Real Academics Blog

Dear Real Academics, When my husband was in graduate school, he took a course in the Department of Visualization at Texas A&M University. One of the course topics was about the difference between "looking" and "seeing". I am NO expert, but my understanding of this distinction is that "looking" is a physical act and "seeing" is a mental process of perception. I was reminded of the existence of this conceptual distinction when my husband and I watched a movie based on the life of Louis Wain this weekend ( The Electrical Life of Louis Wain on Amazon Prime with Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead role).  I knew little to nothing about Louis Wain. In a nut shell, I learned how Wain used his creative drawing ability to bring life and humor to readers through drawing cats. He also helped people in Victorian England warm up to the idea of keeping cats as pets (nice!). In the film, Louis' wife at one point compliments him for his ability to "lo

Dear Real Academics, This past week I was figuratively running. I have a very big project to complete, and I was talking to one person and then to another and trying to put all the pieces together. The problem is, the pieces were stubbornly just not coming together. Needless to say, I was feeling quite frustrated and quite tired.  Has this ever happened to you? You feel as if there is a mad rush to get something done and everyone around you is running and you are running, too, but you feel as if all the effort is not getting you anywhere? I decided to go for a walk with my puppy in the crisp air and warm sunshine. After the walk and some quiet prayer, I understood I needed to:  Stop running.  Stop striving.  Still move forward, but stop rushing.  This understanding was confirmed by one of the project constituents who called and said that maybe I needed to slow down. The confirmation continued with a wise friend from church in his 70's. (Actually, the advice is from his grandfath

Dear Real Academics, It's the month of "love", and today I want to reflect on feelings. Regardless of what messages exist regarding feelings (e.g., go with your heart; don't trust your feelings), feelings are real and are part of being human. Feelings can also affect our writing and work productivity, so it's helpful to learn ways to manage them. This week I want to talk about some things you can do in the event you are feeling down. Perhaps you've heard some bad news or are going through something difficult -- whatever the reason or length of the issue, how can you still be productive and/or restore productivity when feeling down? Photo by Lukas Rychvalsky: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-standing-near-lake-670720/ Here are four ideas to manage negative emotions and keep up productivity: (1) Go for a walk/move. Weather permitting, go for a walk (or run). Or move somehow. Exercise can help clear the mind and relieve stress associated with negative emotion.

Dear Real Academics, In this post, I want to share three common mistakes I see in academic writing, especially among beginning academic writers. The purpose of doing so is to help you improve your academic writing and/or provide a tool so you can help others. I have frequently made (and still make -- especially when drafting!) these mistakes. Now that I've had more experience as an academic writer, though, I am aware of these common mistakes and know how to fix them. So, whether you are a seasoned academic writer or not, read on; and please share this post with anyone who may benefit from this information. Common Mistake #1:   So and So Says I call this the "so and so says" mistake because it uses the following structure to start a paragraph (and, often, the sentences that follow): "Author and Author (Date) state that...." and "According to Author (Date)...." and "Author (Date) says..." Writing structured in this manner is frankly boring to r