Tag Archives: metaphor

all that reading? think of it as tracing your family tree

Posted on March 30, 2015 by pat thomson

When you start on a PhD, or indeed on any new research project, there’s always a lot of reading to be done. It’s easy to lose track of what this reading is for and to forget why engaging with all … Continue reading →

Posted in family tree, George Patton, literature review, metaphor, reading | Tagged , , , , | 10 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 , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

a methodological metaphor – what detective are you?

Posted on February 7, 2013 by pat thomson

One of the basic requirements for research in the humanities and social sciences is that the researcher must take a position. Well not any old position, but one in relation to the practice of research. This is often thought of … Continue reading →

Posted in crime fiction, doctoral research, epistemology, evidence, metaphor, methods chapter, ontology, philosophy | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

location – another metaphor for writing about your research

Posted on January 17, 2013 by pat thomson

There are a lot of geographical metaphors used in research talk. We routinely speak about fields of study, mapping the literatures, surveying the literatures. Location is another one of those borrowed-from-geography metaphors and it’s one I‘m particularly fond of. Locating … Continue reading →

Posted in abstracts, academic writing, journal, literature review, location, metaphor, Tiny Text | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

a metaphor for the thesis

Posted on January 7, 2013 by pat thomson

I like a good metaphor. I like thinking about the metaphors that we use to describe academic work too. I particularly like thinking about how changing metaphors can help re-orient the actual doing of academic work. We all know, I’m … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, bricolage, metaphor, text, thesis | Tagged , , , | 19 Comments

finished your first draft? now it’s cut and come again

Posted on October 12, 2012 by pat thomson

One of the crunch points for writers comes right after the first draft. It’s commonly understood that once the first draft is done what is needed is some editing. This is most usually thought of as minor rewriting and fiddling … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, editing, revision, rewriting, words, writing | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments