How Do You Write Up As You Go?

#1 Write your methodology down as soon as possible

For me, the easiest section to write as you go is materials and methods (also called methodology). This is also the hardest section to remember later on! So, write down your methods as soon as possible after finishing an experiment, take photos of equipment you have used and jot down anything of note when you are in the lab. When writing a methodology, you need to just detail what you have done — there is no space for interpretation or opinions. Be accurate when writing down what you did, labelling photos that you took and analysing any data (this includes statistical tests, names of the spreadsheets and any data you have removed and why). These details will all help you in the future when you have forgotten exactly what you did. Read other methods sections to see what level of detail is expected.

#2 Note down your thinking for your decisions

The PhD is a long stint with lots of different experiments, so it can be hard at the end of four years to remember your reasoning for making the decisions you did. Even if you are not writing a formal scientific paper, note down what you were thinking about your research topic, anything interesting that you read, your initial interpretations and your wider thinking. I’ve started doing this on a Friday afternoon as a voice note to myself to remember where I’m at currently with my research. This has really helped me remember my justifications for decisions and things I might have put on the back burner. Make regular notes and you’ll thank me later!

#3 Set yourself a weekly (or monthly) writing goal

The idea of writing an 80,000-word thesis is always going to be daunting so break it down into chunks. The way of breaking down the thesis depends on the type of thesis you are doing (see last month’s post). If you are doing a traditional thesis, then setting yourself a weekly writing goal will keep you going. Sharing your goal with a friend can also help keep you both accountable.

If you are writing your thesis as a collection of papers (like me!), then setting yourself a monthly goal of what stage you want to be at with your manuscripts can keep you on track. This is the way that I divide up my writing, making sure I’ve made progress on writing, editing and submitting my papers every month. This timeline can be dependent on getting feedback from your supervisors and the submission process, so make sure you are realistic and allow for some wiggle room!

#4 Forget about perfection

In the world of PhD Instagram, I saw a quote that really stuck with me: “You can’t edit an empty page”. We all know the fear of a blank word document and not knowing where to start, but it’s better to start writing a rough draft than not to write at all. As a perfectionist, this has been an uncomfortable truth to get used to. I’ve had to accept that my first draft will not be perfect (spoiler alert, neither will the tenth draft!), but putting my thoughts down gets me closer to my goal of a written thesis.

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