Category Archives: reflection

managing the PhD – keeping a journal

Posted on January 23, 2017 by

The PhD is often stressful and trying. Nevertheless, most people do get through it. Many PhDers keep a journal to help work through the difficulties, challenges and worries that they experience.  Writing about the everyday can of course just be … Continue reading →

Posted in journal, journaling, PhD, reflection, reflection on learning, starting the PhD, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

taking the doctoral walk

Posted on April 20, 2015 by

This is a guest post from Susan Gollifer, a doctoral researcher in education at The University of Iceland. Susan’s research looks at teachers and human rights curriculum. I am coming towards the end of a two-month Erasmus placement at a … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, reflection, reflexivity, supervision, supervisor, Susan Gollifer | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

after the field work – what next?

Posted on August 5, 2013 by

It’s summer in the UK and we are officially on leave. Well, only sort of. Most academics manage to squeeze in a bit of time off, but I had my week in France a few weeks ago because I knew … Continue reading →

Posted in data, reflection, research project, Tate Summer School | Tagged , | 2 Comments

mulling it over – a thinking tool for reflecting on a research experience

Posted on October 29, 2012 by

Reflection is one of those weasel-ly words that can mean anything and nothing. Most of us acknowledge that we need to do it, but what does it actually mean as a practice? You are probably familiar with Donald Schön’s (a) … Continue reading →

Posted in conceptual, experience, introspection, recollection, reflection, reflexivity, theory | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

sustain your writing – find a palate cleanser or ten

Posted on August 31, 2012 by

We all know what a palette cleanser is right? We’re academics so we must have encountered the ubiquitous sorbet either in chilly reality or on one of those food porn tele programmes :)? Or we’ve been to a wine tasting … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, books, mental space, palette cleanser, reading, reflection, reward, theory | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

can you write about mess in your thesis and if so how? part two

Posted on July 16, 2012 by

Peter Matthews continues his post about writing about the messy bits of his research. In my previous post I reported the “positive story” of my fieldwork – reflecting on that feeling of “connection” with my research participants in the narrative … Continue reading →

Posted in crafting writing, Dr, informants, publishing, reflection, research methods, rules of engagement, snowball sample, thesis | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

can you write about mess in your thesis, and if so, how? part one

Posted on July 13, 2012 by

This post is written by Dr Peter Matthews who works in the School of the Built Environment at Herriott Watt. Peter’s blog is Urbanity…History and he tweets as @urbaneprofessor. I asked him to show and tell how he talked about … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, interview, mess, PhD, reflection, research methods, thesis | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments