Category Archives: planning

writing thesis chapters? beware ‘blocky’ writing

Posted on October 24, 2016 by

It’s very common to read academic texts, particularly thesis chapters, which present themselves to the reader as a series of blocks of stuff. Each big block of stuff may well be divided up into smaller sub-headed blocks. This is not … Continue reading →

Posted in backward mapping, blocky writing, chapter, outline by sentences, planning, planning a paper | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

starting the PhD – anticipate tasks and timings

Posted on October 15, 2015 by

It’s little tricky to write generic advice about the PhD. That’s because every PhD is unique, as is every doctoral researcher. Not only are there clear disciplinary differences in the ways in which PhDs are accomplished, but the methodological choices … Continue reading →

Posted in PhD, PhD by publication, planning, research project, thesis | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

book blogging – dib dib dib, be prepared

Posted on November 13, 2014 by

Barbara and I are writing fast. The usual way to write fast is to ‘speed write’. This often requires the use of timed sessions where the goal is to write as much as possible in the allotted minutes. Another approach … Continue reading →

Posted in book writing, planning | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

co-writing the messy first draft

Posted on June 19, 2014 by

another of those posts where I talk about my own practice… I’m currently engaged in several bits of co-writing. They are not the talk-and-write-together model that I do with Barbara. No, these are variations on the write-together-write-separate process. Because this … Continue reading →

Posted in abstracts, co-writing, planning, planning a paper, word budget | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

a drafting strategy

Posted on May 26, 2014 by

I’m not a should-must-always person when it comes to academic writing. I think there are lots of ways to get scholarly authoring done and there are lots of ways for it to look and read. I always feel pretty uncomfortable … Continue reading →

Posted in planning, publications, reader, revision | Tagged , , , , , | 17 Comments

writing in pyjamas

Posted on March 22, 2014 by

I’m reflecting on the past week’s writing, and in particular reflecting on blogging about book-writing. I wasn’t sure that writing about what we were doing was going to be of interest to anyone, and I’ve been surprised by the response. … Continue reading →

Posted in co-writing, planning | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

planning v creativity in academic writing

Posted on January 9, 2014 by

Now a lot of people know that I’m an advocate of planning your writing. I’m not a great fan of just writing and just writing and then editing and just writing again and editing some more. I know people do … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, creativity, literature review, planning, planning a paper | Tagged , , , | 12 Comments