Category Archives: drafting

using the progressive disclosure principle in academic writing

Posted on May 30, 2022 by pat thomson

I work a lot with artists and designers. Because I’m a bit of a magpie, I have a habit of collecting – and then using – their principles and approaches. A lot of them are interesting, because they make you … Continue reading →

Posted in drafting, progressive disclosure principle, revision | Tagged Pat Thomson, progressive disclosure principle, reader, sequencing a text | 1 Comment

the disappearing writer – a redrafting strategy

Posted on November 15, 2021 by pat thomson

Academic writers often lose themselves when writing about literatures. It is easier to be textually confident when writing about what you did yourself than to summarise, synthesise and assess other people’s texts. Particularly if those texts are produced by more … Continue reading →

Posted in drafting, laundry list, literature review, literature reviews, revision, revision strategy, the disappearing writer | Tagged academic writing, commmunicating, laundry list, literatures work, Pat Thomson, revising, the disappearing writers | 1 Comment

make a poster – it may also help you write a paper

Posted on June 14, 2021 by pat thomson

Academic posters. They are a thing. You can find academic posters at a lot of conferences. Ah, conferences. Remember when we had face to face conferences? Oh, that seems like a long time ago now – but when we had … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, conference papers, drafting, poster | Tagged academic poster, academic writing, conference paper, drafting, journal article, Pat Thomson | 2 Comments

working up a first draft: a twelve step strategy

Posted on December 14, 2020 by pat thomson

If you are drafting, it is pretty easy to find a lot of advice about the benefits of free writing. Lots of people find that timed writing sprints help to generate content. Unstructured writing is useful to work out what … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, crappy first draft, drafting, notebook, Tiny Text, writing in chunks | Tagged chunks, crappy first draft, drafting, drafting from notes, Pat Thomson, Tiny Text | 3 Comments

getting to grips with ‘the paragraph’

Posted on November 5, 2018 by pat thomson

I was recently asked how I felt about paragraphs. “Well you know, all the feels” I might have replied. But I didn’t, largely because I don’t usually think about the paragraph. The question made me wonder whether I take the … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, argument, drafting, outline, outline by sentences, Outline move, paragraph, revision, revision strategy, topic sentence | Tagged argument, draft, outlne, paragraph, Pat Thomson, revision, topic sentence | 1 Comment

the writer’s tic – it’s all about the invisible gorilla

Posted on June 23, 2016 by pat thomson

Lots of us have writing tics. A writing tic is involuntary, something we do without thinking. Many of us get a writing tic or two when producing a first draft. But we only find this out afterwards, when we read through what … Continue reading →

Posted in drafting, invisible gorilla, revision, selective attention, writing tic | Tagged drafting, invisible gorilla, revision, selective attention, writer's tic | 4 Comments

book blogging – it’s done but not dusted

Posted on November 24, 2014 by pat thomson

We’ve played The Hallelujah Chorus. We’ve bounced around to Bowie’s Let’s dance. We’ve shouted Ole and Hooray several times. Yes, we’ve finished a first draft. We have 80,000 words or so – 60,000 of which were written in the last … Continue reading →

Posted in book writing, drafting | Tagged Barbara Kamler, book writing, crappy first draft, Pat Thomson | 6 Comments

handing in the PhD – yes, it’s a checklist!!

Posted on August 28, 2014 by pat thomson

There’s nothing quite like the countdown to handing in the PhD. Puff pant, puff pant. I think I can, I think I can. But…. On the one hand, you may be absolutely sick of the sight of the text and … Continue reading →

Posted in doctoral research, drafting, examiner, revision | Tagged Pat Thomson, thesis checklist, thesis revision | 14 Comments

book blogging interlude – turn around when possible

Posted on May 31, 2014 by pat thomson

This is the last of five days working on the book with Barbara. By the time she has to get on board the train back to London this evening, we will have finished off most of a section, and revised … Continue reading →