Category Archives: good academic writing

is academic writing changing?

Posted on September 26, 2022 by pat thomson

Just the other day. Just the other day someone asked me if I thought that academic writing was becoming more ‘authentic’. I didn’t really understand what this meant. But then I got it – ‘authentic’ writing was when academic writers … Continue reading →

Posted in good academic writing, Helen Sword, reader, style, style and structure | Tagged , , , , | 17 Comments

grow your own writing practice

Posted on September 23, 2019 by pat thomson

You often hear writing described as a skill. And a skill is the capacity to do something well, to use expertise built up through practice. Skills are often seen as merely technical, but a skill requires specialist knowledge and often … Continue reading →

Posted in artisan, connoisseur, PhD, practice, reading, routine, starting the PhD | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

writing more than one thing at the same time – part two, authoring

Posted on September 3, 2018 by pat thomson

There are good reasons for writing alongside the thesis. Besides contributing to the work (see first post) and your cv, there are authoring benefits. These include: the chance to learn more about academic writing the opportunity to develop a scholarly … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, academic writing voice, authority in writing, authorship, crafting writing, genre, good academic writing, writing more then one thing at once | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

#holidayreading – air & light & time & space

Posted on July 31, 2017 by pat thomson

I read a lot of books about writing and research. That’s not surprising, as I write them too and I always want to see what others are writing. And today…  Helen Sword has followed up Stylish academic writing with a … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, crafting writing, free-writing, good academic writing, Helen Sword | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments