Category Archives: academic writing

Story and research writing

You often hear that writing about research is story telling. This is partly right and partly not. Partly not, because a lot of academic writing is better thought of as argument. Argument relies on evidence to make a case for … Continue reading

Posted in academic writing, narrative | Tagged , | 1 Comment

when your writing plan gets stuck

There are load of reasons why planning doesn’t work. Life. Work. Other competing deadlines. Unexpected stuff. But sometimes our plans don’t come to fruition because of what we do. Or rather, what we don’t. And yes, maybe the problem is … Continue reading

Posted in being stuck, coach, free-writing, inner coach, planning, planning fallacy, stuck, writing group | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

five discussion chapter challenges

In everyday speech, a discussion is usually understood as an in depth treatment of a topic, a way to exchange ideas or a process of talking about something in order to reach a decision. An academic discussion in a thesis … Continue reading

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can you cut and paste early text into your thesis?

Well of course you can. The question is, should you? You wrote large chunks of text when you first started your doctorate. These writings were most likely to do with literatures, methodologies and research design, and the warrant for your … Continue reading

Posted in academic writing, old text, rewriting, thesis | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

the end of AcWriMo – now what?

It’s the end of the officially designated month of academic writing. I must confess to being a bit dissatisfied with what I’ve done. I do seem to have written a lot. But it’s been more like – some of this … Continue reading

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Ten quick ideas for refreshing your writing #AcWriMo

It’s nearly November. And that means its AcWriMo. Academic Writing Month. The idea of Acwrimo is to use the month of November to make major headway on a big writing project. Or to kick start a writing project. Or to … Continue reading

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unlearning who you are and what you know? starting the doctorate

No-one arrives at a doctorate as a blank slate. Everyone brings with them particular histories – we have life experiences and personal pathways which are classed, raced, gendered; work experiences and sometimes long professional careers; as well as educational histories. … Continue reading

Posted in 'mature' doctoral researcher, academic writing, identity, mature age PhD, outsider, professional doctorate, scholarly identity, starting the PhD | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

forced rest

You know all that advice which says Take a break. Turn off your email. Go somewhere you can’t connect. Well this. Except it wasn’t planned that way. Suddenly and with no warning, patter finds herself out of contact with the … Continue reading

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how to talk about writing…

Everyone who talks about writing has to use language that people can relate to and understand. Of course. Duh. Sometimes this means using terms that are already in circulation – like pomodoro and shut up and write. while these terms … Continue reading

Posted in academic writing, Larry McEnerney, reader, talking writing, value | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

a book about style and form

I read at least one book about writing every month. Because nobody sends me these for free, this means I buy at least one book about writing each month. I know you are imagining my bookshelves, but rest easy, most … Continue reading

Posted in academic writing, Amitava Kumar, form, style | Tagged , , | 7 Comments