Tag Archives: revision

editing your writing – lessons from chefs?

Posted on March 8, 2021 by pat thomson

You can pick up helpful ideas from the most unlikely places. Like cooking shows. Yes I watch cooking shows, it’s one of my guilty pleasures. I’m sure I’m not the only one, given their popularity. Sometimes they offer more than … Continue reading →

Posted in citations, editing, revision, revision strategy | Tagged citations, editing, Pat Thomson, references, revision | 8 Comments

use a structured abstract to help write and revise

Posted on February 22, 2021 by pat thomson

Most journals don’t expect an abstract to be written in a particular format. But some do. They require writers to follow a particular format – a pre-structured template. These templates – structured abstracts as they are called – are specifically … Continue reading →

Posted in abstracts, academic writing, conference abstract, Pat Thomson, revision, revision strategy, structured abstract, structured abstracts, thesis abstract | Tagged abstract, Pat Thomson, revision, structured abstract, writing exercise | 4 Comments

meeting your readers’ expectations – a revision strategy

Posted on February 15, 2021 by pat thomson

There are multiple ways to revise a paper. If you’re revising, you’ll find a load of strategies on this blog, just search using the key word revision. While none of these is The One Way to sort out your writing, … Continue reading →

Posted in authorship, reader, readers, readership, revision, revision strategy | Tagged academic writing, Pat Thomson, reader expectations, readers, revision | Leave a comment

help your inner ‘Creator’ and ‘Editor’ get along

Posted on January 18, 2021 by pat thomson

You’re writing? And feeling a bit pulled in two directions at once? Perhaps that’s not surprising. Writers have two inter-related personae –the Creator and the Editor. Well, that’s according to Joni B Cole, and indeed a lot of other people … Continue reading →

Posted in Creator and Editor, feedback, inner editor, Joni Cole, revision | Tagged creative practice, Editor and CReator, feedback, inner editor, Joni Cole, revision, supervision | Leave a comment

revise – by connecting academic reading with academic writing

Posted on December 28, 2020 by pat thomson

How do you know what to do when you are revising your writing? Revision always involves making a judgment about your own work. You become a self-evaluator. But what criteria do you use? Art educator and philosopher Elliott Eisner (1976, … Continue reading →

Posted in reading, revision, saturation point | Tagged Pat Thomson, reading, reading for the writing, revision, revision strategies | Leave a comment

revising like a reader

Posted on December 7, 2020 by pat thomson

Academic writing is generally intended to be persuasive. The writer – let’s say that’s us – wants to put a proposition to the reader, and convince them that what we have presented is credible. Our writing is worth taking seriously … Continue reading →

Posted in reader, revision, revision strategy | Tagged Pat Thomson, reader, revision, revision strategy | 3 Comments

revision – writing without protection

Posted on August 24, 2020 by pat thomson

Academic writers need to let their readers know that they know what they are talking about. But feeling and talking like an expert is not easy – in fact, it’s often the exact opposite of how you think about yourself. … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, Peter Elbow, protective scaffolding, revision, revision strategy | Tagged Pat Thomson, Peter Elbow, protective scaffolding, revision, revision strategy | 3 Comments

this, they, it, those, these – a revision strategy

Posted on July 27, 2020 by pat thomson

One of my pet peeves is reading sentences which contain an ambiguous pronoun. The pronoun stands alone, isolated. The lonely goatherd on the hilltop. Sentences that start with, or contain, an unattached this, they, it, those, these seem to expect the reader … Continue reading →

Posted in academic writing, grammar, revision, revision strategy, syntax, thesis revision, vagueness | Tagged academic writing, Pat Thomson, pronouns, revision, revision strategy, syntax, vagueness | 11 Comments

groundhog day in bookland

Posted on June 22, 2020 by pat thomson

The lockdown has disrupted our lives in ways we couldn’t have anticipated. Some changes are big. Some little. One of the little things that has affected me is to do with book publication. You may have noticed that many academic book … Continue reading →

Posted in academic book, academic writing, book writing, pandemic, revision | Tagged book, book writing, pandemic, Pat Thomson, revision | 1 Comment

tracking the path to research claims

Posted on January 6, 2020 by pat thomson

All researchers make claims about their work. Remember the phrase staking a claim? That’s what we are actually doing when we claim something. We are metaphorically placing a marker in a field that we are prepared to stand on, stand … Continue reading →