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Academic Affairs Overview

Manuscript Madness

The UF Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) visited to share tips for effectively and safely incorporating AI into our writing and other professional activities. They addressed critical issues such as: What AI platform is approved for use by UF and why is this important? How can I utilize AI for efficiency without compromising integrity and without giving up my unique voice? How do I craft prompts to get the most robust and accurate information? Why is November 2023 such an important date in the AI world?

AI Workshop recording with CTE + DOM
cte links to utilize Ai

MARCH MANUSCRIPT MADNESS!!!

We dedicate March each year to helping motivate investigators at all ranks to get their papers moving.

Finding time to write and publish is a challenge for all of us – students and trainees, early career and senior faculty, scientists and clinicians. Do something for yourself and for your academic career, and join us for this writing initiative.

How do you know if this initiative is right for you? If you answer yes to any of these, join us!!

  • Do you need dedicated time to write but never seem to find the time?
  • Do you work better with a deadline (which manuscripts don’t usually have)?
  • Are you a super perfectionist to the point where it impacts on your ability to publish?
  • Do you have the chance to write a review article that would be perfect for your career but you can’t find the time?
  • Do you have multiple manuscripts in preparation at one time?
  • Do you sometimes lose track of which co-author is working on a paper?
  • Do you have papers that lose steam over time especially if they are rejected from one journal and need to be sent to another?
  • Do you have papers on the “back burner” that never get moved to the front?
  • Are you working with co-authors or mentors who are slow, slow, slow?
  • Did the pandemic derail your previously good writing momentum?
  • Many of our faculty seem to have similar challenges when it comes to getting manuscripts published.

We offer a spreadsheet to help you organize your papers in progress and resources to help you move them forward. Click to see Dr. Zimmermann’s example of the March Manuscript Madness Spreadsheet – this is meant for faculty with several publications in preparation at once. Use this blank template to create your own spreadsheet. Customize it to meet your needs.

Ask us about editorial assistance, senior faculty review, or librarian assistance for publication searches.

Email Dr. Zimmermann, ezimmer2@ufl.edu, if you are interested in participating in a small writing group that can meet in person or by Zoom.

Step by Step instructions to participate in MARCH MANUSCRIPT MADNESS!!!

Step 1 Think about your situation and what your stumbling blocks are to publishing more.

Step 2 Address your particular needs or issues. (Ask for Dr. Zimmermann’s advice if needed)

Step 3 Download the spreadsheet if you have multiple papers ongoing and make it yours.

Step 4 Figure out how to dedicate more time to your manuscripts in the month of March.

Suggestions:

  • Don’t do email for the first hour of your day….write!
  • Come in an hour early at a few days a week….write!
  • Get up 2 hours earlier than normal on Saturdays in March. Drink coffee, sit in your jammies on the sofa while your family sleeps and…..write!
  • While these suggestions sound painful and are probably not sustainable, they may be possible for a month. Trust me, it feels good at the end of the month if you have something tangible that you have done for yourself.

Step 5 Let your collaborators know that you are making this push so that they are responsive and don’t stand in your way.

Step 6 Please let Ellen know if you are participating, and if you are successful. If you have suggestions as to how to make the process of writing manuscripts more effective, let us know.