4. Guidelines for Developing a Writing and Research Notebook
While the previous chapters addressed the attitudes and working habits of successful academic authors, this chapter presents a form that you can use to practice all of these techniques. If your research writing does not appear note_bound and if you tend to be an organized writer and researcher, then you may want to skip this chapter. But if you are disorganized as a researcher and writer, then you may want to study this chapter assiduously.
Unlike a writer’s diary or journal that records daily events in no logical order, a Writing and Research Notebook is organized by subject categories. By organizing your ideas and plans in a three ring binder, you can gather together related ideas, which can help stimulate your thoughts on different ideas. A notebook can help you justify a specific research question, organize your reading notes, draw inferences from what you read, and construct a bibliography. Below are some of the categories that you can use to select, research, refine, and polish scholarly documents. You may want to add some categories to the following ones that more accurately reflect your professional interests.
Table 4.1
Sample Log Sheet
Date Minutes Worked # of Words Written Goals
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
MAINTAIN A LOG
Because you can sometimes feel unproductive even when you are researching sources and methods or doing reading that will lead to writing, you may find it useful to keep a log of the work you have completed and the ideas you have developed (see Table 4.1). The advantage of maintaining a log is that it can help motivate yoll to work on a project even when you are in a slump and unsure of how to proceed.
MAINTAIN A SCHEDULE OF WRITING GOALS AND RESEARCH DECISIONS
You can use this section to decide which subjects to pursue and to outline the amount of time you will probably need to set aside for prewriting and revising. Because conducting research is typically not a step_by_step process, you will probably want to routinely revise your goals for research, writing, and anticipated due dates. To help develop a realistic schedule, you may find it useful to ask the following questions:
1. How much time can I set aside for finding a topic?
2. When will I have identified the major sources needed to begin writing a solid draft? What sources may be difficult to obtain?
3. When can I develop a tentative description of my rhetorical situation? In other words, when will I have a good idea of the audience, purpose, and voice for the project?
4. Have I thoroughly read the guidelines for authors in the periodical where I would like to publish the manuscript?
5. Will it be possible for me to run my idea by a prospective editor or experienced colleague?
EXPERIMENT WITH FREEWRITING AND SELF_REFLEXIVE WRITING
In this section you can freewrite about any subjects that you choose, and you can also use this section to do self_reflexive writing. Essentially this term refers to writing about writing. Psychologists and composition theorists have found that writing about the problems that we are experiencing with different writing projects and writing about specific revising goals can be a powerful way to overcome blocks and improve as writers:
1. What changes can you make in your life that will help you accomplish your writing goals? How can you schedule more time to write?
2. What are your writing rituals? What is the best time of day for you to write? Where do you like to write? (The crowded cafeteria? The quiet study?) How does your writing space influence your writing? Have you ensured that you have the materials on hand necessary to do your rituals?
3. What changes can you make in your environment that will help you achieve your writing goals?
4. What self_talk can you identify that intrudes on your productivity? For example, does a small voice within you whisper that your ideas lack originality, that the editor and editorial reviewers will dislike your manuscript? Do you tell yourself that you lack the time or ability necessary to get the work done?
5. What kind of social supports can you establish to promote regular writing?
6. What myths about writing and scholarly research do you hold that intrude on regular writing? What changes in how you write will help you achieve your writing goals?
7. How is regular writing influencing your attitude about yourself as a writer? Or, if you are having difficulty writing regularly, why do you think this is?
8. How has rejection in the past influenced your perception of yourself as a writer? How has the fear of rejection influenced what you write about?
KEEP A SECTION OF READING NOTES AND THOUGHTFUL EXCERPTS
In this section you can keep a record of the memorable and intriguing quotes that you come across in your reading. If you have read any other guidelines for academic writing, then you probably know that it is commonly recommended that you keep reading notes and bibliographical references on 4_by_6_inch or 5_by_8_inch cards. The great advantage of using cards is that they can be shuffled to help you find the best way to organize your manuscript.
However, if you are short of time, you can make photocopies of the material that you expect to use in your final draft. This will allow you to reread the essays and highlight powerful quotes at your convenience. Of course, to save money, to avoid being overwhelmed by material, and to get you thinking seriously about your subject, you need to be selective about which secondary sources to photocopy.
Figure 4.1
They [i.e., creative ideas] may I’m absolutely certain that
indeed occur at times of relax_ Rollo May is totally right: total
ation, or in fantasy, or at other involvement in the
times when we alternate play “encounter” of the creative
with work. But what is entirely process is crucial for the
clear is that they pertain to those emergence ofthe Eureka moment.
areas in which the person
consciously has worked labori_ Unfortunately, I think, too
ously and with dedication. many people are too uncom
Purpose in the human being is a fortable about the intrusion of
much more complex phenom_ the disruptive “right brain” or
enon than what used to be called “unconscious.” They dislike
will power. Purpose involves all the creative process because
levels of experience. We cannot they fear chaos and failure.
will to have insights. We cannot How, then, can we encour
will creativity. But we can will age people to “submerge”
to give ourselves to the encounter themselves, to lose themselves
with intensity of dedication and in an idea or feeling, long
commitment The deeper aspects enough to experience the
of awareness are activated to Gestalt, the felt sense, the joy,
the extent that the person is the bliss, the jouissance? If
committed to the encounter. people could only experience
this passion for the creative process, they would learn that
writing is not a boring, mechanical
process of filling in completed
thoughts in preestablished modes of discourse.
—Rollo May, The Courage to Create, 46
Place Reading Notes in Double_Entry Form
One very effective technique for avoiding note_bound prose is to respond to powerful quotes in what Ann Berthoff, a writing theorist, calls the double_entry notebookform. As you can see from Figure 4.1, you print the direct quote on the left side of the page and then respond to it on the right. There are two advantages to this technique. First, it helps you think about your subject. Second, It helps you step away from your sources and discover your own approach and voice.
Figure 4.2
Writing and Research Goals____________________________________________________
Purpose of Project: ___________________________________________________________
Audience for Project:__________________________________________________________
Tentative Title: ______________________________________________________________
Potential Publishers:__________________________________________________________
Collegial Support: (Should I work on this project with a colleague or by myself? Do I know someone who might have some interesting inforrnation about the subject?)
Tentative Schedule:_____________________________________________________________
Prewriting/Drafting Efforts
Freewriting:
Cluster Diagram:
Pie Diagram:
Issue Tree:
Tentative Outline:
KEEP A SECTION FOR NEW WRITING AND RESEARCH IDEAS
The heart of a successful notebook is your record of your best ideas (see Figure 4.2). Rather than ignoring ideas for new writing projects that occur when you are in the middle of a different writing project, you can keep a record of your new ideas in this section. Your thoughts about your subject are likely to change as you read more about your subject, discuss your ideas with colleagues, freewrite ideas about your topic, and write preliminary drafts Even if you have a solid idea about what you want to say and how you want to say it, you should be willing to sabotage this goal if more fruitful ideas come your way and sufficient time remains to develop them. In addition, you may have insights about how you are actually researching or writing your document. For example, while writing a paragraph on page eight of a research study, you may realize that the way you phrased your research question in your journal or report proposal no longer accurately reflects your intentions.
KEEP THE LATEST DRAFT OF YOUR REPORT NEAR YOU SO YOU CAN REVISE WHEN POSSIBLE
Because innovative ideas about your subject and ways to structure it in your report may occur when you are not working on it, y ou should keep your notebook and the most recent draft of your locument with you. Whenever insights occur or you find yourself with some unexpected spare time__for example, when you are writing in line at the drive_through bank you can record your insights.
KEEP THOUGHT_PROVOKING ARTICLES HANDY
After maintaining a notebook for a while, it will be bulging at the seams and you will need to remove unimportant material and file it elsewhere. Although you probably will not have space for many outside articles, you may want to keep one or two of the most helpful articles in your notebook so that you can get to them easily when you are looking for inspiration. Ultimately, however, you Will probably find it useful to file articles and printed documents in their own three_ring binders or file folders.
MAINTAIN A WORKING BIBLIOGRAPHY
Because you will need to include a bibliography at the end of your document, you should keep careful track of the sources you use while conducting research. It can be quite annoying and frustrating to be forced, after completing your research and writing, to return to the card catalog or periodical shelves to retrieve the information you need to cite your sources properly. This frustration quadruples when you discover that other people have subsequently checked out your materials.
As soon as possible, check to ensure that you understand the form of documentation that you will need to follow. Then be sure to record on your photocopied material all the facts needed in the bibliography__author, title, volume number, publisher, date of publication, and page numbers. Fortunately, most scholarly journals and some commercial magazines print this information on the title page of each article. If not, you had better record it now; otherwise, you may need to retrace your steps.
Of course, as discussed above, if you photocopy all of the materials that you need to write the report and ensure that the reference information is printed on the photocopies, then you can type directly from these materia!s when constructing your bibliography.
FINAL COMMENTS
Maintaining a writing and research notebook can help you write regularly, set goals, establish priorities, and organize your scholarly endeavors. If you tend to be a disorganized researcher, then the notebook can provide an invaluable focus for creative ideas. Although you can succeed without such a notebook, maintaining one can give you some control over what and how you write.