AECT 2021 Early Career Symposium

Creating Space for Academic Writing

Mete Akcaoglu, Ph.D. Associate Professor Georgia Southern University

The Process (for me)

• Develop curiosity
• Gather background
• Design the study

Curiosity (sources)

• Previous (failed) attempts
• Collaborations

Creating the writing space

• Gather background and shape up the initial draft
• Make a good outline!
• Fill out the outline with notes from readings
• Mark (color code) the calendar to book out reading/writing times

Collaborations

• Seek out colleagues to help

• Be specific with what you ask of them

• Be available to join other projects

  • At a given time, I am usually involved in 5-10 projects at various levels
  • Not all will stick, that’s ok (time is precious)

Finding the time

• Using calendars effectively
• Making time to read (or listen)!

Finding new fuel

• Open to learning new things (methods, concepts, theories)
• New methods (for data collection & analysis) means new ways to look at things
• Twitter (e.g., r [studio] community)
• Burn outs…normal…stay calm

Contact Info

• mete_akca (twitter)
• mete dot akca at gmail dot com (email)
• open to collaborations 😊