Start with the materials and methods because you have already completed this part

Dear Fazla,

you address a common problem of us busy researchers that hits us particularly strong at the beginning of paper writing. We developed some strategies how to get started with paper writing and published them in the following articles:

(1) 15 steps to get a paper written during the Corona lockdown: https://bit.ly/2Tli4Hx

(2) How to get started with writing papers?: https://bit.ly/2LHGoyZ

(3) 5 tips to get a paper accepted this year: https://bit.ly/2TkxrQc

I hope they help you a bit further!

All the best

Gunther

You've to set a specific time and stick to that time. You also have to be discipline about the set time

That's a well-researched topic, because – believe me – you are not the only person to suffer from procrastination.

Research supports a technique called visualisation. In this technique, you don't just make a schedule, but you specifically visualise it. So you decide that at 10 AM you will start writing the introduction. In visualisation, you imagine making coffee at 9:50, setting your coffee down on your desk, turning on your computer, NOT firing up your social media apps but instead firing up your word processor, your bibliographic software etc. You visualise how everything will look, what you will do and what sequence you will do it in.

Is this a miracle method? No. But it significantly reduces the difference between the amount of time that students think a task should take them and the amount that it actually takes them.

Dear Fazia, first of all the good message: you are not alone! For the write up prepare for muse, not only time. Get all other small and lesser interests out of your mind and then start. Every long journey starts with the first step. Then, while writing and keeping your mind focused on this very important task alone, you might finish earlier than you ever have thought before. Wishing you all the best! Gerhard

Dear Fazla:

I start by trying to understand the data that came out of my study, be it quantitative or qualitative, I organize it as best I can. Then I write a first interpretation of the data and make my first conclusions. From there, I propose to myself a calendar to write my manuscript from the traditional order, except for the title and the abstract, that always leave it at the end.

Dear Fazla,

To start is the hardest point. The most important is to have your muse and time, and to detach from your daily tasks for a moment. Next, you can start with the plan - yes, begin with the table of contents of your work: abstract, introduction, the problem, the solution, experimental work/proof, future work, conclusions, acknowledgment, bibliography. Try to compile the overall idea of the problem you solve so that a person who is completely unaware of your work can get insight over the subject. After that, you can start filling into each chapter. Begin with some keywords or ideas/thoughts that you can just write down as a list - kind of a "sub-plan", next add key figures, next find quality sources of information that you have used or you feel are cornerstones for the understanding of your work - the bibliography. Then you will be able to build around your plan and describe your work.

Have a look at the literature! There's some really interesting research out there.

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=procrastination+in+college+students&btnG=&oq=procra

As others have mentioned, deadlines and the subsequent pressure can work wonders. There can be internal deadlines with your research team members, i.e. "will send you the draft in 5 days." Additionally, external deadlines in the form of a conference or manuscript deadline.

Don't pressurize yourself, as we all know what are the key components of research methodology, so take initiatives from introduction. Collect all the papers which are specifically related to that particular topic, read them and then start your introduction, by following those research articles.

Dear Gunther Tress, Bernard Turkson , Ronán Michael Conroy , Gerhard Konrad Seeberger , Ismael Ramírez Villaseñor , Yassen V. Gorbounov , Jesse Chou , Sana Arshad all of you thank you very much for your interest and helping me out with your valuable opinion. This will certainly be helpful.

There is an amazing TED Talk on the topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arj7oStGLkU

Start with the materials and methods because you have already completed this part

Lay back, listen to some music you like, perhaps take a nip. Then go for a coffee in a place nearby and take just one sheet of paper and a pencil with you. There you first order the coffee and while you wait you write down four words, headers of the four main parts (the structure) of your paper. Then your coffee comes and while you drink it you think a bit about the content of each part - perhaps you correct one of the words. You feel content and eventually, add a cake to round up your success. Then go home with your four words on the piece of paper (you've scribbled some additional pointers and the number of planned pages per part on it while eating the cake) sit down and write according to your plan. That's it.

Hello Dear Colleague,

You may find useful starting by Methods of study, the you may write your introduction. Take time and try to spare one day between them.

[email protected]

The following are the solutions for procastination in writing a research paper.

1. Take control of your research environment - research in a place that is free from distractions.

2. Make a "TO DO" list.Establish a routine.

3. Self-bribery - give yourself rewards. ...

4. Divide and Conquer - break larger tasks into smaller units - thereby eliminating how daunting the task seems. ...

5. Use a planner for time management.

I write from the very beginning (;-/)... It is necessary to write a work plan and gradually insert finished pieces or its fragments into it. Then see what necessary parts are missing and add these. Everything is simple. After several passes, the skeleton (plan) is overgrown with meat (text). Sometimes I enter some thought (just a line or phrase) or data into this raw text as these arise in head. Sometimes in the process of work it turns out that the original plan was not very good, then new (first empty) paragraphs are added to the text, and something disappears. Gradually, the article arises. The most important thing is to reread it, it is better to pause before the last viewing (several days or even weeks) in order to be able to look at the text with a “fresh look”. This is not the only way. I know a person who writes linearly - from beginning to end, as a silkworm draws a thread from itself. But I can’t do this - it’s easier for me to construct text from logical "cubes".

Thank you Vadim S. Gorshkov for your explanation

Thank you very much Vadim S. Gorshkov . It's actually helping me.

I usually start with LR, that part takes the maximum time.

Start Small...Set up one hour for yourself daily to write, eventually the topic will interest you so much that ....you would want to sit and complete the paper.

Also have a goal like a publication that you are aiming for , which maybe 2 to 3 months from now...so that there is an aim that you are doing this for, however still have time to write at ease.

@Fazlar Rabi Mashrur Just start with something and keep going until you get new ideas.

Ask some simple questions based on the trends which you have observed and the literature. That is the starting point of any empirical research.

If you ask me I would say, start from Materials and Methods. You already have those details so you can easily put them down. Then move to the Results and Discussion. When you are done with these, you will have the drive to write the Introduction/Background, then finally the Abstract.

Thanks Emmanuel Orman Murali Kallummal Svitlana Avramenko Arushi Grover

For a better workflow without procrastination I recommend establishing a morning routine (Literature: Hal Elrod, The Miracle Morning) and using a tool that blocks apps, websites or even the internet (https://freedom.to/).

When I wrote my last Paper (for Biosensors and Bioelectronics, Elsevir), I did the following:

I first collected all the experiments, I wanted to include. Then for each experiment I answered the following questions:

· What was the idea/goal?

· What was done?

· How was it done?

· Why was this approach/experiment chosen?

· What could be observed?

· Which observations support your assumptions? – why?

· Which observations confute your assumptions? – why?

· What could be done differently? What was the next step?

In the first round I did the mistake of writing the experiments down in the chronological order (in which I did them). So the meaning of the experiments was hard to understand for the readers. So I sorted the experiments according to their meaning for the main research question of the paper.

Afterwards I sorted the information according to it's appearance in the paper, meaning introduction, methods, results and discussion.

I hope this helps.

Dear Roman Mannweiler Thanks a lot

The best solution is to start with results and discussion.