I started my (part-time) PhD (social sciences) in December and got my proposal approved by the research committee at Easter. Since then I have been busy with marking and finalising undergrad marks but have tried to make sure I still do some PhD work. I have been reading and tracking down references, I've also done a fairly detailed plan of the content of my lit review and have written my presentation for PhD student day tomorrow.

What I haven't done is any writing - every time I start I just get really scared that I won't be able to do it and so bottle it. I've got a paper to write by the end of June but I am bottling that as well. It's been 5 years since I did my MSc but I have written stand alone papers on unrelated topics in that time. i also did my PGCE in Higher Education so it isn't that long since I wrote anything. I'm just so scared that I'm not good enough to write to PhD standard (even though I got distinctions in both my Masters). Everyone who has already got a PhD says nothing you write is wasted but I just don't know how to start. I did write 2 sentences but they were so superficial I gave up.

HELP!!!!!!!!

Hi Jepsonclough,

If you are anything like me, you are very much at the learning stage with your writing. This is an exciting, you can learn to write really well, and it's worth picking up some techniques now,so you have them for the rest of your PhD. I also found that, for me, clarity in writing improved the clarity of my organisation and ideas, it was about learning how readers can digest material.

I found this book http://www.amazon.com/Style-Ten-Lessons-Clarity-Grace/dp/0321095170 totally fabulous.

I also suggest that you could start by just writing about the most interesting thing in you paper, and enjoy exploring that. Then you will have a start which you can expand on and develop.

Good luck. X

I know exactly how you're feeling, I was just the same when getting ready to write my first paper. What you have to remember is that you're new to the PhD, that you're only in the first year and nobody is expecting a world class paper written perfectly - you're doing a PhD, that is about learning to research and learning to write at a high standard. If you got good distinctions you can do this standing on your head, it really isn't that different! To get those marks you'd have had to have written very well and you can so do this :-) Just start writing, just write anything, pick a bit of your lit review and write about it, take it from there and off you go. I think my writing has improved in the last couple of years but its a gradual thing and also remember that you will rewrite much of what you're writing now for the final thesis so its no biggie - its all about learning, improving your style, gaining confidence etc. Have faith in yourself, you can do this, you've done it before and you'll do it again and will surprise yourself :-)

I actually have Style- Toward Clarity and Grace as a .pdf ebook. I also have a load of other one's, too, that deal with actually getting down to writing your PhD. Please PM me if if you want any of them.

My biggest concern with starting the PhD was whether I could handle the writing. It was on such a scale-up in terms of volume from my Masters, so I was intimidated. And my supervisor and other students just said "You'll be fine". Yeah right :p

But you need to start somewhere, so I would recommend that you brain-storm by writing a spider diagram. And do as another poster said, and start with what looks the most appealing section of what you need to write. You don't have to write in a linear sequence. And getting something down on paper - even something part way through a paper/chapter - can be a good way of breaking the ice.

I also find lists really helpful of sections to be getting on with. Then I look through them and decide which item is the most appealing, or - more usually - the least unappealing. And I start with that.

You're working on a first draft. It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't have to be anywhere near perfect. But it's a start on a journey. So don't be afraid to take the first steps.

Good luck!

Forget to mention that I also write very vaguely at times with lots of gaps to fill in: I'll write "Such and such wrote about thingymajig, arguing that ****" and I include things like the **** in my text, to fill in the details later. That way I can get ideas down quickly, as they occur to me, without worrying about stopping the flow to fill in all the details. On a similar track I sometimes find writing by recording me speaking out what I want to say works very well: I can record it and type up later, but if I try to type it as I think I often forget the good ideas before I've got to type them!

Lol Bilbobaggins, I do the same!!! I end up with somethingly, thingy, ermmmmm, that thing about...... and so on, it saves me stopping the flow to struggle to find the right word, have to remember to edit it out though, missed one for my last board paper and gave my sup team a huge laugh when they came across 'that thingy' ;-)

Thanks everyone for the suggestions - I have managed to write papers for publication but since I started the PhD I seem to have get writer's block

I do use spider diagrams (a great package called mindmap) and have managed to put quite a lot of detail in with links between sections - it's just starting to write. I keep reading and then adding more detail on my plan instead of actually just putting pen to paper or finger to keyboard. I've identified a section which I think I can make a start on so I will try to make a start on that this week.