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 changedHow Makella was able to significantly cut down on editing rounds with her co-authors Why Makella is enrolling all her lab members into the Researchers' Writing Academy What's next in Makella's writing journey If you want to connect with Makella, are interested to join her lab or collaborate, you can find her personal website under: https://makellascoudray.com/ and her lab website under: https://thesheerlab.com/.If you're ready to succeed in academia no matter how little writing training you received from your advisor, then you should join the Researchers' Writing Academy. The enrolment fee is going up on May 6, 2026. If you join us before, you can save $500 USD on your annual membership fee! Enrol here: https://annaclemens.com/scientific-writing-course/ We can't wait to support you!

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 workday every week Her experiences of using the Journal Publication Formula, the method we teach inside the Researchers' Writing Academy, from start to finish How she managed to get praise from peer reviewers in a super smooth publishing process Why Liv finds co-writing to be a game-changer for her productivity Liv's recommendations for when you don't have a lot of time to write (or to take a writing course!) If you got curious about the Researchers' Writing Academy, head to annaclemens.com/scientific-writing-course. The Researchers' Writing Academy is a comprehensive academic writing program that helps you get published consistently without sacrificing your private life for your academic career. The enrolment fee is going up on May 6, 2026. If you join us before then, you can still join at the old price and save $500 USD on your annual membership price! We would love to have you. Head to annaclemens.com/scientific-writing-course to join us today!

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 intentionally adapt your writing to the current season we're in. Instead of writing adding to your stress, we want to show you how writing can be a grounding deep work activity that creates meaning, calm and joy for you as an academic and researcher.

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 get read -- and ultimately, get accepted! This is going to be a relaxed conversation. Grab a coffee and join us live. We'd love to have you! And bring your questions! You can ask them live in the chat. If you want to dive deeper into Julie's Great Grantwriting Framework, join us next Tuesday at 11am EDT / 5pm CEST for a free live webinar hosted on Zoom: https://www.juliecwikla.com/webinar

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 out how to make writing a sustainable part of her work flow in order to be successful not only in her career, but in her family life as well! Now she embraces being a writer and has found a writing process and routine that allows her write and publish articles in a calm and steady way. Inside the Researchers’ Writing Academy she is known as the queen of goal-setting! Jenny also shares some great advice on how she makes time for professional development in her busy schedule and how she manages to stick with programs she bought. I hope you’ll enjoy this episode as much as I did!Timestamps:(01:20) Introducing Dr Jenny Grant Weinandy(06:45) Jenny’s motivations for joining the Researchers’ Writing Academy (RWA)(11:05) What has changed for Jenny since joining the RWA(14:45) Jenny’s publishing results after implementing the Journal Publication Formula(18:00) How Jenny decides on which journal to target (21:35) How Jenny found time to engage in the program and implement the Journal Publication Formula(25:10) How Jenny keeps focused on and commited to professional development (32:05) Jenny’s favourite elements of the RWA(37:10) Who Jenny would recommends joining the RWA(39:20) How Jenny uses the Journal Publication Formula with her students Jenny’s Google Scholar Profile: https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=Cg5Yc4wAAAAJ&hl=enAn article Jenny published while inside the RWA: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10899-024-10287-6Podcast host: Anna Clemens, PhDVideo and audio editing: Jason RiveraIf you’re interested to join the Researchers’ Writing Academy and learn how to develop a structured writing process to get published in top-tier journals time-efficiently, then I highly recommend watching my free writing training as the first step at: researcherswritingpodcast.com/free.

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 convinced that writing is slow and frustrating for everyone, join me while I break down these 5 common myths about writing research papers.In this episode, I cover: (02:10) Introducing the myths(03:15) Myth #1: Need to be a native English speaker(07:35) Myth #2: Storytelling covers up holes in your research (10:20) Myth #3: Using fancy and complicated phrases and sentence structures(14:00) Myth #4: It’s enough to hire someone to proof-read and clean up your paper(19:13) Myth #5: Writing just is a slow and frustrating process Podcast host: Anna Clemens, PhDVideo and audio editing: Jason Rivera Want to dive deeper? We have a free training on how to write clear, concise, and compelling papers from start to finish using a structured and time-efficient writing process. Head over to researcherswritingpodcast.com/free to save your spot now!

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 shared our website on social media and that after going through the content, she identified the struggles she was having with writing papers in a timely manner. It was taking her forever for her papers to get written and she felt like she needed to break that!This was such a fun talk with Sabina and we discuss so many topics that concern researchers today: from how continuing to learn and take professional development even after you finish your degree is so essential (but also that it’s okay if it’s fun!), to how academics have a hard time admitting they don’t know how to write well and how a program like the Researchers’ Writing Academy can help you feel less alone in the world of academia! Timestamps:(01:11) Introducing Dr Sabina Hirshfield(07:30) Sabina’s motivations for joining the Researchers’ Writing Academy (RWA)(11:00) How Sabina changed how she collaborates with her co-authors since joining the RWA (14:45) Sabina’s publishing results after implementing the Journal Publication Formula(16:25) How Sabina approached taking the program(18:33) Writing can be enjoyable and learning never stops(23:45) Observing how other academics approach writing and their publishing habits(29:40) Sabina’s favourite elements of the RWA(32:06) Why we both love writing retreats and co-writing sessions(34:20) Why Sabina has referred several colleagues to the RWA (36:00) Feeling unproductive and time management struggles(39:30) Why people stay inside the RWA after their first year(43:52) Listener question: Which verb tense should I use in my paper?Sabina’s Google Scholar Profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=fy3K49sAAAAJ&hl=enPodcast host: Anna Clemens, PhDVideo and audio editing: Jason RiveraIf you’re interested to join the Researchers’ Writing Academy and learn how to develop a structured writing process to get published in top-tier journals time-efficiently, then I highly recommend watching my free writing training as the first step at: researcherswritingpodcast.com/free.

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 academic writing program. Whether you just found me or have been following me for years, this might be a great episode to listen to and get to know me better and put all of my advice into context!In this episode, I’ll talk about: Timestamps:(02:00) About present-day me and the Researchers’ Writing Academy(04:45) My academic background(07:04) Lacking support/guidance in academia(09:55) My relationship with writing during my PhD (12:20) Career path after finishing my PhD(15:25) Lessons learned editing other researchers’ papers(19:35) Offering 1:1 coaching and writing workshops(20:35) Starting the Researchers’ Writing Academy(23:08) Listener question: I’m writing my first paper. Where do I start? Podcast host: Anna Clemens, PhDVideo and audio editing: Jason RiveraGo to researcherswritingpodcast.com/free to learn about the Journal Publication Formula, the backbone of the Researchers’ Writing Academy, that gives you a roadmap on how to publish in top-tier journals in a time-efficient way.

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 writing program she started with a fresh draft and after just two rounds of revisions and two months’ work in total, her PI approved and submitted the paper. Geetika talks about how she was concerned that this course would just join the pile of other online courses she had bought and never looked at. But how – once she was a member – she was surprised by the engaged community, which helped her to actually take and implement the course.(01:10) Introducing Geetika Chauhan(03:20) Geetika’s struggles before joining the Researchers’ Writing Academy (RWA)(06:01) Geetika’s concerns before she joined the program(07:45) What helped keep Geetika engaged and committed to the program(12:18) How Geetika’s feelings Geetika around writing have changed(14:22) Geetika’s favourite part of the RWAPodcast host: Anna Clemens, PhDVideo and audio editing: Jason RiveraIf you’re interested to join the Researchers’ Writing Academy and learn how to develop a structured writing process to get published in top-tier journals time-efficiently, then I highly recommend watching my free writing training as the first step at: researcherswritingpodcast.com/free.

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 write? Whatever you want to carve out time for, you’re in the right place. In the last episode, I introduced you to a technique to look a bit deeper into why you may be procrastinating on investing in your writing. Today, I want to share 7 proven and actionable strategies that have helped other researchers just like you to make time to invest in taking an academic writing course. I know, I know, it feels like you really don’t have a minute to spare to do anything else but the work you already have on your plate. If you don’t feel like you have enough time to take a writing program, then you’re not alone. It’s in fact the most common reason researchers give us for why they aren’t enrolling in the Researchers’ Writing Academy, our online academic writing program. BUT without investing time, you won’t learn the skill of writing a compelling paper that stands a chance to get published in a top-tier journal. And without investing time, you won’t learn a new writing process that will make writing a paper so fast that you can submit your paper in 8 weeks or less after analysing your data.Here’s what I’ll be talking about in this episode: (02:45) No time to join a program? (08:50) Strategy #1: Be clear on your priorities (11:21) Strategy #2: Time blocking(14:15) Strategy #3: Decrease frequency of regular meetings(17:01) Strategy #4: Reduce your email load (25:47) Strategy #5: Stop or strictly limit using social media and set personal boundaries (28:54) Strategy #6: Time and energy tracking (31:54) Strategy #7: Say “no” more!(36:50) Listener question: How do I start tackling a drawer full of half-finished manuscripts? Podcast host: Anna Clemens, PhDVideo and audio editing: Jason RiveraWant to dive deeper? We have a free training on how to write clear, concise, and compelling papers from start to finish using a structured and time-efficient writing process. Head over to researcherswritingpodcast.com/free to save your spot now!

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” means in the context of scientific papers is hardly ever defined, which leads to both an impossible to reach goal post and misunderstandings. One of those misunderstandings is that telling a story in your research paper equals packaging weak or irrelevant data in pretty wrapping paper and putting a ribbon on top – or in other words, overselling a study by hiding behind fancy words, flowery language and a narrative. But that’s not what I’m about to teach you. I’ll show you a framework that uses storytelling in a way that makes your paper easier to read by getting across to your reader why they should care about your research WITHOUT overstating its importance.Storytelling may also seem childish to you and imply having to oversimplify your research. Shouldn’t the focus of writing a scientific paper be using precise and and accurate language instead of creating a page-turner? Well, the Scientific Storytelling Framework I’m guiding you through in this episode will help you do both: It won’t help you to dumb it down but to spell it out!Timestamps:(01:50) Defining storytelling in research papers(03:08) Common misconceptions and myths surrounding storytelling in academic papers(08:00) Problems I see in scientific papers(10:10) The Scientific Storytelling Framework(18:42) Applying the Scientific Storytelling Framework to your paper(24:53) Listener question: How can I avoid self-doubt and procrastination in research and writing?Podcast host: Anna Clemens, PhDVideo and audio editing: Jason RiveraIf you’re interested to join the Researchers’ Writing Academy and learn how to develop a structured writing process to get published in top-tier journals time-efficiently, then I highly recommend watching my free writing training at: researcherswritingpodcast.com/free as the first step.

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 AI when it comes to writing scientific papers: 1) saving us time, 2) increasing the quality of our writing, and 3) enhancing our creativity. And I have a bit of a hot take on what I think scientists and researchers should focus their time and energy on. 🔥But I’m not saying to completely avoid using generative AI! To me, the question is more what to use it for and how to use it. So, at the end of the episode, I’m leaving you with 8 specific recommendations for using generative AI in your writing and research. In this episode, I cover: (2:00) Definitions of generative AI and LLMs(4:15) The hopes/goals of why we use generative AI for science writing(6:28) My views, warnings, and analysing those hopes/goals of why we use generative AI when writing(22:52) My recommendations on how to use generative AI (29:03) Listener question: Should I send a pre-submission inquiry to the journal editor before submitting my article? Podcast host: Anna Clemens, PhDVideo and audio editing: Jason RiveraAnd if you’re ready to invest your time and energy into acquiring the skill of writing papers for top-tier journals time-efficiently, then I highly recommend checking out my free writing training: researcherswritingpodcast.com/free

If you’re struggling with the writing process to produce a scientific paper, you are not alone! The most common issues I see researchers have with the process of writing papers are that: a) they don’t know where to start (and then start with the wrong thing), b) they procrastinate because they aren’t sure what the exact steps of the writing process are (so that writing becomes an emotionally draining task because we keep second-guessing ourselves), c) the writing process is highly inefficient because of a lot of back and forth with co-authors (and editing nightmares like that don’t only waste time but also drain your energy and morale) Luckily, there actually is a much better, more efficient and more enjoyable way to write papers and I’ll walk you through the process step by step in this episode. It’s the exact same process I’m teaching inside the Researchers’ Writing Academy, our online academic writing program. And our members confirm: This 4-step streamlined writing process is a game changer! We are also introducing a new segment: the listener question! Today, I answer the question of what you can do when you just don’t feel motivated to write. Happy listening! In this episode, I’ll go through: (01:25) Struggles Researchers have while writing(10:35) Step 1: Develop the story(14:18) Step 2: Outline for flow (19:52) Step 3: Write clearly and concisely(28:06) Step 4: Package for publication (32:34) Listener question: What do you do when you’re not motivated to write?Podcast host: Anna Clemens, PhDVideo and audio editing: Jason RiveraJoin our free training to learn more about the Journal Publication Formula at researcherswritingpodcast.com/freeGet tips on how to work with co-authors, manage your writing process, and increase your chances of getting published in top-tier journals.