Speaker 1: Hi, this is David Stuckler from FastTrackGrad, and today I want to share with you my secret formula of how to write a paper in as little as a weekend. Over the past 10 years, I've published over 300 peer-reviewed papers in top scientific journals, and I've coached hundreds of graduate students on how to do the same. And I want to teach you today how to overcome those barriers that you may have to writing a paper fast. So stick around to the very end because I'm going to share with you some tips that you may not have ever heard before. So the first step is to get everything in place. It's like cooking dinner. You need to have your onions chopped, your tomatoes at the ready, and olive oil ready to go. If you don't, it can lead to confusion. Too often, I see students trying to write the paper as they go along, thinking it's going to be more efficient, but it's not. Writing is the last 10% of your project, so don't even bother starting if you don't have that heart of your paper, your findings, your figures, your tables ready to go. Tip number two, and this is incredibly important, and not everybody knows this. So often, I see students start to write their paper and they get stuck. They just stare blankly at the computer for hours. And the issue is they're trying to write the paper from start to finish, going linearly through the introduction to the methods, to the result, to the conclusion. That's wrong. That's a mistake. And no wonder you're having problems. Instead, you want to write the paper from the inside out. You want to start with the methods. For many of you, this is actually the easiest section to write. It's going to give you confidence proceeding that way. So start with the methods, get that done, and then move into the results. Again, this is backwards from how you may have done it before, but it's going to help you avoid getting stuck. It's going to help you move faster. So those results, you're going to simply describe in order your tables and figures and your key findings. Make sure that you've organized those to tell a clear and coherent story about what you want to show your readers and show the editors of the journal where you're going to send the paper. The next step, the third step, is to actually write the conclusion. So often I see people try to write the introduction. That's actually the hardest part and where you're most likely to encounter difficulty. Write the conclusion next. Now, the conclusion has several components that are quite formulaic. So in the first part of the conclusion, you want to recapitulate your findings. Restate very succinctly what your key findings were, but don't go into any detail about them yet. That's the first paragraph of your conclusion. The second paragraph of your conclusion, always, say it again, always is the limitations. And this is a really great opportunity for you to fend off reviewer criticisms by saying, I anticipated that. I already knew about that. Use these wisely. I often like to do this as first, second, third, fourth, just list them out. Make it very simple for yourself. You know what those limitations are. You probably well aware of them. They may have even given you nightmares before, but this is a chance to make them transparent and get them in the open. State those limitations. Then what you go into, very simple. This is very formulaic. It's down to a science, because it is, is what are the implications for future research? That's a paragraph in its own right. And then what are the implications, if any, for policy interventions or other action in your field? This may not apply to all of you, but will likely apply to most of the fields that you're working on. Finally, now you're ready for the introduction. So the introduction, again, is the biggest stumbling block, and it can be quite difficult. But actually, it's a lot like the conclusion, and it doesn't need to be as difficult as we sometimes make it to be. And the introduction is going to have a three-part structure. The first part of your introduction, you want to set out, why are we having this conversation now? Why is your topic so important? Why do people care in your field, or even more broadly, care about it? Set that up. That's your first, first paragraph. Second, you want to get into, what is the weakness of what's been done before? In this conversation, what's missing? You know what that is. You might want to go and do a quick literature review to back up those points. Why the conversation is important? The existing studies have been done before, and what's missing from those? And finally, you lead right into your study, the third part of your intro. What is the value that your study is going to bring to the table? How are you going to plug those gaps from what's before? You really want to take this opportunity to articulate very clearly and succinctly what the value added of your paper is. And finally, last important thing to remember is, it doesn't have to be perfect. This is another common error students make. Perfect is the enemy of the good. I don't care if in this first pass, you vomit on the page, and it's just complete excrement. Don't worry, you're going to clean it up later. Think about it like climbing a mountain. As you climb the mountain, you slowly work your way up to the top. And it might be the first pass of the paper, you just dump facts and information in. That's fine. You've got the skeleton, you've got the bones of the paper together. And then as you continue climbing up that mountain, you're going to continue to polish and clean up and edit that writing. So listen, if you want more tips and strategies for how to publish fast and accelerate your graduate and academic career, click subscribe and check out the links below. I'll see you then.