Category Archives: academic writing

revising a thesis chapter

Posted on October 15, 2018 by

You’ve written a first draft of your chapter. Hooray! That’s an achievement. You can’t get anywhere without a first draft. Pat yourself on the back. And then… Step away from the desk. Take a break. Leave your draft and do … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, chapter, crappy first draft, revision, revision strategy, thesis, thesis revision | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

check for ‘code words’ – revising your writing

Posted on October 8, 2018 by

It is not uncommon for doctoral writers to get supervisor feedback saying they need to unpack an idea. But what does this unpack really mean – and how does a writer get in a situation where they have something that … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, code words, revision, revision strategy, unpacking | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

me, myself and I

Posted on October 1, 2018 by

Sherry Turkle wrote the words – Who am we – in 1996. She described how one person and their various persona were distributed across multiple platforms.  She talked about ‘distributed’ knowing and knowledge production. Hold onto that idea of distribution. It’s … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, authorship, bid writing, home page, individualism, self promotion | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

parents who study

Posted on September 24, 2018 by

Doing a PhD and/or starting an academic career can be a lonely business. But you can get support, some of it through social media. This is a guest blog post by Nicola White and Rebekah Farrell who started their own support … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, Facebook, parents who study, self-help group, support | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

the challenges of revision

Posted on September 17, 2018 by

Maybe you have decided that the text you are writing doesn’t work. Or perhaps you have had feedback saying that you need to make some substantial changes to something that you thought was OK. Oh oh. It’s revision time. Revision … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, editing, revision, revision strategy | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

writing more than one thing at the same time – part three, managing

Posted on September 10, 2018 by

Writing several things at once is often called multi-tasking. This is a term I try to avoid, as it focuses on an action – ‘tasking’. Tasking has two problems – first of all, it doesn’t really highlight the thinking involved … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, academic writing voice, authority in writing, reflection, reflection on learning, time, writing and thinking, writing more then one thing at once, writing regularly | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

writing more than one thing at the same time – part two, authoring

Posted on September 3, 2018 by

There are good reasons for writing alongside the thesis. Besides contributing to the work (see first post) and your cv, there are authoring benefits. These include: the chance to learn more about academic writing the opportunity to develop a scholarly … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, academic writing voice, authority in writing, authorship, crafting writing, genre, good academic writing, writing more then one thing at once | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment