Category Archives: chapter

how many words in a chapter – convention and purpose

Posted on August 14, 2023 by pat thomson

The how-many-words-in-a-chapter question plagues book and thesis writers alike.  When supervisors are asked about chapter word length, many of us hedge. It depends, we unhelpfully say, on how you have organised your results. The number of chapters and therefore words … Continue reading →

Posted in chapter, length, word budget, word count, words | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

revising a thesis chapter

Posted on October 15, 2018 by pat thomson

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

writing a bio-note

Posted on June 4, 2018 by pat thomson

Most of us have to produce bio-notes. The bio-note is a little verbal selfie that goes with a book chapter, a journal article, or sometimes a conference presentation. Book authors also have to provide brief bio-notes which might go in … Continue reading →

Posted in academic selfie, academic writing, bio-note, chapter, journal article, paratext, reader | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

writing the thesis – the theoretical framework

Posted on March 12, 2018 by pat thomson

Please note that I write my blog on weekends. It is not part of my workload or job description. I support the #USSstrike and “teach out” online.  Not every thesis has a section or chapter devoted to a theoretical framework. … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, chapter, examiner, theory, theory chapter, thesis | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

writing thesis chapters? beware ‘blocky’ writing

Posted on October 24, 2016 by pat thomson

It’s very common to read academic texts, particularly thesis chapters, which present themselves to the reader as a series of blocks of stuff. Each big block of stuff may well be divided up into smaller sub-headed blocks. This is not … Continue reading →

Posted in backward mapping, blocky writing, chapter, outline by sentences, planning, planning a paper | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

book update – on the importance of chapter structure

Posted on May 7, 2015 by pat thomson

It’s been a while since I wrote anything about my current book project with Barbara. We are still in the throes of revising the text, turning our incredibly messy first draft into something more readable. But we are up to … Continue reading →

Posted in Barbara Kamler, book writing, chapter, co-writing, revision | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

what’s the answer to “would you like to write for this book/journal”?

Posted on May 15, 2014 by pat thomson

I was recently asked by an early career researcher whether it was better to say yes to an invitation to write a chapter for a book, or to say no and write a refereed journal article instead. It wasn’t just … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, chapter, journal, journal provenance, time | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

chapter flow /using headings to help

Posted on February 6, 2014 by pat thomson

This is the third in a series of posts on getting flow in the thesis. The first was on using the introduction and the second on using the conclusion. This post is about using headings. There are two aspects of … Continue reading →

Posted in chapter, flow, headings | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

connecting chapters/chapter conclusions

Posted on January 27, 2014 by pat thomson

This post is the second of four which address the question of how you achieve flow across a thesis text. The previous post (here) offered a three-part approach to beginning to write a chapter. The three moves, link, focus and … Continue reading →

Posted in chapter, conclusion, crunching, flow | Tagged , , | 17 Comments

connecting chapters/chapter introductions

Posted on January 16, 2014 by pat thomson

Writing a thesis, or indeed an academic book, means constructing an extended argument. One common problem in writing a very long text is that it’s not hard in 80,000 to 100,000 words for the reader to get lost in between … Continue reading →

Posted in argument, chapter, coherence, flow, overview, thesis | Tagged , , , , | 18 Comments