Shut Up & Write sessions are regular, structured social writing sessions, designed to overcome student isolation while helping you beat procrastination. Students can use these sessions to write well and write together, providing moral support and motivation.
Join GSA for regular Shut Up & Write-a-Thons
We’re running regular weekly sessions which are a great study support and will help you beat procrastination and meet other graduate students.
We use the Pomodoro Technique (25-minute writing with 5-minute breaks) and teach the generative method to make sessions as productive as possible. We’ll provide you with information and resources to power your studies. You can work on anything you like, but you must be writing.
Shut Up & Write sessions are running online via zoom with limited available in-person sessions available too.
What is the Pomodoro Technique?
A full Pomodoro cycle lasts for about 2 hours, comprising four sets of sprints and breaks. Using the Pomodoro Technique you will almost always find you make much more progress, even though it’s the same amount of time.
An Italian – Francesco Cirillo – came up with the idea in the late 80s and needed to keep track of his 25-minute sprints. The nearest thing to hand was a kitchen timer shaped like a tomato (pomodoro in Italian). Now the word is synonymous with 25-minute productivity bursts.
Prepare for Shut Up & Write
Shut Up & Write sessions are not about creating the perfect final version of your work; they’re intended to get the words out onto the page, which you can edit and polish later.
Trust that you know enough about your topic, and try not to get caught up in finding the ideal phrase or sentence.
Katherine Firth, the Head of Academic Programs at Trinity College, has more tips on generative writing and first drafts.
Five steps to writing
- Decide what you want to work on during the session
- Make some notes (or dot points) to help guide you. Having a plan, however rough, can keep you on track.
- Get organised: Organise your notes! The Cornell Method is a great way to do this, but any system is fine as long as it works for you.
- Have your references and data analysis results ready, but don’t worry if you don’t have every detail: you can go back and finalise things in a later draft.
- Write!