Category Archives: structure

Story structure 2 – research writing

How is writing research like story? Last post I wrote about Kurt Vonnegut’s man in hole structure and how that might help you think at a very macro level about how to organise your material. This post is also about … Continue reading

Posted in arts based research, IMRAD, narrative, story, storyboarding, structure | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Structuring and sequencing chunks of writing

Writers think about structure, a lot. They don’t necessarily tell that to their readers. That’s because writers often want their readers to focus on what’s been written, rather than how it’s been organised. But yes, there are loads of texts … Continue reading

Posted in chunking, logical structure, paragraph, structure | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

PhD stuck points

There are some points in the PhD process where the going gets pretty tough. Stuck points, where it’s hard work. Where it’s difficult to move on. Now don’t get me wrong. These points don’t cause grief to everyone. I’m not … Continue reading

Posted in academic writing, data analysis, PhD, research design, research question, structure, stuck points, style and structure, thesis | Tagged , , , , , , | 8 Comments

writing the thesis – work, moves and structure

Before you start to wrestle your material into a thesis structure, it’s helpful to consider the work that the thesis has to do, and the moves that ensure the work is done. Once you understand the work and the moves, … Continue reading

Posted in academic writing, academic writing as work, argument, four thesis moves, structure, thesis, thesis warrant | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

writing course – structuring the Results/Discussion Section

Finally. At last. About time. Today we got to the good/fun/scary bit of writing the journal article. Everything we’ve done on the previous days have been working up to this moment. The introduction, literatures and methods were all about setting … Continue reading

Posted in discussion, results, structure | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

some more thoughts on structuring the thesis

A little while ago I was asked a tricky question about thesis chapter: How much should each thesis chapter stand-alone? On pursuing this a little, it turned out that there was more to the question. The questioner also wanted to … Continue reading

Posted in ILMRaD, IMRAD, meta-commentary, structure, thesis | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

picking up the pieces (of writing)

Most of us find that we don’t have the time to complete a piece of writing in one sitting. In fact a blog is probably about the only thing that you can finish in only one go. Retracing thinking steps … Continue reading

Posted in abstracts, academic writing, structure, thesis, time | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

how to read and note an academic book – part two – slicing and dicing

So you’ve now picked out the book that you want to read in some detail. As I’ve suggested, you don’t want to read every book in the same way. There are some that can immediately be skimmed, others engaged with … Continue reading

Posted in academic book, argument, backward mapping, note-taking, reading, structure | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments