The Researchers' Writing Podcast

Dr Makella Coudray, Assistant Professor and Researchers' Writing Academy member, joins me to discuss how the program has transformed her group's paper-writing process. We talk about: Writing the hard way during her PhD (and some devastating supervisor feedback) and what changed How Makella was able to significantly cut down on editing rounds with her co-authors Why Makella is enrolling all her lab...

I'm chatting with atmospheric science researcher, Dr Erika Roesler, about how she went from getting stuck writing too long papers that weren't getting submitted to a regular writing practice and receiving compliments on her writing from her co-authors. We talk about: Why she joined the Researchers' Writing Academy after sitting on the fence for months The beliefs that had to shift for...

I'm chatting with Assistant Professor, Dr Liv Hoversten, about how she went from taking ages to finish a paper, often investing evenings and weekends, to writing a full Introduction section in 3 hours. We talk about: Why she joined the Researchers' Writing Academy when she was a new Assistant Professor who just had a baby How she was able to shift her writing practice to writing during the...

Dr Anna Clemens walks you through the Researchers’ Writing Academy, the academic writing program that over 700 researchers have already used to get published consistently while enjoying the process.  [Quick heads-up: You can still join the Researchers’ Writing Academy at the old price and save $500 USD/year before the enrolment fee is going up on May 6, 2026.] In this episode, Anna talks about: Ho...

Live stream with Dr Anna Clemens and Dr Cathy Mazak There has been a lot of disruption, uncertainty and change in the academic world this year. Whether or not you work in the US, you've probably felt more anxious than usual and you may notice that your writing practice is shifting. My friend and colleague Dr Cathy Mazak and I warmly invite you to join our live conversation on YouTube on how to int...

I'm facilitating a 3-day online writing retreat 16-18 July. All details and sign-up here All details and sign-up here In this video, I'm talking about why I decided to create a retreat experience for members of the Researchers' Writing Academy and why I'm opening it up for everyone to join. If you are curious about what's going on behind the scenes, interested in joining this o...

I invited Dr Julie Cwikla on the Researchers' Writing Podcast to give us expert advice on writing winning grants. Julie is a Distinguished Professor of Mathematics Education, the author of "From Good to Great Grant Writing" and a sought-after grant consultant. Julie and I have similar views on scientific writing. We both agree that the story should be at its center so that your grants and papers g...

I talk to Yvonne Rimar, who is in charge of our community experience inside the Researchers’ Writing Academy, how important being part of a community is for all of us. In academic circles, there often is little to no focus on community which can make writing very, very lonely and feel harder than it needs to be. A community structured around your writing can support your writing habits, making you...

I talk to Dr Jenny Grant Weinandy, member of the Researchers’ Writing Academy and Assistant Professor in clinical psychology at Ohio University in the United States. Jenny shares that when she joined our academic writing program, she was a new parent, overwhelmed with finishing her PhD and dissertation. She didn’t feel like a writer and would avoid writing tasks but she knew she needed to figure o...

I’m talking to Jennifer van Alstyne about how to best leverage social media as an academic. If you don’t know what to share on social media except links to just published articles, then my guest Jennifer van Alstyne will have great content ideas for you (spoiler: you can share about your article waaay before it’s published and you can share that link more than once!). And don’t worry, using these...

This episode is all about persistent myths about writing scientific research papers and why they aren’t true. I think this is a very important topic because holding one of these wrong beliefs could be what’s keeping you from enjoying writing papers and being good at it. Whether you’re a native or non-native English speaker, or you’ve never used storytelling in your writing, or maybe you’re convinc...

Many academics don’t have to pay for professional development out of pocket. But that is often not advertised. In my experience, there is often a lot more “hidden” funding available than we first think. This podcast episode is about getting funding for a professional development opportunity, for example for taking a writing course or program such as the Researchers’ Writing Academy. Remember that...

In this episode, I’m talking to Sabina Hirshfield, visiting Associate Professor at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University and member of the Researchers’ Writing Academy. Sabina has pioneered eHealth and mHealth interventions to improve health outcomes for sexual and gender minority populations. In our interview, Sabina told me that she discovered our academic writing program after a colleague s...

Welcome back to another episode of the podcast! Today I want to show you how to plan your writing and really your entire day with pen and paper, and how to have any notes you take during your workday, all in one place! I know that digital project management systems are super popular right now and at the very least, you probably use digital calendar and maybe you’ve also tried Trello, Clickup, Asan...

This episode is about something I’m not super comfortable talking about, myself! Despite this, whenI do share about myself, I usually get a lot of response and interest surrounding what I do and how I got here in this career. So today I’m bringing you behind the scenes to tell you more about my journey from being a PhD student in Chemistry to becoming an academic writing coach and running an acade...

Thanks for tuning in for another episode of the Researchers’ Writing Podcast! I often ask researchers which section they find hardest to write and the section that is named most often is the Introduction section! I hear things like “My introductions are very long and generic and I end up with lots of references.” or “I find it difficult to write succinct paragraphs.” or “I overexplain and my Intro...

In this episode, I’m talking to Geetika Chauhan who is a PhD student at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw and a member of the Researchers’ Writing Academy. Geetika works in the field of geophysics and joined the Academy because, as she told me, both she and her PI got fed up when she was on the tenth draft of her first journal article with no end in sight. After she joined our academic writ...

Welcome back! This is part 3 of our 3-part mini-series on making time to take an academic writing course. In part 1 of the series ( Episode 7 ), we talked about looking at deeper reasons (limiting beliefs and unhelpful stories you tell yourself) for why you’re not making time to take a writing course. In part 2 ( Episode 8 ), we looked at actionable strategies you can employ today to carve out tim...

In today’s episode we’ll continue our mini-series on making time to take a writing course with part 2 out of 3 parts in total. Even if you aren’t planning on taking an academic writing course or program such as the Researchers’ Writing Academy right now, the strategies I’m sharing today are so universal, they will help you carve out time for other things too. Maybe you struggle to find time to wri...

I know, I know, you have SO much on your plate as an academic, especially if you are an Assistant Professor, that writing papers is often pushed to the evenings and weekends. Because all those other tasks and projects come with deadlines and have other people waiting or depending on you. Whereas for taking professional development to uplevel your writing skills or for actually writing papers, ther...

In this episode, we are talking about my very favourite subject: Storytelling – and how to do that in a scientific paper. You have probably had someone say to you at some point: “your paper should tell a convincing story”. But… what does that actually mean? “Story” stands for so many different things: Re-telling an anecdote, the plot of films, movies, books, or making something up. What “story” me...

In this episode, I’m talking to Dr Kate McAlpine who is an alumna of the Researchers’ Writing Academy! Kate is a pracademic – which means she’s both an academic and a practitioner – and her work is centered around preventing violence against children.  We talk about what she got out of the Researchers’ Writing Academy, which elements of the program (it’s comprehensive, you know!) made the biggest...

As most researchers, you are probably either already using ChatGPT and friends to help you with your academic writing or you are wondering if you should! In this episode, I’m sharing my view on using generative AI to write scientific papers – which is (spoiler alert!) probably a bit more critical than what you normally hear. I’m analysing the 3 central hopes, or goals, that we have for generative...

This episode is for all you non-native English speakers (those who have English as their second, third, fourth… language) who struggle with writing papers in English. You may have massive imposter syndrome (that maybe has been fueled by feedback you’ve gotten from reviewers) and you don’t feel confident writing at all. This episode is also for you native English speakers (who have English as their...

Welcome to the very first episode of the Researchers’ Writing Podcast! Researchers are expected to write scientific articles fit for top-tier journals with little or no training. Whether you’re struggling with desk-rejection, aren’t reaching wide audiences or would like to write papers that actually get read, then this episode is for you! I outline the five most common and severe mistakes research...