Category Archives: academic writing

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 , , , | 7 Comments

writing home and away

Posted on February 3, 2020 by

I’m working away from my desk, as my out of office assistant puts it. But I’m still very much working. I’m writing out of place. I don’t have my usual working set up. And not just for a couple of … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, academic writing as work, office, space, writing routine | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

I’m writing a journal article – what literatures do I choose?

Posted on January 27, 2020 by

I’m often asked about the literatures sections of journal articles. Not your literatures based paper of course but your standard empirical paper. They only want a short section! I can’t cram everything I’ve read into a few paragraphs – how … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, journal article, literature review, literature reviews | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

academic writing is visual

Posted on January 20, 2020 by

Writing is a visual medium It may seem odd to say that writing is visual. Writing – and academic writing in particular –  is about words and what they say isn’t it? Well of course it is. But the way … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, font, layout, margins, text, visual | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

getting to grips with new literatures

Posted on January 13, 2020 by

Over time all researchers build a knowledge base about their key interests. A large part of this knowledge is a core set of literatures. They/we do need to keep up to date, but they/we can rely on – and use … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, Endnote, literature mapping, literature review, literature reviews, note-taking | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

tracking the path to research claims

Posted on January 6, 2020 by

All researchers make claims about their work. Remember the phrase staking a claim? That’s what we are actually doing when we claim something. We are metaphorically placing a marker in a field that we are prepared to stand on, stand … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, argument, claim, claims, evidence, revision, revision strategy, thesis, thesis revision | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment