Hi there, I'm currently beginning the process or co-authoring 4 manuscripts with my PI and other RAs and would like to know if anyone has any tips on being efficient and a general "how to" on manuscript writing. I decided to take an extra year before applying to grad school just to work on all of these papers and maybe join another lab, so I really want to get all of this done within the next 6 months or so.
For example: I see that certain labs publish 5 or more papers in a single year (how is this possible? It seems like a very life/time consuming endeavor or maybe this is normal and I'm simply too new at this) with grad students as first authors on a few of them. Are my anticipated submission dates realistic? I have never done this before, and all of a sudden, boom, I'm writing 4. How much time should I allow myself to write? Is there a method or scheduling of writing that you have found helpful? How do you do this and also juggle a job/social life etc? When should I expect them to be accepted/ published? What happens if i write and write and then get rejected from a journal? Can I try submitting somewhere else? Am I biting off more than I can chew "realistically" or is this amount normal? I know I am new to this, but I a quite determined and everyone has to start sometime, right? Please feel free to offer any tips beyond my questions.
Also, how do you decide on a journal to submit to? How do you judge which one is the best fit and has a good chance of accepting you?
Here is a breakdown of the papers and a rough timeline of when I'd like each to be done.
1) 3rd author- almost done, just need to tighten up the intro and discussion sections. Want to submit by mid-Oct. (wouldn't this likely get published in a year or so if accepted?) However, my PI seems to frequently revise and revise, and so it sometimes feels like it will never end. How do you know when you are done or when it is good enough? Couldn't you always just keep adding? Not to mention some journals seem to have a length cut-off so then we may have to cut sections.
2) 3rd author- Manuscript not begun, I will be writing a short portion of the introduction as I have done all of the work on the study before the paper. So this one shouldn't take too much time. I'd like to have this out by December, but it really depends on the 1st and 2nd authors and how fast they want to work on this (any advice on getting things to move along?). I am the one who planned and ran this study, and will likely be 3rd and not 2nd as my colleague seems to really want to be 2nd (and she contributed two dependent variables as well as completed most of the data analysis). Therefore, I have a much smaller writing portion AND less control over how fast this moves along.
3) 2nd author- This is for a study that will run this Fall and is essentially my baby. I have worked on studies previously just to get this one going. We plan to collect data in the fall, analyze in December (ideally) and I'm hoping to submit to a journal by March. This paper has a very rough methods section written (basically my procedure), but how should I go about starting the intro? I currently have this broken down into several "sub-sections" to build up to the gap in the literature my study addresses, so I suppose I can start there. My PI said she would write this but I am not too optimistic and know she would prefer I just give her a rough draft she can work from(which isn't ideal, but I'm willing). I'd like to get everything I can get done during these next few months so that when the data comes in I don't have as much to do. Does this seem like a typical way to do things?
4) 1st author- I'm most nervous about this paper. My PI will not be writing anything here and will only edit/ offer advice (which is huge) but I am concerned about how to start. The data is collected and will be analyzed by November (we have prelim analysis that suggests the direction the results are going in). Should I be writing this introduction first out of all of my papers listed? I'm hoping to have this submitted by February.
5) I have also begun to think about writing a review paper, but I only vaguely understand what this is. If I am correct in my thinking, this would be a paper that is basically a large introduction/lit review section, that finds gaps within the literature, and then suggests studies to be completed in the future. Is this a good idea with my current work-load? My main motivation for this is to earn another 1st authorship (as I think my PI would allow me to be first on a paper like this) before applying for grad school. (I am a bit research mad as my gpa in college was low so I'm trying to make up for it big-time). Should I instead focus on joining another lab that is more aligned with my research interests and begin from the bottom-up again?
Anyway, if this is feasible and makes sense to write, how does one go about this? How do I begin, and what things should I keep in mind when writing this paper? I know the main point is to give people a comprehensive overview of the literature and show areas that need more research in the future. I think my PI wrote something like this a number of years ago, but hey, there's more out there now so this is okay, right?
edit: Oh, I failed to mention that I'll be writing some posters (mostly as 1st author) this fall as well.
Thank you! I appreciate all your input and reading my massive "question".
For example: I see that certain labs publish 5 or more papers in a single year (how is this possible? It seems like a very life/time consuming endeavor or maybe this is normal and I'm simply too new at this) with grad students as first authors on a few of them. Are my anticipated submission dates realistic? I have never done this before, and all of a sudden, boom, I'm writing 4. How much time should I allow myself to write? Is there a method or scheduling of writing that you have found helpful? How do you do this and also juggle a job/social life etc? When should I expect them to be accepted/ published? What happens if i write and write and then get rejected from a journal? Can I try submitting somewhere else? Am I biting off more than I can chew "realistically" or is this amount normal? I know I am new to this, but I a quite determined and everyone has to start sometime, right? Please feel free to offer any tips beyond my questions.
Also, how do you decide on a journal to submit to? How do you judge which one is the best fit and has a good chance of accepting you?
Here is a breakdown of the papers and a rough timeline of when I'd like each to be done.
1) 3rd author- almost done, just need to tighten up the intro and discussion sections. Want to submit by mid-Oct. (wouldn't this likely get published in a year or so if accepted?) However, my PI seems to frequently revise and revise, and so it sometimes feels like it will never end. How do you know when you are done or when it is good enough? Couldn't you always just keep adding? Not to mention some journals seem to have a length cut-off so then we may have to cut sections.
2) 3rd author- Manuscript not begun, I will be writing a short portion of the introduction as I have done all of the work on the study before the paper. So this one shouldn't take too much time. I'd like to have this out by December, but it really depends on the 1st and 2nd authors and how fast they want to work on this (any advice on getting things to move along?). I am the one who planned and ran this study, and will likely be 3rd and not 2nd as my colleague seems to really want to be 2nd (and she contributed two dependent variables as well as completed most of the data analysis). Therefore, I have a much smaller writing portion AND less control over how fast this moves along.
3) 2nd author- This is for a study that will run this Fall and is essentially my baby. I have worked on studies previously just to get this one going. We plan to collect data in the fall, analyze in December (ideally) and I'm hoping to submit to a journal by March. This paper has a very rough methods section written (basically my procedure), but how should I go about starting the intro? I currently have this broken down into several "sub-sections" to build up to the gap in the literature my study addresses, so I suppose I can start there. My PI said she would write this but I am not too optimistic and know she would prefer I just give her a rough draft she can work from(which isn't ideal, but I'm willing). I'd like to get everything I can get done during these next few months so that when the data comes in I don't have as much to do. Does this seem like a typical way to do things?
4) 1st author- I'm most nervous about this paper. My PI will not be writing anything here and will only edit/ offer advice (which is huge) but I am concerned about how to start. The data is collected and will be analyzed by November (we have prelim analysis that suggests the direction the results are going in). Should I be writing this introduction first out of all of my papers listed? I'm hoping to have this submitted by February.
5) I have also begun to think about writing a review paper, but I only vaguely understand what this is. If I am correct in my thinking, this would be a paper that is basically a large introduction/lit review section, that finds gaps within the literature, and then suggests studies to be completed in the future. Is this a good idea with my current work-load? My main motivation for this is to earn another 1st authorship (as I think my PI would allow me to be first on a paper like this) before applying for grad school. (I am a bit research mad as my gpa in college was low so I'm trying to make up for it big-time). Should I instead focus on joining another lab that is more aligned with my research interests and begin from the bottom-up again?
Anyway, if this is feasible and makes sense to write, how does one go about this? How do I begin, and what things should I keep in mind when writing this paper? I know the main point is to give people a comprehensive overview of the literature and show areas that need more research in the future. I think my PI wrote something like this a number of years ago, but hey, there's more out there now so this is okay, right?
edit: Oh, I failed to mention that I'll be writing some posters (mostly as 1st author) this fall as well.
Thank you! I appreciate all your input and reading my massive "question".
