Why you can (and should) write before collecting data
It’s a common misconception that the writing starts after the research phase (i.e. ‘I just have to write up my research’). This is simply not true. The writing starts as soon as the research starts. That means there is plenty plenty to write about, even when you’re still designing experiments or collecting data 🙏.
In fact, I highly recommend that you should! If you can capture your thought processes throughout the research stage, it will be much easier to write your actual paper or thesis later on, because you won’t have to backtrack your reasoning.
What to write about during the research phase
Roughly, we can divide the research phase into three activities:
- Reading the literature
- Generating ideas for your research
- Designing the study and gathering data
Let’s take a look at what you can write about during each of these activities.
🧠 1. Note-taking while reading the literature
When you’re reading the literature, it’s helpful to take notes about things that stand out to you. What that is, depends a bit on why you’re reading the literature.
Below is a table with suggestions on what you can take notes of. You don’t need to write something for every single point — focus on what stands out or feels relevant to you.
| Why You’re Reading | Things to Take Notes On |
|---|---|
| To understand why your topic matters | - Main ideas or theories related to your topic - How your topic fits into the bigger picture of your field - Background or context that explains its importance |
| To see what is already known | - Main results or findings and conclusions - How the research was done (methods, experiments, surveys) - Strengths and weaknesses of the studies |
| To find a knowledge gap | - Questions that haven’t been answered - Limits of previous studies (small sample, missing variables, etc.) - Conflicting or unclear results - Suggestions for future research |
| Tip: Use a system that’s easy to search later (e.g., digital notes, spreadsheet). |
💭 2. Reflective or idea-focused writing
While you’re developing and carrying out your study, it helps tremendously to take time to process your thoughts. This helps to come to new insights — and takes the pressure of a little bit when you need to actually write up your paper, since you’ve already done a lot of the heavy thinking work.
Here are some things you can write about:
- What you learned or realised today
- What feels confusing or needs clarification
- How new information changes your understanding
- Possible next steps or new questions
Tip: Keep a writing log, and dedicate some time each day or week to reflect on your thoughts and ideas. This type of writing doesn’t have to be polished. It’s more a ‘thinking on paper’ activity than preparing to write a scientific text (see also Generative Writing and Freewriting).
🧪3. Tracking your study in a research log
When you design your study and collect data, you will inevitable take a ton of decisions on how exactly you’re doing things. Keep track of them! That way, you’ll know why you did something a certain way later on.
Suggestions for what to track in your research log:
- What you did: Tasks, steps, and any changes to your protocol
- Decisions you made: Why you chose a particular approach
- Especially note decisions that others have asked about — nine out of ten times these will come back up later
- Problems or unexpected events: What happened and how you handled it
- Technical details: Data sources, machine specifications, settings, calibrations, etc.
Tip: A simple notebook or single digital file will do the job — as long as you keep track of dates and keep it organised.