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How to Write a Lot: A Practical Guide to Productive Academic Writing |  | Author: Paul J. Silvia
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $8.87
as of 11/22/2009 19:03 MST details
You Save: $6.08 (41%)
New (29) Used (13) from $7.99
Seller: thermite-media
Rating:  57 reviews
Sales Rank: 5703
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Pages: 149
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5 x 0.4
ISBN: 1591477433
Dewey Decimal Number: 808.042
EAN: 9781591477433
ASIN: 1591477433
Publication Date: January 15, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
All students and professors need to write, and many struggle to finish their stalled dissertations, journal articles, book chapters, or grant proposals. Writing is hard work and can be difficult to wedge into a frenetic academic schedule. In this practical, light-hearted, and encouraging book, Paul J. Silvia explains that writing productively does not require innate skills or special traits but specific tactics and actions. Drawing examples from his own field of psychology, he shows readers how to overcome motivational roadblocks and become prolific without sacrificing evenings, weekends, and vacations. After describing strategies for writing productively, the author gives detailed advice from the trenches on how to write, submit, revise, and resubmit articles; how to improve writing quality; and how to write and publish academic work.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 57
 A few very useful insights November 16, 2009
Aleksejs Tarasovs (Riga, Latvia)
I can't say that this book provided a lot of new information to me - most part of it can be inferred just from common sense and knowledge of some time-management techniques. Probably "How to write a lot" is excellent not because of it contents, but because of references to other "how to write well" books. Also I liked chapter about style a lot - it contains many useful hints in a very small amount of pages. But probably the best insight was the explanation that you do not need a lot of inspiration in scientific writing - it is not like writing novels or poetry. And it's even proved by some statistics!
So, I would highly recommend this book - it is easy to read and techniques given here are easy to use.
 One piece of advice spread over a whole book September 22, 2009
Jackal (Singapore)
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book contains really only one piece of advice: Make a writing schedule and stick to it no matter what.
If you do stick with a writing schedule you will spend X hours writing a week. Off course you will get something written. If you don't stick with the schedule, chances are high that you won't get much done. To write you need to spend the hours writing. So the advice in the book is almost tautological.
Having said this, the advice is not bad. However, I would expected a few more ideas from a book.
 Solid, Practical Advice August 1, 2009
stoic (Mobile AL)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Paul J. Silvia's How to Write a Lot is a great practical guide that provides academics with a wealth of advice. Silvia's main point is that writing productivity is a skill that comes from planning; it is not an innate gift. Silvia states that becoming a productive writer is about forcing yourself to adopt the right behaviors (i.e., sitting down to write) as opposed to discovering some abstract philosophy on how to write.
According to Silvia, the basic process for improving one's writing is simple:
1) make a schedule (how many days per week and how many hours per day),
2) set goals for each day,
3) keep track of whether you meet your long- and short-term goals,
and
4) reward yourself for reaching your major goals.
Silvia has a great, breezy style. He includes a few quips that keep the tone light. For instance, in a discussion of why academics should never claim that they have writer's block, he writes: "Novelists and poets are the landscape artists and portrait painters; academic writers are the people with big paint guns who repaint your basement" (page 45).
How to Write a Lot does bog down after the first three chapters. The other chapters are not bad, but they contain information that readers have probably seen elsewhere (e.g., write in the active voice). The chapters on scheduling, however, are terrific. I recommend How to Write a Lot based on those three chapters.
Nice advices and easy to read July 16, 2009
Pequecita (Mexico)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I'm in my PhD thesis writing process, even when I'm a sciences student I found this book encouraging and very useful. You can quickly read it in your free time -- if you have some -- in less than a week and you will certainly find nice ideas to practice your daily writing. Specially useful if you always give you excuses when not writing everyday.
Funny & Helpful July 6, 2009
Amy L. Atchison (Knoxville, TN United States)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I love this book! (1) It is well-written. (2) It is concise. Yes, the advice is to make a schedule & stick to it--something most of us do not do. The book points out the common traps all of us fall into, and points out how silly they really are. Common sense? Yes. Do most of us need it pointed out to us? Absolutely. It also makes practical suggestions for prioritization of writing projects.
One reviewer makes the inane comment that the book is only for psych, therefore it isn't useful to others. Nonsense! Anywhere Paul says 'psychology,' substitute your field. It works beautifully with 'political science.'
Showing reviews 1-5 of 57
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