At Least There’s No Math…
Writing was and is my biggest concern in this program and was actually one of the things that prevented me from starting earlier. There are two things against me. Firstly, I am a self-professed standard writer, certainly not an academic writer. The second is that I have always been a slow word-for-word reader, and as Alder and Van Doren portrayed in How to Read a Book“=, slow reading does not mean I will not remember much. I can attest to that. I will say that reading their book has made me much more excited to be in this program and start learning. It just made sense.
One of my hopes in my writing is that academic thinking and writing will evolve in me through this process. I remember 10 years after graduating from college, running across a paper I wrote and being shocked by the vocabulary and style I wrote. I couldn’t believe I actually wrote it. I write like I think, and I know that is not what is required of me. My goal is to read peer-reviewed articles and learn from the giants in my field, which will help facilitate a better vocabulary and understanding of how to be an academic writer.
One of the best things I did in college was read How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life by Alan Lakein in my first year. It taught me the value of writing things down and numbering them in importance in order to get things done, a tool I use to this day. I saw a correlation in the methods Ahrens wrote in “How to Take Smart Notes.” I know myself well enough to know that I am as detailed as what I read, but perhaps a combination of the two books would work. I believe taking notes will be much easier for me than reading and academic writing because I take notes all day for my work, but I use virtual sticky notes on my laptop. Recently, I started using OneNote and want to learn more about it. I hope to develop my own version of Luhmann’s note-taking style, except it would be in OneNote. I want to learn more about his style and make it my own.
All in all, I know that I have a lot to remember from 10 years ago when I was in the Master’s program. I need to learn to stop worrying about my self-doubt and fears, and I can only do what I can. My prayer is that my academic writing and reading will be easier over time between books like we have just read, and learning from the style of authors in the books and articles I will be reading. The online learning platform plays well with who I am and how I learn. I believe that the weekly readings, writing posts, and reading others’ posts will help me learn to think differently than from the sedentary life I have been living.
About the Author
Chris Blackman
8 responses to “At Least There’s No Math…”
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Chris, I relate to your frank realization that you write like you speak. Given that my most regular writing format is in sermon preparation, I am constantly thinking, “How will that sound?” I think reading peer-reviewed articles and learning from the giants, as you said, is a great idea. I’m reminded of what Dr. Clark mentioned in our first chat about finding someone who’s writing you like and imitating them. I wonder how using ChatGPT might help us both with our writing? Perhaps with things like brainstorming, generating ideas, refining our writing, and getting other feedback?
I look forward to getting better with you!
Thanks Chad!! I too am very excited about how ChatGPT will accentuate our learning and our research. Can you imagine what it will be like 20 years from now – kinda scary, TBH!!
It has already helped me come up with thoughts that I would never have had, and I fully believe that it will create a better project for us all in the long run.
Take care!!
Chris, I hear you on the worry, self-doubt and fear. I appreciate that you expressed it directly. These crop up quite a bit for me, too. What are you doing to limit their influence? I try to notice when it happens and refocus on a sense of hope that I will be changed by this process.
Hi Julie! Thanks for your reply. I think only time will help heal the doubts and words poured over me when I was young. It’s almost a one-day-at-a-time scenario. Put one step in front of the other and keep writing, and yes I too have hope for change for us all.
Chris! Big thanks for making it so plain! I can proudly say I am also a card-carrying member of the word-for-word reader club. It’s been my mode de operandi for what feels like forever. The doubts and fears? Yes, they are in the mix for so many of us, but that’s where we learn to trust the process. Your skills are on point, and once you throw in a successful notetaking strategy, you will be off to the races.
Oh sure Daren, throw me a challenge!! Thank you for the votes of confidence! The slow reading part may be a huge challenge for both of us. I loved the concept of it all, but not sure how long it will take before I can master it. Guess I will have to race ya! 🙂
Hi Chris,
Great post. I have no doubt that you and the rest of us will improve our vocabulary and writing capacity in this program. How do you like using OneNote so far?
Thanks Jennifer. We will all look back at these posts one day and smile 🙂
I found OneNote to be straightforward and simple, which suits me best. I looked at some others and found that they did more than I needed them to do. That might change once we get deeper into this.
Thanks for the reply!