Category Archives: voice

what is author ‘voice’?

Posted on May 25, 2017 by pat thomson

Patter is on annual leave and is posting pre-prepared writings snatched from elsewhere. The term ‘voice’ is not as straightforward as it might first appear. Commonly used in relation to a number of art forms, it is highly ambiguous and slippery. … Continue reading →

co-writing – strategies for working with other people’s words

Posted on May 1, 2017 by pat thomson

There are various types of co-writing practices. Pretty well all of them involve you working on text that other people have written. This is a sensitive matter. Many people are anxious about their writing and do not enjoy the process … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, co-writing, revision, revision strategy, Uncategorized, voice | Tagged academic writing, co-writing, Pat Thomson | 2 Comments

voice and thinkingwriting

Posted on February 2, 2017 by pat thomson

You have probably heard, or read, that writing is thinking. But what does writing is thinking really mean? Anything? Nothing? Well, it doesn’t mean that you have to write in order to think, because of course you can think without writing. … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing voice, thinking, voice, writing and thinking | Tagged Academic writing Pat Thomson, thinking and writing, voice | 7 Comments

exorcise the inner “doctoral student” from your writing

Posted on June 8, 2015 by pat thomson

Some of us can probably remember the film The Exorcist. It was one of those “demon child” films so popular in the 1970s. It featured Linda Blair as a possessed young teen – her green-slime spitting, 360 degree swiveling head … Continue reading →

Posted in "doctoral student", academic writing, authority in writing, style, voice | Tagged "doctoral student", authority, exorcism, Pat Thomson, voice | 14 Comments

academic writing voice …. and voices in your head…

Posted on July 28, 2014 by pat thomson

I’ve just been to a summer festival. It was a picture perfect weekend. The weather was hot. While it was humid, it wasn’t so sticky that it brought the mosquitoes out. There was no need for wellies, the ground was … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, authorship, voice | Tagged academic writing voice, Hanif Kureishi, Pat Thomson, Rachel Cooke | 10 Comments

thesis to book – finding your author ‘voice’

Posted on July 24, 2014 by pat thomson

At the start of a new book, Barbara and I always think about our joint ‘voice’. We decide first of all how we are going to talk about ourselves, and how we are going to address the reader. We find … Continue reading →

Posted in voice | Tagged passive voice, Pat Thomson, pronouns, voice, William Germano | 2 Comments

academic writers need a dictionary

Posted on April 21, 2014 by pat thomson

When I began my PhD, my partner bought me a dictionary. A very big dictionary. I wasn’t quite sure that I needed it, since I was after all an English major and I read prolifically. However I did use it. … Continue reading →

Posted in Access, Uncategorized, voice, words | 4 Comments

writing in my own words?

Posted on November 14, 2013 by pat thomson

John Field recently wrote, in his The Learning Professor blog, an interesting post about academic writing. He was particularly referring to the tendency for editors and researchers to ‘clean up’ quotations from research participants. Indeed, sometimes participants themselves felt the … Continue reading →

Posted in APA, barbarism, language, voice, words | Tagged APA, barbarism, language, Pat Thomson, voice | 12 Comments

‘voice’ and the craft of academic writing

Posted on September 26, 2013 by pat thomson

Academics often worry about finding their ‘voice’ when writing. They feel that it’s something they ought to have. However, they also often feel that the process of getting/finding their ‘voice’ -whatever voice is – is pretty difficult when there is … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, Kirin Narayan, voice | Tagged academic writing, Kirin Narayan, Pat Thomson, voice | 11 Comments

writing the thesis from day one is risky

Posted on October 25, 2012 by pat thomson

I was reading a final draft of a thesis written by one of the doctoral researchers I was working with. I’d just started and the text was going along very nicely indeed until I reached the end of the first … Continue reading →