth: You write best when you feel
like it or have a lot of time to write.
But these moments tend to be few and
far between.
Photo by Sven Brandsma on Unsplash

9. The ‘magic’ of good writing
● Comes in the revision process
● You cannot create and criticise at the
same time
● The ‘seamless’ writing we encounter
in published works is the result of
many cycles of revisions and edits
● Time management implications!
Photo by Aziz Acharki on Unsplash

10. Writing as a journey
● Think of writing as a journey:
○ The journey out involves
thinking about the topic in
exploratory ways, writing for
yourself to discover what you
are thinking
○ The journey back is when you
shape your ideas to fully answer
your questions and fit the
convention/genre you are
communicating within – this is
revision
● We are focussing on the outward
journey today (but see bonus slides
at end about the revision process)
Photo by Diego Jimenez on Unsplash

11. Writer’s block
● Used to explain why we’re not writing
○ Need to have perfect ideas
before writing
○ Feel overwhelmed by the
amount to do
● Blocked moments are a common,
perhaps universal aspect of writing
● Blocks are opportunities for writing
Photo by Susan Holt Simpson on Unsplash

12. Writing = thinking
● You figure out what you think and
believe by writing
● When you write, you connect ideas
and find your own voice and direction
● Writing clarifies your thinking
● Getting started is hard
Photo by Marcus Wallis on Unsplash

13. Writing as process, not outcome
● Viewing writing as a process is less
stressful and more balanced
● Momentum and ideas come from
writing regularly, in short moments
● Short writing activities help you feel
connected to your writing, so it’s
easier the next time to write
● Overall productivity is heightened
Photo by Jeremy Thomas on Unsplash

14. No one right way to write
● There are many different approaches
to writing, and you will find what
works best for you
● Guilt that you’re not ‘doing it right’
isn’t productive. Avoid beating
yourself up
● You will learn your own productive
rhythms, which include time for not
writing
Photo by Jeremy Bezanger on Unsplash

15. Generative Writing Techniques

16. Tiny texts
● Write tiny texts
● Write, but write it small
● Writing tiny texts helps you:
○ Structure your piece
○ Figure out your 'moves'
○ Stay focused, avoid burnout and
create a rough draft on your
‘outward’ journey
Photo by Ernie A. Stephens on Unsplash

17. Prompts
● Free write (i.e., don’t stop) for 10 minutes:
○ What I am most interested in is…’
○ ‘The studies that inspired me most are…’
○ ‘What I want to look at is…’
○ ‘The idea that I keep coming back to is…’
○ ‘Why I have nothing to write about…’
○ ‘The next thing I want to write about is…’
○ ‘There are implications for…’
● Writing occurs, text is generated, you will
have something to harvest
Photo by Daniel Öberg on Unsplash

18. Brainstorm sections
● You can do this at any stage of your
writing:
○ Name headings and sub-headings
○ Jot down ideas for each section
○ Assign provisional word counts
○ Make to-do lists for each section
● You then have a road map and
manageable chunks of writing to focus
on
● The trick is to break your writing down
into a series of manageable tasks
Photo by Hugo Rocha on Unsplash

19. Timed writing
● Rounds of short writing periods
coupled with short break periods
● Pomodoro technique: 25 minutes of
writing + 5 minutes breaks. After four
rounds, take a longer break
● Helps to minimise fatigue
● Helps to manage distractions and
maintain focus and motivation
● Lots of Pomodoro timers online or try
https://www.forestapp.cc/ to watch
trees grow!
Photo by Alexander Schimmeck on Unsplash

20. Lateral thinking
● Write in verse
● Write a letter or memo
● Alternate writing hands
● Paint a picture
● Make a mind-map e.g., using
https://www.mindmeister.com/
● Make a model e.g., with blocks or Lego
● Take a walk, make a meal, fold laundry,
clean the bathroom, etc.
● Dance your PhD (find on YouTube)
Photo by RhondaK Native Florida Folk Artist on Unsplash

21. Social writing
● Write with a friend or small group
● Write silently or comment on each
others’ writing
● Time the sessions / have some
structure
● Self-confidence and engagement is
cultivated by pooling, discussing and
sharing perspectives
Photo by Alexis Brown on Unsplash

22. Something to try
● To kick-start your writing perhaps try
cycles of:
○ Writing to prompts
○ Free-your-brain activities
○ Structured social writing
● It is never too late to start these
techniques and see benefits
Photo by Chepe Nicoli on Unsplash

23. Workshop

24. One
Discussion in pairs or small groups:
Concerns and fears about writing, but also
which of the generative writing techniques
would you like to try?
(5 minutes)
Photo by Marcel Eberle on Unsplash

25. Two
What information literacy topics do you
feel passionate about?
Look through the LILAC programme and
identify 2-3 things that really get you
excited (or perplexed, or cross!).
(5 minutes)
Photo by Vincent van Zalinge on Unsplash

26. Three
Discussion in pairs or small groups about
these interests and passions.
(5 minutes)
Photo by Shumilov Ludmila on Unsplash

27. Four
Mini-social writing session 1:
Free write for five minutes using the
writing prompt:
“Why is Topic X important for our work?”
Imagine your audience is your manager or
team.
(5 minutes)
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

28. Five
Discussion in pairs or small groups how
that felt.
(5 minutes)
Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash

29. Six
Mini-social writing session 2:
Brainstorm sections for your writing piece.
How do you think you might order it? This
is just a preliminary outline: you can
always change it later when revising!
(5 minutes)
Photo by Baher Khairy on Unsplash

30. Seven
All-group discussion:
● How do you feel about your writing
piece thus far?
● What other generative writing
techniques would you have liked to
try?
● Can you see yourself developing
your writing into something longer?
(5 minutes)
Photo by Jametlene Reskp on Unsplash

31. Conclusion

32. In sum
● Writing doesn't come after research,
it's an integral part of the thinking
process itself
● Writing doesn’t just beget more
writing, it develops fluency and
reinforces that you actually can write!
● Writing can be an 'animating activity'
and an 'enjoyable adventure in
thought' as opposed to an
anxiety-ridden process (Badley 2015)
Photo by Kaitlyn Baker on Unsplash

33. Ring fence your writing time
● Set time to write regularly
● Protect the time – it’s your time
● It’s self-care to know that you have
time to write
● The ‘things you don’t want to do’ lose
their power over you a bit
Photo by Patrick Baum on Unsplash

34. Encouraging books about writing
● Lamott, A. (2020/1995). Bird by Bird:
Instructions on Writing and Life.
● Murray, R. (2011). How to Write a
Thesis.
(One of the best books for
approaching writing as tiny texts)
● Sword, H. (2017). Air & Light & Time
& Space: How Successful
Academics Write.
Photo by Max Di Capua on Unsplash

35. Writing for JIL
● Research articles
● Project reports
● Book reviews
● Conference reports
● Special issues / mentoring
● Different formats
● https://ojs.lboro.ac.uk/JIL
● jinfolit@gmail.com

36. Dr Meg Westbury
Academic Services Librarian
University of Cambridge
Email: mw528@cam.ac.uk
Twitter: @MegWestbury
Dr Alison Hicks
Lecturer, Library and Information
Studies
University College London
Email: a.hicks@ucl.ac.uk
Twitter: @alisonhicks0

37. Bonus Slides:
The Revision Process

38. Revising vs proofreading
● Revising: Active reading and
rearranging of your text, putting your
future readers’ needs first
● Proofreading: The process of
making corrections and checking for
consistency (while not making the
sort of revisions that could introduce
new errors)
Photo by Earl Wilcox on Unsplash

39. Letting go
● It can be a challenge to delete material
from our writing. Throwing away
‘perfectly good writing’ is hard to do!
● In the process of revision, however, you
are not writing for you, you’re writing for
your readers. Your readers will often be
satisfied with just a brief mention of
what you have worked out
● Accepting this broader purpose of
writing can lessen your attachment to
particular sentences and paragraphs
● Create a place to store cut text, in case
you want it later. This with encourage
you to be a more ruthless editor
Photo by Sagar Patil on Unsplash

40. Revision can include…
● Word choice: Have you used apt
vocabulary?
● Sentence structure: Are your sentences
easy for the reader to follow?
● Flow between sentences, paragraphs,
sections: Have you found the optimal
order and then signalled that order to your
reader?
● Tone: Have you engaged your reader
while still conforming to academic writing
conventions?
● Economy: Have you avoided distracting
digressions or general wordiness?
● Overall coherence: Is there a clear and
discernible argument or structure to your
writing?
Tips from:
https://explorationsofstyle.com/tag/reader-awareness/
Photo by Jarrod Reed on Unsplash

41. Sequence of revision activities
1. Broad structural issues: Tackle the
big things first. Most people start with
the small, but that’s tightening the
wheels before all the parts are on
2. Clarity: Look for extra words and
undue complexity
3. Sentence-level errors: Look for
further errors that reduce clarity
4. Cohesion problems: Make sure the
entire piece coheres and reads
logically

42. 1. Broad structural issues
Reverse outline technique:
1. Number the paragraphs
2. Identify the topic of each paragraph
3. Arrange these topics into an outline
4. Analyze this outline for logic and proportion
5. Create a revised outline
6. Reorganize the text according to the revised
outline
7. Check for topic sentences and cohesion
Rank your points that substantiate your arguments.
Eliminate ones that are not as important as others
Alternate approach:
If you don’t want to eliminate any points, you can
still reduce word count by taking the topic sentence,
or main idea, of several less important paragraphs
to create new combined paragraphs with less detail
than the most important paragraphs
Photo by Sean Pollock on Unsplash

43. 2. Clarity
● Remove excessive detail: often sentences
or paragraphs present repeat information
● Adverbs, especially ones that end in ‘ly,’ e.g.,
actually, commonly, continually, finally, fully,
greatly, perfectly, totally, urgently (usually can
remove about 75% of these!)
● Multiple adjectives: One or none usually
suffice
● Extra words and phrases that don’t add
meaning such as ‘kind of,’ ‘sort of,’ ‘type of,
‘basically,’ ‘for all intents and purposes,’
‘definitely,’ etc.
● Redundant phrases: ‘completely finish,’ ‘free
gift,’ ‘past memories,’ ‘various differences,’
etc.
Photo by Bibi Pace on Unsplash

44. 3. Sentence level
● Guided by your own writing patterns
● Common issues such as
subject-verb agreements, ambiguous
references or punctuation
● Read sentences aloud or listen to a
text-to-speech app. How do the
sentences sound to you?
Photo by Shelley Pauls on Unsplash

45. 4. Cohesion
● Finally, make sure that your writing
all coheres. New inconsistencies
might have been introduced
● A final round of revision is often
required to ensure a natural flow of
text

46. Conclusion: Commit to extensive revision
● Revision needs to be part of your
writing plan. Budget the time for it
(more than you think you need!)
● It means putting your readers’ needs
first
● All writing needs revising, not just
yours
● Treat your text as malleable raw
material that you can shape
● Yes, you will be able to fix your
writing!
Photo by Malvestida on Unsplash