about me

 

 

Patter is Pat Thomson. I am now semi-retired and working very part time as Professor of Education in the School of Education, The University of Nottingham. I also work part time for the  University of South Australia, soon to be Adelaide University.

I haven’t always been an academic. I began working in community development and in films. Work as a community developer in a very poor inner urban community led to starting an alternative school which I ran for six years. I then shifted into mainstream schools and worked as a school leader in a full service secondary school and an all-through R-2 school. I was also briefly a senior public servant before completing a PhD and shifting into higher education in 1999. I moved to England in 2003 and back to Australia twenty one years later.

During my time as an academic I’ve supervised over 60 PhDs and examined a lot more. I’ve also published a lot of books and papers and I’ve done a fair bit of research on school leaders’ work, school change, alternative schooling, the arts and creativity in schools and communities. I’ve done my share of editorial and institutional work too, having been Director of Research in the School of Education and Director of the Centre for Advanced Studies for the Arts and Social Sciences faculties at Nottingham. I’m also a fellow of the UK Academy for Social Sciences. And I’ve  taught academic writing around the world and across disciplines.

But I am more than what I do for paid work. Apart from being a dog person I’m also always doing some kind of creative work. These days this is mostly silversmithing but I also knit and crochet. And of course I blog.

58 comments

  1. Many thanks for ‘Helping doctoral students write’! this book keeps my feet firmly on the ground with my head turned upwards! as a dyslexic the use of metaphor helps me visualize who is sitting around my ‘table’ and whether they are seated in the right place for conversation with the others i have invited. I would also go as far as to try to guess what they might say to each other! really helps the critical thinking process….. thanks.

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  3. Hi Pat, great blog (found you through the @thesiswhisperer). Can’t find a subscribe button for you though – any chance you could point it out to me?

    Many thanks

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  9. […] Über academic Pat Thomson says it best: “Binge writing” allows authors to become immersed in a topic “to make sense of it.”  Fifty Shades of Gray author, E.L. James, may have expressed it best: “Write for yourself,” she said. “That’s it. And write every day.” […]

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  11. Hi Pat,

    Just wanted to say I’m really glad I stumbled upon your blog – as I’m about to begin a PhD in October, I can see there is a wealth of valuable resource for me to plunder beforehand in order to be fully prepared / warned!

    Thanks,

    Sian

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    • Sian, I think you are fortunate and clever to be looking at Pat’s work at the start of your phd, unlike me, desperately looking for something at the end of a phd!

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  13. […] Pat Thomson, Professor of Education at the University of Nottingham, keeps a blog which is jam-packed full of useful advice and resources for Doctoral and Postdoctoral researchers alike. Her research is primarily concerned with the ever-changing characteristics of education, the processes, the procedures, and the enrichment of students through experiential approaches within the educational environment. […]

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  15. I so enjoy reading your posts and I’m not certain what the politically correct, digitally mediated etiquette is for saying so. I’m looking for something with more weight than the FB ‘like’ and less impersonal than the numbers I silently generate on your WordPress stats page, so I will stick with the digitally mediated version of the in person: “Thank you.”

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  16. Ms. Thomson (or Patter) – I just wanted to say that recently I realized how much time you must spend in drafting up these helpful and thoughtful posts – and wanted to just say thanks. It is rare that someone “established” – and so well-rounded – would take the time to give like this – and I hope that you have many blessings rippled back your way as you put out such a nice resource like this – with your personal touch as well.

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  17. Dr. Thomson,
    Many thanks for your clear concise essay on methodology vs. methods. Revising my Ch. 3 for final dissertation submission and have bookmarked your site under “Shadow Committee” 😉
    Thank you for the time you take to extend your wisdom beyond your students at Nottingham.
    Generosity is a boomerang.

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  18. I also want to thank Pat (and Barbara) for your excellent book Writing for Peer Reviewed Journals. I know that following the steps don’t magically produce a good article, but working in a structured way really suits me as I am liable to go off on tangents when writing. Your research and the way you present it is saving me valuable time and legwork and making the writing process much smoother. many thanks! 😀 😀

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  19. I wanted to thank you for changing my view on the literature review. Now I am no longer fighting the octopus I am busy deliberating on seating arrangements. Although I have expanded the dinner-party somewhat and made it a small wedding dinner instead – am still deciding which branch of the family to invite, and where to put friends and acquaintances, but will be limiting the number of tables to the absolute minimum. My topic seems to attract potential guests in flocks. Thanks for your book.

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  21. I couldn’t agree more!!!! During my entire (very long) stretch as a doctoral student I was annoyed to be “just a student” — hadn’t I been teaching “students” all day at the high school, only to be on that side of the “fence” when I walked into the university that night? That didn’t seem right but I didn’t want to whine and moan about it ….out loud. Thank you for the article!

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  24. Thanks for ALL these resources Pat, I’m in 2nd year of Doctorate in Professional Practice, I’m a Lecturer in Nursing by day too. I am just getting into twitter, these types of resources will motivate me.

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  28. Dear Pat,
    After submitting my PhD thesis, I want to thank you for the inspiring work you do.
    From my thesis acknowledgements page:
    “Completing a PhD study from a distance of 14,000 km is no easy task. I want to express my true gratitude to some people I have never met. First, to Pat Thomson, @ThomsonPat, an incredibly generous and inspiring academic who has been there for me 24/7 through her books and Patter blog posts. Her work supported and empowered me in many ways…”
    Your contribution to my work has been very significant,
    Nikki Aharonian

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    • What a great idea! I wish I’d done this in my acknowledgements too. Patter has also made me an in-demand peer supervisor. Most of my advice ends with “I’ll send you a link to a blog post that spells out what I think you need to work through.”

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  30. Dear Pat,
    I started following Patter shortly after starting my part-time EdD five years ago and have found your guidance invaluable and fun to read. I now have numerous documents on my computer with titles beginning with the words ‘Shut Up…..’ following your ‘Shut up and write’ advice- an approach that really works for me. I set out to write a thesis that could be read by teachers and students as well as academics, and I think that I managed that. Fortunately, the examiners also enjoyed reading it, and I have just come away from my Viva with a big smile on my face. Just wanted to say a big ‘Thank you’. I’ve been passing on the details of your blog to fellow students as the ‘go to’ place for help with academic writing. I am now looking to publish so will search out your relevant blogs with interest.
    Geraldine

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  32. Dear Pat,

    I was comtemplating developing my own website page and to starting blogging on my work. I found you page one of the best I have come across. I have been absorbed into its contents.

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  33. Hi Pat, I’ve been considering a PhD in he past couple of years and in the interim have been writing papers/making conference presentations. Your advice has been amazing, it’s now my key resource for its practical approach and clear communications – thank you! I’m really interesting in taking one of your writing courses – whatever length. Do you have any current plans – is there a list I could sign up to? I wondered whether you’d considered online given the cray state of the world at the moment?

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    • Hi Gina, I don’t offer any courses outside of my own institution and a couple of others where I’ve been working for some time. I occasionally do things for learned societies or at conferences. I don’t have time for anything else I’m afraid as teaching writing is on top of my real job.

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  50. Just read about your work into school corruption in the Guardian today – I started teaching in a secondary school in 1993 and I left teaching in 2017. I left not because I didn’t enjoy teaching, I loved it but because at 50 and a series of supply contracts on my CV, a headteacher refused to interview me. The Head of Humanities was sad to see me go. The academisation of our state schools happened on my watch and it sickened me as executive heads became the business managers of the schools I taught in. It is both great and unsurprising to hear that after the best part of 30 years of this academisation it has made little or no difference to school achievement and equality of opportunity. I loved being a teacher even though I struggled with depression and stress because it is the best job in the world when it goes well. So thanks to you and Fiona Millar in continuing to shout from the barricades against the tyrants of privatisation and yes let renationalise our schools and put money back into our local authorities –

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