Getting started with academic writing

Scientific writing can be a scary thing for a new PhD student, at least that was the case for me. I wrote my research plan for a couple of years and once I was accepted into the program, I mostly read and collected data during my first year. I did not write at all! I felt that I was never ready to start writing, instead I read one more article, and another one, and then ten more.

This week I published a video on my YouTube channel about getting rid of my fear of writing. Watch the full video above or directly on YouTube, but here are my three takeaways:

1. Get inspired by articles you like in your field. Do not copy, but learn from them and their way of writing.
2. Write first, edit later! Write freely to get words on the paper, editing is for later.
3. Use citation software like Zotero. I used it to store all of my article PDFs (the extra storage is definitely worth the money!)