HOW TO SET EFFECTIVE GOALS IN YOUR ACADEMIC WRITING?

It’s that time of year again when most of you try to plan out your academic writing objectives for the coming year by pulling out the “big board.” Goal setting is most likely to improve task performance when the goals are specific and sufficiently challenging (Locke, Shaw, Saari, Latham, 1981). And the same goes for writing goals. There are the value of reflection before you start preparing, so that you could learn a few things about your behavior and what worked and didn’t work last year.

Now that we have reached the goal-setting stage, how do we proceed?

·        Describe Goal.

Let’s begin with the fundamentals. A goal is something you want to accomplish and is planning to strive toward. You decide that this is the “thing” you want to bring about, and then you develop a strategy to bring that concept to pass. Therefore, a goal in academic writing is a specific grant, book chapter, journal article, or book you wish to finish. You cannot set a goal of “write 4 articles.” The goal of “write article X for Y, Z academic writing services” is the right way to be implemented. That should be the aim.

·        Subscribe To Priorities and Tasks

After you’ve decided on your goals, you need to prioritize accomplishing each activity over each week. You’ve frequently seen this in various topics since it is the one thing that academics should do more regularly. They set objectives, but there needs to be a clear plan of action to carry them out. You can read more about tasks and priorities here.

• Reverse Map

Once you have a goal, a deadline, tasks, and priorities, you may map out in reverse what has to be done and when in your diary starting from the deadline. Give your projects a time slot in your calendar and check your prioritization. It is not just like you think, “I Can Pay Someone To Write My Assignment” if you want to be good at it, you must work on all the factors.

HOW TO SET EFFECTIVE GOALS IN YOUR WRITING

How frequently do you feel dissatisfied that you didn’t write more as you exit your computer after a writing session? Any academic will be familiar with this, but consider your original goals: What were they? Too many of us approach writing with vague intentions, which is a mistake. However, the data is unambiguous: The first step to achieving great success is setting practical goals.

You can set realistic objectives using various techniques, including the SMART framework. Using this framework, you may stay on course and determine when a day’s worth of work is finished. This implies that you can leave the computer with a sense of accomplishment.

1.   SPECIFIC

A vital writing aim will make clear the specific task to be performed (and how), frequently utilizing numbers, as opposed to being imprecise.

“I will write some of my introductory section today,” is a poor example of a defined objective.

An excellent example of a precise objective is, “I will write five paragraphs of my introduction, emphasizing quantity. Tomorrow, I’ll go back and make quality edits.

2.   MEASURABLE

How will you know when you have accomplished your writing objective and when you are progressing toward it? Holding yourself accountable and understanding when to put the laptop away depends on having tangible measures against which to measure your progress.

I will write up a portion of my discussion section today. Quitting when I become weary is a poor example of a measurable goal.

A good illustration of a measurable objective is, “I will write 500 words of my discussion, at which point I will stop, and tomorrow I will examine my work.”

3.   ACHIEVABLE

Though according to experts writing is itself an achievement as it just not done instantly but achieve over time (professionalessayservice, 2019). It’s likely that completing a thesis in a single day or getting your first submission approved by a prestigious publication is an unreasonable goal. Think about if you can achieve your goals for a moment. Seek assistance and set manageable goals.

I will complete the final chapter of my thesis before editing and proofreading the entire work in order to submit it on time. I’ll fit it in between my other commitments.

A realistic aim would be, “I will finish the last chapter of my thesis the following day and send it to a competent proofreading agency to get the language polished.”

4.   RELEVANT

Working on issues that feel personally important to you is considerably more straightforward. Ideally, ask yourself if your current writing project seems exciting and significant before you start writing. We are considerably more motivated to work for intrinsically inspiring goals than those only pursued for financial gain.

This needs to be a better illustration of a relevant aim. Although the subject matter is not incredibly fascinating to you, you have some outcomes that you believe will work. Though writing a proposal seems like a hassle, you nevertheless decide to do so. You hate spending time composing the entire document after the proposal is approved.

A good illustration of a pertinent objective: You can contribute a chapter to a book that has been edited. The offer is from a prestigious and well-respected publisher, but the subject matter could be more fascinating than your primary research. You choose to reject the offer. As a result, you are incredibly prolific and love writing far more than you would have if you had pursued the possibility.

5.   TIME-BOUND

Finally, time-bound objectives are the finest. To ensure that the chores leading up to the final deadline are manageable and leave room for any unforeseen hiccups, divide them into bite-sized chunks.

“I’m going to finish that chapter of my thesis… sometime” is a poor example of a time-bound objective.

An excellent illustration of a deadline-driven objective is, “I will finish the first draft of my 3,000-word discussion section within seven days. To meet the deadline, I will write 500 words every day while allowing one day for any delays”. It demonstrates a substantial period which will bound you to complete your tasks.

References

PES, (2019).  How To Improve Your Writing Skills 5 Tricks by UK Experts. Online Available at < https://www.professionalessayservice.co.uk/how-to-improve-your-writing-skills-5-tricks-by-uk-experts/> [Accessed on 5^th December 2022]

Locke, E. A., Shaw, K. N., Saari, L. M., & Latham, G. P. (1981). Goal setting and task performance: 1969–1980. Psychological bulletin, 90(1), 125.