Tag Archives: Howard Becker

the dictionary is (sometimes) your friend – starting the PhD

Posted on September 5, 2022 by pat thomson

If you are doing a PhD it’s a good idea to buy, or find online, a good reliable dictionary. Not only doctoral researchers a good dictionary. Most of us use a dictionary rather more than we let on. Just yesterday … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing voice, dictionary, Howard Becker, starting the PhD | Tagged academic writing, classy academic writing, dictionary, Howard Becker, Pat Thomson | 1 Comment

don’t try to write “classy” – starting the phd

Posted on October 23, 2017 by pat thomson

One of the earliest books on academic writing in the social sciences is by Howard Becker. Or Howie as I gather he likes to be known. As I don’t know him, I’m compelled to call him by the full name … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, Howard Becker | Tagged academic writing, classy writing, Howard Becker, Pat Thomson | 8 Comments

ask not how but why – musings on ‘the interview’

Posted on December 1, 2016 by pat thomson

I was reading some interview transcripts the other day. They were fairly unstructured conversations; the interviewer had some set topics to cover, but not necessarily any set wording. I happened to be looking for the connections between the type of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged how not why, Howard Becker, interviews, Pat Thomson, questions | 3 Comments

writing course: The Literatures

Posted on February 4, 2015 by pat thomson

So next to The Literatures. Literatures, a broad term covering anything from the scholarly works to popular texts, social and print media and policy texts. But always including the scholarly materials relevant to the research being reported in the paper. … Continue reading →

Posted in dinner party, Howard Becker, literature review, Pierre Bayard, table metaphor | Tagged academic writing, Barbara Kamler, Howard Becker, journal article, metaphor, Pat Thomson, Pierre Bayard, The Literatures | 9 Comments

style and structure – according to Berger

Posted on April 10, 2014 by pat thomson

There are a lot of books about academic writing out there. And I buy a lot of them too! The majority of academic writing books are written by people who are in academic development or writing instruction; others work in … Continue reading →

Posted in Becker, Berger, style and structure | Tagged Arthur Asa Berger, Howard Becker, Pat Thomson, structure and style | Leave a comment

finding and defining your research agenda

Posted on August 26, 2013 by pat thomson

I have what could be seen as a pretty messy cv. This is not because I’ve switched from schools to universities but rather that the research and writing that I’ve done seems to cover pretty disparate areas. If you just … Continue reading →