Demystifying Dissertation Writing

The Single System attempts to distill what is certainly a complex process into a more manageable set of steps. I admire her for the effort. Many of these activities - citeable notes; reading an article clear through with minimal marking, then revisiting key passages; developing a writing routine - speak clearly to the process that researching and writing is. Others, like the steps from a one-page outline to a long outline, are logical, but not for everyone.

Key to Single's advice is the encouragement, at the first draft stage, to just write. Get the pencil (or keyboard) going and let it all out on the page. There will always be time for cleaning it up and it often proves easier to succinctly say what you mean when you have a sloppy, first-draft version from which to build.