The Scholarly Writing Process: A Short Guide

Getting stuck is a normal part of the writing process, even for experienced writers. My aim in publishing this Short Guide is to help you generate new writing projects, keep your writing projects moving forward, and ensure that your writing process results in publications.

A Short Guide to the Scholarly Writing Process focuses on writing as a process, from your initial curiosity about a topic or question, through the development of arguments, the identification of potential readers, the specification of a product, and the refinement of your writing for publication in a specific form. Advice about each stage of the process is accompanied by writing prompts to help you apply that advice in your own particular circumstances.

I suggest reading through the Guide once to get a sense of how the whole thing fits together. Then leave it somewhere accessible. Whenever you are stuck with a writing project, go to the part that speaks to what you need in that moment. Use the questions in that section to get things moving.

I encourage you to actually write out answers to the questions. You are a writer. Writing is how you process your thoughts. Depending on where you are stuck, it might even be appropriate to write your answers in your project document.

Keep this guide close by and refer to it whenever you need to. Enjoy your writing!

Note: the revised edition is a different size from the original. Some minor formatting and similar issues have also been corrected and the About the Author section has been updated to include books published since the first edition.