Category Archives: language

starting the PhD – learning new vocabulary

Posted on January 28, 2019 by pat thomson

Scholarly work often involves learning new words. You know this right? Sometimes it even seems that in order to be considered a scholar you have to speak in words no one else can understand. Well that’s the stereotype. But let’s … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, English language, language, starting the PhD, syntax, vocabulary, word bank | Tagged lexicon, Pat Thomson, research, syntax, terminology, vocabulary | 5 Comments

the academic earworm

Posted on November 30, 2017 by pat thomson

We all know about earworms. They’re that piece of music that we can’t get out of our heads (thanks Kylie). The Earworm Project – yes, there really was such a thing and it was real, proper, actually funded research – … Continue reading →

Posted in academic earworm, academic writing, critical, language | Tagged academic earworm, critical thinking, Pat Thomson | 3 Comments

writing in my own words?

Posted on November 14, 2013 by pat thomson

John Field recently wrote, in his The Learning Professor blog, an interesting post about academic writing. He was particularly referring to the tendency for editors and researchers to ‘clean up’ quotations from research participants. Indeed, sometimes participants themselves felt the … Continue reading →