Mushtaq Bilal, PhD Profile picture
Oct 30, 2022 22 tweets 4 min read Read on X
How to build an academic writing habit (to write a lot and publish a lot):
In his book "Atomic Habits," James Clear writes about habits that are so small we don’t even notice them, but the power they have over us is immense.

He calls them atomic habits.

Although they are small, building atomic habits is VERY DIFFICULT.

Why? A photo of James Clear's book "Atomic Habits."
If I go to the gym for a week, I'm still overweight at the end of it.

I don't see any change, and I give up.

I expect habits to work in a linear manner but that's not how they work.
If I want a habit to work, I must stick with it long enough to cross a critical threshold.
Clear calls the time between the point we start a habit to the point we start seeing its first results "the plateau of latent potential."

Most people remain stuck within this plateau.

To see the results of any habit, we must cross the plateau of latent potential. An image of "The Plateau of Latent Potential" from James Clear's book "Atomic Habits."
But how do we cross this plateau of latent potential, or valley of disappointment?

Clear says we should NOT focus on goals (losing weight or publishing a paper).

Instead, we should build systems and processes that lead us to these goals.
Once you start building systems, it transforms your identity.

You no longer exercise because you want to lose weight.

You exercise because that's what a healthy person does and you ARE a healthy person.
How do we use Clear's insights to develop a productive academic writing habit?
Start by building a simple writing routine.

Pick the time of day you feel you are at your productive best.

Set the timer to 25min, and start free writing whatever comes to your mind.
Your aim should be to process your thoughts and ideas.

Don't fret over grammatical mistakes or punctuation errors.

Just put words on the page/screen.
Do a couple of a couple of writing stints of 25min.

You'll have written a few hundred words.

Celebrate! Reward yourself.
Stick with this routine for the next few months.

Guard your writing time jealously.

REMOVE distractions.

Put the phone in another room.

Disconnect the internet.

Communicate to your family you need this time to write.
Initially, your writing may not make much sense to you, which is okay.

It'd mean you are in the plateau of latent potential.
Don't be discouraged. Keep writing.

Stick with it and slowly your mind will start making meaningful connections.
If you're unable to write on a given day for any reason, DON'T punish yourself.

Don't try to "make up" for the "lost day."

Shit happens. Be generous to yourself.
If you can, become part of a writing community for accountability.

If you can't, develop a method to hold your own self accountable.

Read daily routines of other writers. See what works for you and adopt/adapt it.
Your job is NOT to write a journal article or complete a dissertation.

Your job is to become the sort of person who finishes their dissertation and publishes journal articles.
Don't use demeaning words like "shitty" or "trashy" to describe your initial drafts.

They will make you resent the initial stages of your project.

Using positive words instead.

Example: this is a productive first draft with a lot of potential.
Sooner or later you will come out of the plateau of latent potential.

And when you do, your progress will become exponential.

Example: it took me 6 months and 8 drafts to write my first journal article, and just 2 weeks and 3 drafts to write my fourth.
Stay consistent and build an atomic habit of writing.

Remember you only have to do it ONCE.

And that's about it.
If you found this thread useful:

1. Scroll to the top and retweet the first tweet to share it with your friends and colleagues.

2. Follow me @MushtaqBilalPhD for more tips on academic writing.
Quick question: do you think of your first drafts as "shitty," "trashy," or "messy?"

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More from @MushtaqBilalPhD

Mar 28
Google Scholar is useful, but it's stuck in the past.

Ai2 is building a new AI-powered search engine for researchers.

It looks for papers, follows citations, evaluates relevance, runs follow-up queries, and shows you only relevant papers — and it's free:
1. Go to paperfinder.allen(dot)ai/chat and sign up for a free account.

Type in your question and hit Enter/Return.

Ai2 will start a search. It will mimic a human researcher in looking up papers, and then evaluating/ranking them for relevance.
2. Once it's done, Ai2 will give you a list of papers.

Under every paper, it will show you if it's perfectly relevant, relevant, or somewhat relevant to your query.

It will also show you evidence of what makes a paper perferctly or somewhat relevant.
Read 8 tweets
Mar 28
NotebookLM is (probably) the best reading assistant for research papers.

It's free and you can use it to:

• Summarize papers
• Ask question about papers
• Prepare study guides
• Create mind maps
• Generate podcasts based on papers

And it's very easy to use:
1. Go to

Click on "Create new" and upload a paper.

NotebookLM will give you a summary of the paper. notebooklm.google.com
2. You can ask questions about the paper.

It will answer your question with reference to the contents of the paper.
Read 8 tweets
Mar 24
AI generates fake references to research papers that don't even exist.

Google is on course to solve this problem.

Gemini Deep Research generates well-researched articles with references to published sources.

And it's free!

Here's how to use it:
1. Open your Google Gemini and click on "Deep Research."

Type in your question. Gemini will understand your question and create a research plan based on the question.
2. You can edit the research plan.

Click on "Edit plan" and give Gemini additional instructions.

Gemini will revise the research plan.
Read 8 tweets
Mar 23
How to make mind maps for any research paper:

This will take you 5 minutes and you can do it for free. A mind map based on Mushtaq Bilal's paper, "Genre Communities."
1. Go to ChatGPT and upload the paper you want to make a mind map of.

Paste the prompt below and hit Enter/Return. ChatGPT will give you a code block. Copy it.

Prompt:
Act as an expert academic and go through this document very carefully and understand it as best as you can. Based on your understanding, build a mind map in which you organize the document hierarchically into main topics and subtopics.

Once you are done, write markmap.js code for the mind map with nodes organized hierarchically. The mind map should be visually appealing, easy to follow, and should make the document digestible. Don't give me anything other than the markmap.js code.
2. Go to markmap.js[.]org/repl

You will see two columns.

Delete whatever is in the left column and paste the code you copied from ChatGPT.

It will give you mind map. Download it.
Read 6 tweets
Mar 18
One of the biggest challenges while doing a literature review:

How to find common themes across multiple papers and synthesize available information.

Lateral is an AI app that can help you with it.

Best part: It doesn't hallucinate at all.

Here's how to use Lateral:
1. Go to lateral[.]io and sign up for a free account.

Lateral gives you 500 page credits for free.
2. In your Lateral Dashboard, click on "New Project" and type in the name of your project.

You can also choose a project color to color-code your projects.

Then click on "Create and Launch Project."
Read 15 tweets
Mar 15
Finding research gaps takes a lot of time and labor.

Research Kick Start is an AI app that can help you with it.

It analyzes millions of papers in Google Scholar, Semantic Scholar, and PubMed to help you find research gaps — in minutes.

Here's how to use it: A screenshot of Research Kick Start showing that a research question has not been adequately answered in published literature.
1. Go to and click on "Get started" to sign up for an account.

You'll need to buy a subscription to use the app. researchkick.com/start
2. Choose an AI model you want to use.

It has latest models including ChatGPT 4.5, Claude 3.7, and Deep Seek.

Type in a few key words related to your research project. Then click on "Generate."

It will generate multiple research questions to help you brainstorm ideas.
Read 10 tweets

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