CRIS Spotlight on …
Writing Supports for Researchers
Access the latest COVID-19 funding opportunities, data and visualizations, and collaboration opportunities
Enhancing your Writing Practice
Develop a Writing Plan (from the National Centre for Faculty Development and Diversity NCFDD)
- Note about access: U of T faculty can register for a free account with NCFDD here
- Monday Motivation blog [e.g., Finding your way back to writing]
- Every summer needs a plan [webinar recording, template]
- Moving from resistance to writing [webinar recording, guided questions]
Guidance on Improving Writing
- How to write a first-rate research paper, Nature (2018), six experts offer advice on producing a manuscript that will get published and pull in readers.
- How We Write: Understanding Scholarly Writing through Metaphor PS: Political Science & Politics (2012), the author argues the writing metaphor can increase scholars’ productivity and may ultimately enhance their writing experience.
- How We Write: 13 Ways of Looking at a Blank Page (open access). Akbari, S., ed (2015), a set of essays on the writing process.
- Rulebook for Arguments. Weston, A. (2017, 5th ed.), a primer on the different forms of persuasive argument and the ways to make written arguments more convincing. Electronic version currently available through ETAS HathiTrust. Click on the ‘Get Help’ button in the Library catalogue.
Participating in a Writing Community
Benefits of joining a writing community:
- Writing Groups, Change and Academic Identity: research development as local practice, Studies in Higher Education (2003) This article examines the use of writing groups as a strategy for research development.
- Writing Groups in the Digital Age: A Case Study Analysis of Shut Up & Write Tuesdays, Research 2.0 and the Impact of Digital Technologies on Scholarly Inquiry, (2017)
Experiment by joining an online writing community:
- Hart House All Write Together – a weekly online summer writing group (Apr 29 – Aug 27, 2020)
- National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity – Writing Retreat June 15-28, 2020 or Monthly Writing Challenge
Register for NCFDD account here - Writing clinics at UTM: Join a virtual writing group on Mondays 9-11 am (June-August 2020), contact the Collaborative Digital Research Space (CDRS), cdrs.admin@utoronto.ca
Designing your own Writing Community
Guides for starting your own writing community:
- Starting an Effective Academic Writing Group, Stanford University
- Writing Retreat Facilitator’s Guide, University of Edinburgh
Related writing strategies:
Considerations While Writing
Researching where to publish can help your writing take shape now
- Familiarize yourself with your rights as an author
- Review publishing options by checking the Directory of Open Access Journals and available APC discounts to U of T faculty/members
- Protect your author identity and register for an ORCID ID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) and set up your author profile
- Be aware of deceptive publishers and predatory journals, see U of T guidance and checklist
- Consider publishing a new journal through UTL’s Journal Production Services