Tag Archives: Tiny Text

Planning and writing

Posted on May 8, 2023 by pat thomson

When it comes to writing I’m definitely a planner. I like to show other people how to plan their papers too. And the standard caveat before I begin. Of course my way is not the only way. This is A … Continue reading →

Posted in planning, planning a paper, planning fallacy | Tagged academic writing, Pat Thomson, planning, project management, Tiny Text | 1 Comment

five focusing questions to kick off some writing

Posted on February 20, 2023 by pat thomson

So you’re about to write a paper. Or a chapter. You’ve gathered together all of the stuff you think you need – analysed data, a short list of references to cite, some early jottings. Now you begin to think about … Continue reading →

Posted in beginning writing, contribution, pomodoro, the point, Tiny Text | Tagged academic writing, argument, contribution, Pat Thomson, pomodoro, reader, Tiny Text, writing strategy | 1 Comment

academic writing knowhow – setting the scene

Posted on December 5, 2022 by pat thomson

That first sentence. Your first thought. An opening gambit. Setting the scene. Attracting the reader. Aaargh. Starting a new piece of writing can be daunting. It’s no wonder that so many writers worry about how to begin. But academic writers … Continue reading →

Posted in Locate move | Tagged context, locate, Pat Thomson, scene setting, Tiny Text | Leave a comment

academic writing – from Tiny Text to road map

Posted on September 19, 2022 by pat thomson

But wait ! There’s more. In the last post I showed the usual way I develop a piece of writing from tables through graphic design to a Tiny Text. This post completes the picture. Here I’m using a Tiny Text as … Continue reading →

Posted in outline, Tiny Text, word budget | Tagged diary writing time, outline, Pat Thomson, Tiny Text, wordbidget | 2 Comments

academic writing – from a bunch of stuff to text outline

Posted on September 12, 2022 by pat thomson

Someone asked me the other day how I did my own writing. I get asked this a lot and I don’t often answer – I don’t want you to think that you have to work like me. No. Every academic … Continue reading →

Posted in graphic organisier, literature reviews, organisation for writing, Tiny Text | Tagged categorisation, graphic organiser, literature review, Pat Thomson, Tiny Text | 5 Comments

working up a first draft: a twelve step strategy

Posted on December 14, 2020 by pat thomson

If you are drafting, it is pretty easy to find a lot of advice about the benefits of free writing. Lots of people find that timed writing sprints help to generate content. Unstructured writing is useful to work out what … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, crappy first draft, drafting, notebook, Tiny Text, writing in chunks | Tagged chunks, crappy first draft, drafting, drafting from notes, Pat Thomson, Tiny Text | 3 Comments

plan to write – a controlling purpose

Posted on November 30, 2020 by pat thomson

At some point in the writing process, most writers develop a plan. Some writers may already have, before they plan, chunks of text or a crappy first draft that needs to be beaten into shape. Other writers begin with the … Continue reading →

Posted in argument, controlling purpose, the point, thesis, Tiny Text | Tagged academic wriitng, argument, controlling purpose, outline, Pat Thomson, Tiny Text | 3 Comments

patter is eight and celebrating with writing skeletons

Posted on July 8, 2019 by pat thomson

Happy birthday to me July is patter’s eight birthday and this is my 784thpost. That’s a lot of words. At about a thousand per post, well, there’s about ten books worth buried in this blog. I’ve had a bit of … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, sentence skeleton, Tiny Text, warrant | Tagged sentence skeleton, Tiny Text, warrant, writing skeleton | 11 Comments

tiny texts – small is powerful

Posted on February 11, 2019 by pat thomson

I work a lot with tiny texts. Abstracts. Storyboards. Story threads. Lines of argument. Tiny texts are my academic writing tool of choice. If I had to abandon all the other writing strategies I have in my repertoire, this is … Continue reading →

Posted in abstracts, academic writing, methods, methods chapter, research methods, thesis, Tiny Text | Tagged abstratc, argument, methods chapter, Pat Thomson, thesis, Tiny Text | 8 Comments

writing regularly – matching time and task.

Posted on August 6, 2018 by pat thomson

You’ve all heard the advice that it’s good to write regularly. Perhaps it was phrased this way – productive writers write a lot because they write regularly. You’ve been told that you can get a lot done if you just … Continue reading →