Category Archives: contribution

who wants to read about my place?

Posted on November 18, 2013 by pat thomson

I’ve recently been in Iceland working on an academic writing course. The participants were doctoral researchers. They came with data that they wanted to turn into a peer reviewed paper. The majority of them were doing PhDs by publication so … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, contribution, conversation, journal, local, PhD by publication | Tagged contribution, international, journal, local, Pat Thomson | 5 Comments

quotations – handle with care

Posted on November 11, 2013 by pat thomson

Quotations are dangerous. The way that you use quotations can give away whether you think you are still writing as a student, or writing as an expert scholar in your own right. Student assignments are often heavily strewn with quotations. … Continue reading →

Posted in authority in writing, contribution, quotations | Tagged Pat Thomson, quotation, writing with authority | 13 Comments

the literature review – how old are the sources?

Posted on August 19, 2013 by pat thomson

I recently had an email from a colleague asking me what I would do if I was examining a thesis and the vast majority of the literatures were over ten years old. Would this be a problem? What would I … Continue reading →

Posted in contribution, literature review, location | Tagged age of sources, contribution, literature review, location, Pat Thomson | 22 Comments

making authoritative claims

Posted on July 22, 2013 by pat thomson

Compared to – let’s say journalists for argument’s sake – we academics are generally a lot less prepared to say anything for absolute certain. Why do we do this? Do we simply love complexity and being vague? Well of course … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, authority in writing, claim, contribution, hedges | Tagged authoritative writing, claims, hedges, Pat Thomson | 8 Comments

managing readers’ and reviewers’ and examiners’ expectations

Posted on July 4, 2013 by pat thomson

I started thinking about the question of managing expectations during a recent trip to France. We stayed for some time in Aix-en-Provence. We’d chosen to be there because it seemed relatively central. But we were quite interested in the city’s … Continue reading →

Posted in claims, contribution, expectations, limitations | Tagged claims, contribution, expectations, limitations of research, Pat Thomson | 3 Comments

conclusion mise-en-place. christmas present six

Posted on December 19, 2012 by pat thomson

Any of you who watch cooking programmes will know the cheffy talk about mise-en-place. It’s a term used to describe all the various kinds of preparation that need to be done in order to whip up something that can be … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, conclusion, contribution, implications of research, mise-en-place | Tagged conclusion, contribution, implications, literature, Pat Thomson | 19 Comments

concluding the journal article

Posted on April 6, 2012 by pat thomson

The conclusion to a journal article is very important. Of course, it’s hard to end things. There’s no equivalent in the journal article to the text message that says you’re dumped… or more elegantly, reader I married him. It’s important … Continue reading →