Reading and Writing

Shut Up & Write

Siobhan is passionate about helping PhD students and early career researchers improve their academic writing. To this end, she established Shut Up & Write Tuesdays (SUWT) in 2013. For five years SUWT hosted virtual writing workshops, on the first and third Tuesday of the month, in three separate time zones. SUWT helped researchers from around the world finish their dissertations, publish books and journal articles, and write successful grant applications. An evaluation of SUWT was conducted in 2015 and is published here (if you’re unable to access it, please contact Siobhan for a copy). There is also a guide for conducting your own virtual Shut Up & Write group. Although SUWT ended in 2018, there is a thriving international network of Shut Up & Write groups and you can find your nearest group here.

Non-Required Reading for PhD Students

Great writers are great readers, but great reads are rarely found in academic journals. To encourage her doctoral students to read more widely, Siobhan created the Non-Required Reading List (inspired by The Best American Non-Required Reading 2014).

Although some academics would argue that if a PhD student has time to read for pleasure they’re not working hard enough, this is a dangerous attitude. Most PhD students struggle with writing and the majority of supervisors have neither the time nor the skills to offer meaningful guidance. Encouraging students to read widely and read well is a fast and effective way to improve their writing; it’s a powerful way to promote the sort of work-life balance practices that are essential to surviving life as an academic; and there’s evidence that intellectual cross-pollination has led to serious scientific breakthroughs.

The Non-Required Reading list comprises a simple framework and a list of resources.

Framework

Each month you should read:

4 pieces of quality long-form journalism (Long Reads is a great place to start)

1 work of quality fiction, non-fiction or poetry

Resources
Fiction:

Non-Fiction:

Poetry: