Report writing

[strad48]

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How long does it take you to write reports, articles, etc?
Were there things you did/do to increase efficiency so that you are not completely stressed and consumed by amount of writing you need to generate?

Following on an earlier thread about being a good writer....part of MY definition of being a good writer includes efficiency. My profs all assure me that I write very well, and, yes, I've been thoroughly schooled in the mechanics of writing, but Lord, the hours and effort and stress involved in getting thinking into words, and then words onto paper! (This is where those same reassuring profs. all shrug and say "I don't know") It is not only way out of proportion, it can't be functional in a profession (School Psychology) where turning out reports has to happen constantly. Most recently, I easily totaled 12-14 hours working on a simple 13 page (double-spaced with graphs) consultation report. Please say that it gets easier with practice - or at least that I've been buffaloed by classmates who claim to whip reports out in an two or three hours!

 

[switcheroo]

A rule of thumb I follow for school-related papers is one hour per page. That doesn't include doing the research (e.g., PubMed, PsycINFO searching), but it includes reading the research and synthesizing the required information. And I know for sure I'm a pretty quick paper-writer. So anyone who says they're doing 13 pages of writing in 2 hours is either lying or doing something wrong.

As for manuscripts, it definitely takes me longer, but that's because there's a bit of a different expectation. I would say the actual writing part of the paper (not analyses, not background researching) takes me about 1.5-2 times longer than above (1.5-2 hours per page), just because it's often very time-consuming to read 15+ paper, and then summarize them in a couple of sentences.

I hope that helps!

 

[PsyDr]

it gets a lot faster after practice.