Be a Productive Writer: GoalFocused Writing
Matthew T. McCrudden
Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
matt.mccrudden@vuw.ac.nz
Prioritize Writing
• Publications are the “coin of the realm”
– Gold is used throughout the world as a vehicle for
monetary exchange.
– Publications are used throughout the academic world as a
vehicle for tenure and promotion.
• “Deans can’t read, but they can count.”
• “Publications travel.”
• What are your professional goals and are they
reflected in your use of time?
Be strategic
• Type of thinking
– When you write
• Identify large & small blocks of time that can be used
for writing
– What you write
• Match time block with type of thinking required
• Write complementary sections close in time
– Increases consistency across sections
– Increases writing efficiency (less “start-up time”)
Be strategic
• Write the manuscript in sections (e.g., Intro, Methods,
Results, Discussion) & save as separate documents
• If you write multiple version of each section, add date
to file name
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–
–
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Protects against “ripple effect”
Enables more efficient revisions
Lessens “sunk cost fallacy”
Minimizes “split-attention effect”
• Combine sections when preparing last draft
Find “model articles”
• Articles that have common elements with your
manuscript
– Seek topics and authors
• Argument structure & framing
• Specific methods
• Specific analyses or results
Accessible Writing: Micro
• Define key terms
• Use illustrative examples
– (e.g., XYZ)
– For example…, For instance…
• Use signaling
• Use active (rather than passive) sentences
• Limit sentence length
Article referenced in examples
• McCrudden, M. T. (2012). Readers’ use of
online discrepancy resolution strategies.
Discourse Processes, 49(2), 107-136.
Define key terms
• Throughout this article, the term misconception will
be used to refer to “knowledge that is incorrect as
compared to some normative or scientifically-based
information” (Chi, 2008, p. 66). Conceptual change
learning occurs when learners modify their initial
conceptions or replace them with new ones (Chi,
2008; Chinn & Brewer, 1993, 1998).
Define key terms
• “In this article, the term online discrepancy
resolution strategy, or resolution strategy for
short, is defined as a comment made during
reading for the purpose of controlling or
modifying a discrepancy between one’s prior
knowledge and new information.”
Use illustrative examples
• “Discrepancies between a reader’s prior knowledge and text
information can interfere with comprehension (CITES). For
example, the term fitness conjures up thoughts of physical
education for many students. However, fitness has a specific
meaning in evolutionary biology: the number of offspring an
organism has that survive to adulthood. If students read a
biology text and encounter the concept fitness, they may be
unaware that it has a different meaning in evolutionary biology
than other contexts, and may not develop a conceptual
understanding of fitness that is consistent with this meaning.”
Use illustrative examples
• Online data, in which the term online refers to
readers’ moment-by-moment processing during
reading, has shown that refutational texts influence
strategy use. For instance, think-aloud data has
shown that readers with misconceptions experience
and respond to cognitive conflict more frequently
while reading a refutational text than a nonrefutational text (CITES).
Use signaling
• The purpose of this study was to
investigate why some individuals
demonstrate conceptual change learning
whereas others do not by investigating
their resolution strategies while reading a
refutational text.
Use signaling
• To address this topic, the data were analyzed
in two phases. In the first phase, we
analyzed readers’ initial and subsequent
conceptions of fitness in evolutionary biology.
This enabled us to identify readers who did
and did not demonstrate conceptual change
learning. In the second phase, we analyzed
their think-aloud and interview data. This
enabled us to…
Use signaling
• The present study contributes to the existing
literature on refutational text and conceptual
change in two ways. First, it provides insights
into why some individuals who read
refutational text demonstrate conceptual
change learning whereas others do
not...Second, these data demonstrate that…
Use active sentences
• Passive: Discrepancy resolution strategies
were used by participants with low prior
knowledge while reading the refutational text.
• Active: Participants with low prior knowledge
used discrepancy resolution strategies while
reading the refutational text.
Limit sentence length
• Manageable chunks for reader
• Generally speaking, sentences should not
exceed four lines (excluding internal citations)
Additional Resources
• (2008) Special Issue: Advice for Beginning
Educational Psychologists. Educational
Psychology Review, 20(1).
• Kiewra, K. & Creswell, J. W. (2000).
Conversations with three highly productive
educational psychologists: Richard Anderson,
Richard Mayer, and Michael Pressley.
Educational Psychology Review, 12(1), 135161.