Michelle Cardel, PhD, MS, RD Profile picture
Sep 15, 2020 18 tweets 4 min read Read on X
#AcademicTwitter: I used to be a horrible scientific writer. I was paralyzed by writing anxiety & it took me FOREVER to write papers. Last year I published 14 scientific articles (8 first, 2 second, 2 senior-author) & 2 book chapters.

A thread⬇️on how I became more productive:
1. Figure out when you write best & block out that time on your calendar.

I write best in the morning. Unless unavoidable, I do not take meetings in the morning. Mornings are my time to read, write, & think. I write every single day, Monday-Friday. Even if just 30 minutes.
Every Friday, I do a brain dump of what tasks I need to complete for the following week. I block off my calendar with writing times & what I will focus on during those times (e.g., 8-10am is specific aims). I try to be realistic about what I can accomplish during a given time.
This helps organize what I need to do for the following week so I start each Monday with a plan in place. Life happens and it doesn't always work exactly the way I put it in my calendar, but it works a lot better for me than not having a plan at all.
I set my alarm to write for the designated time. Once the alarm goes off (usually a 30 or 60 minute writing block), I get up and go on a 5- or 10-minute walk. Helps me get my steps in, feel refreshed, clears my head, and I'm ready to come back and get my writing done again.
There are days that I am tired & have no motivation to write. On those days, I focus my energies on writing tasks that don't require intellectual jumping jacks - getting title pages ready, working on tables, inserting citations. But I make progress, however small, most days.
2. Create an outline.

This is fairly controversial but for me, especially when I first started writing, having an outline was key. Once I knew *what* I wanted to write, it was a lot easier to sit down & do it. I use an outlining tool called Inspiration that I like ($30).
3. Turn off your email, your phone, and anything else distracting.

Get away from anything that distracts you. I put my phone on silent, log out of social media and email (those pings really get me), and put on soft music. Gets me in my groove.
4. Ignore your inner perfectionist.

During your writing time, don’t worry about grammar or making it perfect. That is what editing is for. I tell my students to name their 1st drafts (Shitty Draft_version 0) to take the pressure off them that the first draft has to be perfect.
5. Edit, Edit, Edit.

After you have a draft, check your flow & clarity. If you hesitate on a section, revise it. If you can’t understand what you were trying to say, no one else can either. I often revise a manuscript at least 3-5 times before I send to anyone else for review.
6. Get feedback.

I'm a firm believer that papers are improved by critical feedback from collaborators. My collaborators often have different expertise & provide important insights. I have never written a paper by myself and have no plans to (co-authors common in my field).
7. Consider creating a writing group.

If you don’t feel comfortable sending your paper to your collaborators or mentor(s) without additional feedback, consider creating a writing group with your peers. You can take turns reviewing each other’s work & it is beneficial for all.
8. Read, read, & read.

Read manuscripts in your field which will keep you up to date on literature & help you identify new ways to write. Also read outside of your field - books, magazines, & newspapers. Exposure to new ideas can spark creativity & new insights. I read a LOT!
I am not suggesting that these strategies work for everyone. I recognize we all have competing demands & others may have less resources & protected time. This is not an exhaustive list of what can work. I am sharing what has worked for me, in hopes that it can help someone else.
Importantly, I need to acknowledge that I did not write alone. I have an incredible team in the #CardelLabGroup that work incredibly hard and are very productive writers. I have the best collaborators who provide critical feedback. And I have benefited from exceptional mentoring.
I also want to add: persistence is key. Last year, I got a manuscript accepted at a really good journal after EIGHT submissions elsewhere. I also got one paper accepted with no revisions (!!!). Recently, I got 2 manuscript rejections in one day! The rollercoaster of academia 🤷🏽‍♀️
Someone responded and summarized #1 beautifully: Block, protect, and never surrender!
@TASA_AppliedSoc created a printable version of the tips if anyone would find that useful. The last one they added and it is excellent! Always be kind to yourself and give yourself grace. Especially now during these difficult times.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Michelle Cardel, PhD, MS, RD

Michelle Cardel, PhD, MS, RD Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @MichelleCardel

Oct 27, 2023
Our new pub in @ObesitySociety was selected as one of the top 5 papers for the 11th Annual Journal Symposium at @ObesityWeek. In this study, we assessed the behavioral, psychological, & environmental predictors of weight regain among @ww_us Success Registry Participants

🧵below Image
Study Objective: Identify factors that best characterized long-term weight loss maintenance in members of @ww_us Success Registry, an observational study of weight-loss maintainers in WeightWatchers. To qualify for the registry, people had to have lost >20lbs & kept off for >1yr. Image
We assessed sociodemographic, behavioral (wt-control strategies, eating in absence of hunger, PA), psychological (restraint, QOL, disinhibition), & home environment factors & examined if predicted wt gain over 1y & whether factors would differ in wt gainers vs maintainers.
Read 6 tweets
Oct 19, 2023
Interested in personalized nutrition? Our new pub examining whether weight loss differs between genotype-concordant and genotype-discordant diets was published in @NatureComms and is featured as an Editors’ Highlight.

A thread on findings below.

Link: shorturl.at/JL238
Image
Background: Weight loss differences bw isocaloric high-carb & high-fat diets are small but variability seen within diet groups. Genotype patterns may modify diet effects, w/ carb-responsive genotypes losing more weight on high-carb diets (vice versa in fat responsive genotypes).
Objective: In this RCT, we tested the hypothesis that participants assigned to a diet corresponding to their a priori determined (fat-responsive or carbohydrate-responsive) genotype would lose more weight over 12 weeks than those assigned to a diet discordant with their genotype. Image
Read 8 tweets
Mar 30, 2023
Do lactation cookies (LC) actually work? Or are they total bullsh*t preying on women at a vulnerable time when they are consumed with feeding their newborn and society is telling them "breast is best" at every turn?

Our new pub where we tested effectiveness of LC is out.

A🧵:
Exclusive breastfeeding is recommended for the first 6 months. ~60% of lactating parents don’t meet their personal breastfeeding goals and between 30%-80% perceive their milk as insufficient to meet their infant’s nutritional needs.
Lactation cookies (LC) contain galactagogues, substances believed to enhance production of milk including oatmeal, flaxseed, fenugreek, & brewer’s yeast, among others. A variety of commercially available LC claim to improve lactation but little evidence supports these claims.
Read 11 tweets
Feb 11, 2022
🗣️New pub:
We used machine learning & natural language processing to analyze the words of >6K people experiencing long-term weight-loss maintenance who answered open-ended questions about weight-loss triggers, current motivations, strategies, & experiences. A thread of findings: Image
Methods: We recruited 6,139 @ww_us members who had lost ≥9.1-kg loss with weight-loss maintenance for ≥1yr into the WW Success Registry and asked six open-ended questions about their weight loss experience. On average, members maintained a weight loss of 54 pounds for 3.4 yr.
74% of @ww Success Registry Members routinely track their weight and 82% find inspiration in non-scale victories. Though weight was something they were conscious of, it was far from the only thing that matters.
Questions asked are in the table below. Image
Read 13 tweets
Aug 19, 2020
New pub alert: our qualitative paper identifying perceived barriers & facilitators to a healthy lifestyle & weight loss among a diverse group of teens with overweight & #obesity has been published.

A thread of our findings & lessons learned 👇🏾.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.10…
We conducted 10 focus groups with teens medically classified as having overweight or obesity (OW/OB).

Demographics:
41 teens
68% female
53.5% identify as Black, African American, Hispanic/LatinX, multiple races
Socioeconomically Diverse
All w BMI over 85th percentile for sex/age
We found that teen girls and teen boys described their lived experience with overweight/obesity (OW/OB) differently.

Girls shared that healthcare providers, family, & friends discussed weight w them & they felt weight loss was needed to meet societal and/or medical standards.
Read 14 tweets
Jul 15, 2020
As a result of #COVID19, academics are working from home, often while simultaneously caring for their children. As clinicians & scientists, @nataliexdean @DrDianaMW & I worry this will lead to a secondary epidemic of lost early career scientists, esp women w children. A thread👇🏾
We published just this paper highlighting the vulnerability early career scientists may face as a result of #COVID19, particularly women w children. We identified strategies academic institutions could implement to attenuate loss of early career faculty: atsjournals.org/doi/abs/10.151…
Prime reproductive years often overlap with early stage of scientific careers. Even before #COVID19, 43% of women (23% men) left full-time STEM employment after having their 1st child, loss rates that are significantly higher than faculty w/out children. pnas.org/content/116/10…
Read 27 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(