Let’s stay on track.

Instead, we have prepared a list of blogs, books, or Twitter accounts worth following to keep you motivated.

Blogs:

The Dissertation Coach

Founded by Alison Miller, Dissertation Coach is a company that provides consultation related to writing and statistics. Besides that, the company runs a blog where various writing and academia-related topics are presented. As they don’t publish regularly, we recommend you add them to your watch list!

Cal Newport

Computer scientist and author of bestsellers like A World Without Email, Digital Minimalism, and Deep Work that focus on the productivity of knowledge workers. Besides his book, Cal publishes short op-ed pieces that deal with similar issues on his blog. It is a must-read for everyone who is challenging its approach to work.

Books:

Made to Work – Mobilising Contemporary Worklives – Breda Gray, Luigina Ciolfi, Aparecido de Carvalho

Gray and colleagues focus on knowledge workers (finance sector, the IT industry and academia) and analyse their condition. Interestingly, they described in the book “colorolly work”, which is all the unseen, but essential work everyone must do to start working. Setting up the laptop, finding the right chair, lights and all the things not directly connected with writing the paper, but yet, they matter.

How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking – for Students, Academics and Nonfiction Book Writers – Sönke Ahrens

This book splashes within the academic community and others for whom writing is a fundamental part of their work. Sönke Ahrens describes a knowledge-management system called Zettelkasten developed by Niklas Luhmann, a German university teacher and influential scholar in sociology. While it is impossible to give you a glimpse of what the Zetelkasten is, let’s teas you with the fact that Nikolas Luhmann has written in 30 years about 50 books and 600 scientific articles and continued to publish after his death as his office contained multiple notes (according to the Zettelkasten system) that his colleagues were happy to contribute to the completion of.

Twitter accounts (yes, they count too!) 

Mushtaq Bilal, PhD (@MushtaqBilalPhD)

Mushtaq Bilal holds a PhD in comparative literature, and besides being an Associate Editor at the Journal of Postcolonial Writing, he tweets and writes about academic writing. The Twitter threads are full of valuable tips on what tools to use while working with the literature, how to read academic texts or grant writing strategies. Recently, Mushtaq started publishing a newsletter, “Keep Writing”, that deals with writing too. Seriously, hit that subscribe button!

Kaycie Butler (@ButlerKaycie)

Kaycie Butler is a science editor and writer, and similarly to Mushtaq Bilal, she frequently tweets about scientific communication and writing strategies. Besides the active Twitter account full of helpful hints, she offers free guidebooks or paid courses that focus on scientific writing strategies for papers and courses. See yourself here.