3.9 the process of the process - how to use reflective writing
sometimes, we breeze right by a tool because it seems like an extra step - but i'm here to encourage you to not knock reflective writing until you try it! this week's episode has reasons why you might want to use it, ways to try it out, and variations to play with! get into it!
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It may sound silly. But this week, we're talking about why writing about your writing might just be the unblocking tool that you've been missing.
📍 Welcome to Grad School is Hard, But... A Thrive PhD podcast. I'm Dr. Katy Peplin and this is a show for everyone who's doing the hard work of being a human and a scholar.
And in season three, I'm demystifying some of the most important, but often invisible parts of grad school that learning about might just make your life a little bit easier. And make sure you check out the link in the show notes for my working more intentionally tool kit. Which is available for you totally for free. Now let's get into it
Many of us have different techniques that we've been exposed to that we think. Yeah, I'm not sure I really need that. And for me, reflective writing was top of the list. I'm a person who does a lot of reflection already. Like most academics. I spend a lot of time in my brain. And when I get bored of thinking about my research work, I like to think about the process of my research work.
So reflective writing. The act of reflecting on my process, my learning, my research in writing like physical writing always seemed a little superfluous to me. I'm already doing that kind of reflection in my head as I go. So why would I write it down? But. Like so many tools. Don't knock it until you try it.
So I'm here this week with a couple of different ways that you can build in reflective writing. Into your academic practice and maybe some reasons why it might help you out. Now. The number one reason that I find that reflective writing can be really useful for people. Is that it slows our brains down enough so that we can actually see our thoughts more clearly. I I'm sure like you have about seven thoughts going on in my head at all times. And it can be a little bit overwhelming who hasn't sat down at the computer. Wanting to check an email and then pull getting. And then getting pulled into a conversation, a research hole. A list of all the things you need to do, your brain reminding you, that you need to book that dentist appointment. There's a thousand things that are happening all at once and reflective writing the act of sort of writing things out, reflecting on them, thinking through them more clearly, and actually taking the time to articulate those things in actual language. Is one way of slowing down the stream and taking, look at one at a time. Hi. I know that this is something that can be really useful, not just for us, but for our students.
And that's actually how I was introduced to this topic. The first time it was part of a learning reflection exercise that I was being encouraged to do with my students, but basically. The way that it broke down was asking students to reflect. About an experience both before, during and after. And in my case, it was the experience of writing a research paper. I asked them beforehand.
What do you think might happen in this process? What are the things that you're anticipating might be harder challenging for you? What do you think you need to know? I then talked about the. Process of reflecting during the actual experience. I asked them to write out in pieces of paper that they turned into me, the different things. That they were doing.
Narrate for me the steps that you're taking to do this research. How did you come to your research question? How did you find the sources, et cetera, et cetera. Then afterwards, I asked them to reflect on the experience as a whole. What were the things that became clear to them? What did they feel like they learned?
What would you do differently the next time? Uh, what things haven't you learned, et cetera? And it was he a surprisingly useful activity? Not just for them, but for me too. 'cause they got a sense of how they were approaching the various challenges. Now. You can do this kind of reflection. On your own work process.
And I find the doing it yourself can actually really help you see more quickly where you're getting stuck, where you could use more support, and it gives you a chance to recognize how much work you've actually done so far. And really give yourself a pat on the back for all of the things that you've learned that you're maybe taking for granted. So here are some different ways that you can do reflective writing in your own academic practice. You can of course go with the old standard, the old standard for a reason.
Journaling. Journaling is a great way to keep track of how things are going on a day-to-day basis and capture all of those things that might slip through the cracks.
Lots of people keep a lab notebook or a research journal or a daily journal where they keep track of the day-to-day occurrences. The blocks, the questions, the wins, the insights, and keep them in a place where they can come back to them and refer to them. You'll be surprised how many insights you have and how many insights you're losing until you start a more rigorous capturing process. Free writing is also a great way to do reflective writing. I like to start a lot of writing sessions, particularly if I'm blocked with a little bit of free writing.
And of course some of the free writing is relevant and some of it isn't, but putting a lower stakes writing activity lets me warm up, literally my fingers and whatever else I'm using to type whether that's voice dictation or. Long hand, it gives me a chance to warm up. And see where my head's at before I sit down and try and write some academic prose. You could do this also about your reading. And I really recommend it.
If you're in a heavy reading period, like studying for exams or working through a pile of literature. Keeping some quick notes, especially about how you think these pieces might apply to a project or a specific task that you're doing. I can be so useful because once you're on book two or book seven or book 55, it's going to be a little bit less clear than it was in the minutes immediately before, during, and after you encountered each text.
You might also want to experiment with brain dumps.
This is a hate generic catch all term for when you just sit down and dump out everything that's in your brain. For me, these tend to be a mix of, to do lists things that are rolling around ideas, for projects, reminders of things I have to do. They often get a little bit emotional and they're a really good way. For me to calm that buzzing bee feeling that I have about my writing sometimes. And sit down. Get all of those thoughts. Onto a piece of paper where I can decide when and if I want to deal with them.
Last, but not least the tool that you might want to use.
That is one of the gold standards of reflective writing. Our morning pages. This is something that was pioneered by Julia Cameron in a book called the artist's way, which your mileage may vary with the overall book, but she really recommends that everybody, especially those people who are writers. Start every day in the morning, with three longhand pages of writing it's stream of consciousness.
It's whatever comes to you. But I have found that even if you type it, even if you do it in the afternoon, Even if it's not quite three pages. Uh, you don't have to be as rigorous as she recommends, but the practice of reflecting and writing more frequently, even daily, or as frequently as it makes sense for you, gets you into the habit of reflecting on how things are going in a more lower stakes way. Like so many of these tools, a lot of us only reach for them when we're stuck.
But some of the magic comes when we use them more consistently when we capture the good days, as well as the sticky ones. Now. I am going to go as far as to suggest that reflective writing is a great practice to build in to your ACRA. IMO. If that's something that you're doing with us this month. It's a way to build your word count. Practice the act of writing and slow down, especially in a season where you might be sprinting or pushing to get to a certain goal. A little bit of reflection can go a long way in making sure that you're staying more or less aligned with your plans and your intentions. And if you want to join us for Mo, there's a link in my bio to sign up for free.
You can sign up any time this month. We're so happy to have you. Okay, thanks so much and see you next week.
📍 Thank you for listening to Grad School is Hard, but... You can find more information and resources in the show notes and at thrive-phd.com. Every month, I'll select one reviewer for a free 45 minute session with me. So please subscribe, rate, and review to help spread the word about the show. Thanks so much and I'll see you again soon!