Category Archives: academic writing

managing research risks – riding the wave of #phdpandemic

Posted on March 23, 2020 by

A lot of research doesn’t go to plan. Researchers encounter a few hiccups along the way and in order to avoid problems, they make adjustments to their process. The research goes ahead, just slightly differently. But what usually goes wrong … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Pandemics and PHDs

Posted on March 16, 2020 by

The pandemic is upon us. My university is moving rapidly online with everyone who can working at home. I’ve seen a lot on social media about how to teach online, whether to teach on line, and how to offer students … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, pandemic, stress | Tagged , | 18 Comments

research as creative practice

Posted on March 9, 2020 by

Health warning – this is a tiny rant about one of my pet peeves, research “training”. It also draws on my own research in creativity and education. My starting point – Research is a creative process. The connection between research … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, courses, creativity, doctoral education, doctoral pedagogies, doctoral research, methods, research methods, research training | Tagged , , , , | 11 Comments

writing advice – caveat emptor

Posted on March 2, 2020 by

Advice. Loads of it. Coming out of our ears.  And on every possible topic, including research and writing. Advice needs readers. But we readers also need to be, as Ernest Hemingway put it, “crap detectors”. Howard Rheingold has worked up … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, advice, crap detection, Howard Rheingold, poor advice | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

playing about with data

Posted on February 24, 2020 by

Not everything we do in our research has to have a definite end point. Sometimes it’s good to set aside all those anxieties about ‘getting through and getting done’. We might even like to take some time to simply play … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, data, data analysis, play | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

dogs and cats and rabbits and..

Posted on February 17, 2020 by

This week I’m working on book proofs. And right at the start, in “prelims”, I noticed an acknowledgement I’d made. I’d written: Charlie, our surly and eccentric elderly poodle, needed to be put outside at regular intervals; she ensured that … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, dogs and cats | Tagged , , , | 17 Comments