Graduate Writer Mindset transcript

Hi, my name is Steven, and I'm a writing tutor here at the San Jose State University Writing Center. And today, we're going to be learning about the graduate writer mindset. Writing isn't just a skill for college classes. Writing can help you in your professional career too and may even help you get promotions. I know how difficult it can be to go from undergraduate writing to graduate writing, especially if you've taken some time off of school like me.

Today's workshop’s going to make the challenge more doable by providing you with perspectives and tools in order to succeed. Now let's get started! Do you think this graph shows an accurate depiction of the writing process? While we may occasionally write a good paper in one sitting, as our ideas become more complicated, our writing becomes more complicated too. The previous graph of the writing process is unrealistic for most writing.

As this chart shows, the writing process may be messy or non-linear, and that's okay. It might be frustrating at first if it seems your writing is messy or complicated, but trust me, it's all part of the process. Let's take a look at the writing process in full. The writing process is made of five major parts. Each bubble on this graph represents one part of the writing process. We'll take a closer look at each part and explain how the writing process is iterative.

First, we might start by researching, or looking for relevant information on our topic. Then, we might analyze the research information to determine what is relevant and what is not. We might agree or disagree with the findings we found. At this point, we start creating an outline and then a rough draft of the paper. However, as we're writing, we might realize we need more evidence to support our claim, so we go back to the research process.

Then we write some more and more and start drafting again. Now that we're feeling confident, we can look at the grammar and try to find any mistakes. Then, we submit our assignment for feedback from our professor, or we go to the Writing Center for help. We get feedback and realize we have to research more, so we go back to the library and research some more. We know that we need to analyze what we researched, so we go back to the analysis process.

The process will continue and we might go back to some of the previous parts of the writing process until we're confident in our writing. This is completely normal and it's important to understand this as we go forward in the video. Today, we will answer these essential questions: what are four ways to think about the writing process? And how do we make the leap from undergraduate to graduate writing? Firstly, recognize that different areas require different ways of communication.

You wouldn't talk to your sports team the same way you talk to your supervisor at work. Different areas require different topics, tones, and word choices in order to sound authentic. In grad school, you'll write for a variety of different purposes and audiences. Your ability to communicate to your field will be essential. Different disciplines in graduate school require deliberate decisions about your writing process.

In order to succeed as a writer in your field, you need to write strategically for your audience. For example, you wouldn't want to start a research proposal grant the same way you start a mystery novel: “Which project do I need funding for -- you figure it out!” The key to learning how to write new types of materials like business reports, research studies, memos, cover letters, and email pitches is to find successful examples and work backwards.

Discover common trends among them and create a set of guidelines to follow when creating your own. Ask professors for examples, look them up in academic journals, talk to your librarian, and do your own research to find successful examples. Now, let's take a look at another way to think about graduate writing. There are four major differences between graduate writing and undergraduate writing. By comparing and contrasting these two types of writing, you have a better sense of the requirements for grad writing.

One primary difference is the length and breadth of writing. Undergraduate papers are typically around 4 to 12 pages. On the other hand, although it can vary from subject to subject, shorter grad papers can be between 6 to 12 pages, while longer grad papers can be up to 50 or more pages. The second difference is that while undergraduate papers usually only require a small handful of sources, grad papers require more sources.

Some shorter papers may require around 5 to 10 sources, but the longer grad papers can require up to 20 to 100 sources! The third difference is while undergraduate papers are typically shorter and can be written quickly, grad papers are typically longer and require more revisions. The grad paper writing process can sometimes span months or semesters rather than weeks, so they will often go through many more revisions than undergrad papers.

The fourth difference is that undergraduate papers typically only require that the writer understands and argues a certain position. These are your typical argumentative essays. Grad writing, on the other hand, often pushes and enters a pre-existing academic discussion by extending on the original research; Grad writers are considered to be participants in their field of study. Next, let's take a look at the grad writing and reading process and see how they're intertwined.

Now that you know the difference between being a grad writer and an undergraduate writer, you’ll need to learn what it means to be a grad reader. One of the primary differences is that before you can create and respond to research, you need to fully understand what's already been written. In graduate school, you'll be typically entering into a pre-existing academic conversation and a lot has already been written about it.

Reading is foundational to the graduate writing process. By reading the recent literature on your topic, you illustrate that you're an informed writer. Graduate readers use a variety of strategies while reading in order to be effective readers and utilize their time efficiently. Like a picky child at the dinner table, you need to be picky with what you read. Most papers are important in their own way, but not all papers are important to your project.

Just because you write it, doesn't mean it belongs in your paper. More often than not, you won't use the articles that you find. You only want articles that are relevant to your paper, 100%. Another strategy is to consider jumping around the text as needed. You don't need to read every paper from beginning to end. Research shows that expert readers jump around to different sections of articles to find information that will most benefit them.

One strategy is to read the abstract, conclusion, and references before reading the paper. Next, we'll look at some useful resources that you can use while reading articles. While reading articles, annotate and take notes as you read. The process might seem slow at first, but it will save you time and sanity in the future, trust me. Imagine you read an article three months ago, and before your deadline, you have to remember everything you learned from the article.

Also, find a system to organize your annotations. It can be a hassle to sort through more than a dozen papers and read all your annotations and notes. Find a way to quickly access all the information you gathered from your sources. Each person might have a different method for organize their annotation and notes from their articles. Next, we’ll review a few potential ways to organize your thoughts. Here's a sample version of an article to track multiple articles.

Each column features a useful part of the article that you want to track while each row features a different article. For example, this graphic organizer allows you to track the main findings of each article and important definitions. After reading several articles, you can refer to this table and find important information at a glance. However, there is no set way to make this organizer. Here's another example of a graphic organizer you can fill out while reading.

Your graphic organizer format will depend on what you want to track across different articles. The graphic organizer tracks things like key quotes, gaps in the research, and authors referenced in each article. Your columns may include things not mentioned in my examples like overarching themes or keywords. Try to experiment or modify this table as needed. You can make a similar one in Google Docs or Google sheets. As you begin graduate writing, you may wonder why we research, write, and present at the graduate level.

There are several reasons why: we might want to participate in our field to advance ideas or approach the field from a different angle. We might want to further ideas in scholarship to fill in “the gap” in the research. Now you might be wondering what “the gap” is. The gap is basically a question or problem in your field that hasn't been answered or explored thoroughly by existing studies. For example, you might be conducting research on stress caused by familial expectations on college students, but you realize that most of the research focuses on traditional middle class American students and does not focus on the specific challenges that Asian-American immigrant students face.

This would be considered one gap in the research. Additionally, you may want to inform an involved, but cross-expertize team. Writing allows you to communicate important ideas to others in your field that might not be in the same background as you. Next, let's take a closer look at research questions. When we research, we need to create a strong research question that somehow fills in “the gap.” Not all research questions are made equal.

Strong research questions need to be narrow enough to be manageable. It should also be open ended or open enough to be worth researching in depth. It should be researchable. If there's no information on your topic, you might have a hard time getting started. Lastly, the research question should try to seek the why or how of an issue, which will help further our understanding of the issue. Next, we'll conduct an activity to better understand research questions.

You'll need a place to write down your answers to these questions. Let's take a minute to practice identifying strong research questions. Write numbers 1 through 5, wherever you can. And next to the number, write if the following research questions are too broad, too narrow, or just right. Be sure to pause the video here for a minute or two and look at each question carefully. Unpause when you're ready for the answers.

I'll provide the answers for each question. Let's go over them together. First, question 1 is too narrow. This is a yes or no question, and we can Google the answer. It's too simple, so this just won't work. Question 2 is just right. It's fairly specific, and it zooms in on a specific area, the Eastside in San Jose, in order to make informed recommendations. Question 3 feels too broad. It tries to address two different practical problems, the quality of health services and LGBTQ plus support services.

Even though the two ideas are related, it's not clear how the research will bring the two together. Question 4 is going in the right direction or it's just right. It has a specific angle with which it has room to make an original argument, and it has more relevance to current social concerns and debates. Okay, we're almost done, but let's recap the main things we learned today. We found that we need to communicate effectively in our field in order to be understood.

Also, graduate writing and undergraduate writing can be very different, so we'll be actively looking for the differences and not be caught off guard by our graduate writing assignments. Thirdly, graduate reading and writing go hand in hand. Learn to be effective readers and learn to have effective note taking skills in order to become a better writer. Lastly, we need to be research minded. We have to ask good research questions that help propel our fields forward.

And that's it! Thanks for watching this video about the graduate writer mindset. Today, we learned how to communicate in our field, the difference between graduate writing and undergraduate writing, the connection between reading and writing at the grad level, and how to be research minded. Like and subscribe for even more help writing at the graduate level. Check out the San Jose State Writing Center blog, The Write Attitude, and the Graduate Writer Toolbox for all the latest tips and conversations about writing, and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube to stay connected.

Take care and happy writing!