Category Archives: location

introductions – establishing significance

Posted on April 1, 2019 by pat thomson

Introductions have to do a lot of work in a short space of time. The beginning of the conventional journal article, for instance, has to tell the reader what the paper is about and why it is important. And do … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, introduction, location, significance, Stephen Pinker | Tagged gap-spotting, introduction, journal article, significance, Stephen Pinker | 1 Comment

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

location – another metaphor for writing about your research

Posted on January 17, 2013 by pat thomson

There are a lot of geographical metaphors used in research talk. We routinely speak about fields of study, mapping the literatures, surveying the literatures. Location is another one of those borrowed-from-geography metaphors and it’s one I‘m particularly fond of. Locating … Continue reading →