Category Archives: thesis

three things examiners look for in methods chapters

Posted on June 26, 2017 by

Once upon a time, when I worked in schools, early childhood teachers routinely issued young children with a ‘pen license’. A pen license was much sought after as it meant that a child could ‘advance’ to using a pen instead of … Continue reading →

Posted in data, data analysis, examiner, methods, methods chapter, research methods, thesis, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

how an examiner reads a thesis

Posted on April 3, 2017 by

About this time every year I post something about the reading habits of thesis examiners. At the risk of repeating myself – again – it is worth knowing what they/we examiners do when they/we receive that big fat tome the … Continue reading →

Posted in examiner, thesis, thesis abstract, thesis warrant, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

buffering your thesis

Posted on November 9, 2015 by

I’m sure I’m not the only one who finds it excruciatingly irritating to be in the middle of streaming a video or music and the computer stops and spins its little wheel while it downloads more data. Download download, sigh. And it always happens during the … Continue reading →

Posted in abstracts, buffering the thesis, Dave McKenna, storyboarding, thesis | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

starting the PhD – don’t panic

Posted on October 19, 2015 by

I was sitting in my office the other day talking with a beginning PhDer. A nearly-finished doctor popped her head around the door. I asked her what advice she would give someone just starting out on their doctorate, and her … Continue reading →

Posted in data, doctoral research, literature review, panic, questions, research question, thesis | 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

is the PhD a ‘journey’?

Posted on March 23, 2015 by

It’s not at all uncommon for doctoral researchers to think about the PhD as a journey. And they generally use the PhD-as-journey as more than a simple metaphor – it becomes a, even THE way of explaining to other people … Continue reading →

Posted in Hughes and Tight, journey, metaphor, PhD, thesis, work | Tagged , , , , , | 31 Comments

thesis know-how – reporting on ‘ethics’

Posted on February 23, 2015 by

I’ve read a number of theses which take a pretty cursory approach to ethical matters. The most worrying are those that simply make a short statement which reports that the research was approved by the relevant university ethics committee and/or … Continue reading →

Posted in consent, ethics, harm, thesis | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments