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

Apr 19
Most apps for academic research require paid subscriptions.

Here are 10 that are free:
1. Dimensions[.]ai

AI-powered database with 150M+ publications. The landing page of Dimensions.
2. SemanticScholar[.]org

AI-powered database with 225M+ papers covering all academic fields. The landing page of Semantic Scholar.
Read 14 tweets
Apr 13
😢
ChatGPT: $20/m
Claude: $20/m
Gemini: $20/m
Access to academic databases❌

😃
Chat Academia: $15/m only

ChatGPT + Claude + Gemini.
Integrated with multiple academic databases✅

Here's how to use Chat Academia:
1. Go to and click on "Get started."

You will need to buy a subscription to use the app.

It has three plans: $15/m, $30/m, and $45/m. chatacademia.com
2. This is how the homepage of Chat Academia will look like.

Click on "AI Chat" in the top-left and then "Create chat" in the top-right.

In the chat interface, you will see multiple AI models and multiple academic databases. Select the model/databse you want to use.
Read 13 tweets
Apr 11
Most AI apps need paid subscriptions, but the Chinese are building apps that are free.

Bohrium is a free AI app built for researchers.

• Combines Deep Seek's reasoning model with academic databases.
• Gives detailed answers and cites published papers.

Here's how to use it:
1. Go to bohrium[.]com and click on "Log in" in the bottom-left corner.

Enter your email to sign up for a free account.
2. In the bottom-left of the chat box, you will see options for AI models and databases.

Bohrium has integrated databases for natural sciences, engineering, life sciences, and the humanities.

For detailed answers you can select "DeepThink."
Read 8 tweets
Apr 5
Finding relevant papers for literature review takes a lot of time and labor.

You can run visual searches from within Zotero to supercharge your literature — for free.

You can also do it with Mendeley and EndNote.

Here's how:
1. Go to github(dot)com/inciteful-xyz/inciteful-zotero-plugin

Scroll down a little and click on "Version 7 - latest release."

This will download an xpi file on your computer.
2. Open your Zotero desktop app.

Click on "Tools" and select "Plugins."

In the Plugins Manager, click on the Settings icon and select "Install Plugin From File."

Navigate to the xpi file you just download and add it.

Close the Plugin Manager.
Read 10 tweets
Apr 4
Biggest flaw of AI apps: hallucinations — fake references to papers that don't even exist.

Research Flow is a new app that solves this problem. It uses full text of papers to answer your questions.

Here's an overview of its features:
1. Go to rflow(dot)ai

Click on "Try for free" to sign up for a free account.
2. In the bottom-left of the search bar, you will three options: academic, web search, and text generation.

RFlow offers three models: Claude, Gemini, and DeepSeek's latest version V3.

RFlow supports English, Chinese, and Korean.
Read 11 tweets
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

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