Eureka!

Stories abound of the moments when important discoveries were made. Archimedes and the bathtub, Isaac Newton and the apple, Ben Franklin and the kite.

Partly because of these tales, many people fall into the trap of expecting great ideas just to come to them out of the blue. As a result, many PhD candidates put off writing until they feel inspired. This is a big mistake, since the process of bringing your thoughts into a structured narrative often triggers new ideas.

As Theresa MacPhail writes in her article The No-Fail Secret to Writing a Dissertation, "because writing is thinking, brilliant thoughts do not just appear on the page after long hours of arduous musing on a subject. In my experience, the best ideas almost always come about through the act of writing itself—usually just at that moment when you’ve run out of steam and are staring down a seemingly intractable problem, desperately wanting to quit. These are the breakthrough moments."

Beyond writing consistently, there some other ways you can generate new ideas if you're feeling stuck.

1. Use Citavi's Knowledge Organizer to make connections between ideas and generate new ones. If you've been saving saving quotations and thoughts, display them in the preview. Juxtaposing different knowledge items can help you think of what you've been reading in a new way.
2. If you're a visual thinker, try mind mapping. These software programs let you make connections between ideas using a diagram format. You can even import mind maps into Citavi. If you prefer pen and paper, take a picture of your notes and save them in Citavi as a thought.
3. Create a "junk drawer" project with an academic focus. This Citavi project can be used to collect anything of interest you want to save for later on, whether or not it's related directly to your thesis topic. Add funny blog articles about academia, book reviews, websites about writing, essays written in a style you admire – whatever you want. Take a look at this project whenever you're stuck.
4. Go for a walk. Although consistent work is the foundation for any breakthrough, it's true that a eureka moment can happen when the mind has a chance to disengage. Getting outside and away from the computer screen could help you trigger your own moment of genius.

Wishing you lots of inspiration (and hard work) this week!
Jennifer Schultz
Citavi Team