Academic writing was a struggle—until I formed a peer group with other graduate students

From ScienceMag:

It was 10 p.m. on a winter night in Boston and I was sitting in my department’s common lounge, staring at a blank Word document. My thesis proposal deadline loomed. I hadn’t written a word, despite weeks of thinking. Earlier that evening, when I met another Ph.D. student, Sachin, for our regular monthly dinner, he was equally stuck—buried under the weight of a fellowship application. So, we made a pact: After dinner, we would sit together, laptops open, phones away, no excuses. It was the spark I needed to finally start writing.

It often takes me weeks or even months to begin writing something, no matter what it is—a research proposal, a manuscript, even this essay. I tend to put it off, reasoning that at some point I will land in that perfect moment where my mind, body, and external environment are all in sync for thoughts to flow. But that moment doesn’t always arrive, and I end up putting together a hastily written piece only when the deadline becomes dangerously close.

Sachin and I both grew up in India, where competition is fierce and striving for excellence is prized, and we carried a perfectionist mindset into graduate school. There we faced new pressures: adjusting to a new academic system while navigating the limited fellowships and opportunities available to international students. Half-hearted proposals wouldn’t do. We didn’t want our first drafts to be “good enough”; we wanted them to be flawless. But the result was paralysis.

We set out to make a change on that cold winter night. Having someone beside me changed everything. It was a means to ensure accountability. Seeing Sachin write forced me to put down my phone in embarrassment when I was tempted to scroll, and focus on work myself.

Our informal pact soon became a habit. We scheduled weekly 90-minute sessions, which gave us a distraction-free space to write something, however imperfect. The length was intentional: long enough to get into the zone, but short enough to fit it into our schedules.

We began each session by naming a small goal—write a paragraph, put together a figure caption, tackle a tricky transition, or complete some other well-defined task. That 5-minute planning ritual made the rest of the session surprisingly productive. Instead of worrying about writing an entire proposal, we only had to finish a tiny piece of it.

Those small wins built momentum and confidence. A few sentences grew into paragraphs, then into complete proposals—with enough time before the deadline to get feedback from mentors and colleagues. Writing never got easy, as I’d hoped, but it became less isolating and more productive.

Sachin and I had both seen our peers face similar challenges and wanted to bring this experience to a broader group. So, 2 years after we began our weekly meetups, we launched peer co-working sessions for second-year Ph.D. students in our department who were preparing their thesis proposals. Each week, a group gathered in a quiet seminar room with laptops, coffee, and pastries. We started with 5 minutes of goal setting, followed by 75 minutes of silent, focused writing, and ended with a short reflection period.

The room often felt tense and serious at first. But as people opened up during the reflection period, a sense of relief spread: None of us was alone. One student told us the sessions “took away the fear of the blank page.” Another mentioned they used the time to tackle the hardest tasks because they knew the peer support would keep them honest.

Over 2 years, dozens of students have now attended. What began as two overwhelmed students staring at blank screens has grown into a small community that makes writing less lonely. Our experience showed us that accountability, camaraderie, and a shared sense of purpose can lower the barriers that make writing so intimidating.

Graduate programs often focus on teaching students how to do research, but they rarely offer formal support for communicating it. Organizing and promoting peer writing groups like ours could change that. Because no one should have to write alone.

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