Category Archives: reader

eight ways to write theory very badly

Posted on December 10, 2018 by pat thomson

If you want to be the person who makes their reader sigh and eventually give up when they get to your theoretical ‘bit’, here’s some non-fail writing strategies. Do these and I guarantee your reader will be enervated and/or exasperated: … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, nominalisation, primary source, reader, secondary source, syntax, theory | Tagged complex writing, nominalisation, Pat Thomson, syntax, writing theory | 1 Comment

revising with a reader in mind – ten questions

Posted on October 29, 2018 by pat thomson

Academics write for different kinds of readers. We are often accused of writing only for each other, but this is no longer true. Many of us now write for many different kinds of readers – or audiences, as they are … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, audience, reader, readership, revision, revision strategy, thesis revision | Tagged audience, Pat Thomson, reader, revising for your reader, revision | 3 Comments

writing a bio-note

Posted on June 4, 2018 by pat thomson

Most of us have to produce bio-notes. The bio-note is a little verbal selfie that goes with a book chapter, a journal article, or sometimes a conference presentation. Book authors also have to provide brief bio-notes which might go in … Continue reading →

Posted in academic selfie, academic writing, bio-note, chapter, journal article, paratext, reader | Tagged academic selfie, bio-note, paratext, Pat Thomson, reader | 5 Comments

writing a paper? what’s the angle?

Posted on June 5, 2017 by pat thomson

Researchers are often heavily entangled in their research. They’ve lived with it for a long time. And they can do that because the research is interesting to them. Really interesting. It’s not really surprising that a long-term-involved researcher might forget that other … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, journal article, reader, the angle, the pitch, Uncategorized | Tagged academic writing, journal article, Pat Thomson, the angle, the pitch | 1 Comment

thesis to journal article – five things to remember

Posted on August 18, 2016 by pat thomson

Once you have winkled the topic of your paper out of its thesis shell, you need to select the journal that you want to publish in. And once you’ve made that decision, you need to remember these five things as you start to think … Continue reading →

Posted in journal, journal article, journal publication, reader, thesis to papers | 1 Comment

writerly, readerly and strategic – practices for getting published

Posted on January 12, 2015 by pat thomson

Last week I had to give a very short talk about my top tips for early career publishing. In very abbreviated form, here are the first three things I said about some important scholarly practices that underpin successful writing and … Continue reading →

Posted in journal, publishing, reader, readerly, readers, Roland, writerly | Tagged community of readers, Pat Thomson, publishing, readerly, Roland Barthes, the reader, writerly | 10 Comments

a drafting strategy

Posted on May 26, 2014 by pat thomson

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 →