Tag Archives: supervision

my supervisor expects me to keep revising – why?

I often hear doctoral researchers asking this question. They’ve sent their supervisor some writing. It’s come back with feedback and suggestions and maybe actual corrections. The doc. researcher has attended to all of these and sent the revised text back … Continue reading

Posted in doctoral experience, doctoral pedagogies, revision, supervision, thesis revision | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

revising? try a four step approach

Many people approach revising as if it is a single shot process. They tell themselves, “I’m just going to sit down now and revise my paper”. But revising and refining a text are not one activity, they are several. The … Continue reading

Posted in academic writing, communication, revision, revision strategy, supervision | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

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

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 , , , , , , | 2 Comments

what is “measured” writing?

I was recently part of a small discussion on another social media platform where someone reported that their supervisor had said their writing wasn’t sufficiently “measured’. Without seeing the actual work it was pretty hard to understand what the supervisor … Continue reading

Posted in academic writing, argument, boosters, disciplines, hedges, measured writing, nominalisation, passive voice, stance, thingification | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

not letting go of the text

A couple of weeks ago I was asked if I had any advice for someone who struggled to let go of their writing – they wrote but then it was really difficult to send the writing off to their supervisor. … Continue reading

Posted in academic writing, critique, supervision, text, text work/identity work | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments

the viva and the supervisor

Last week I reached thirty two. Thirty two doctoral researchers who successfully defended their research. Thirty two Doctors let loose on the world. And two things are now on my mind. Not thirty two. Just two. The first thing I’m … Continue reading

Posted in academic writing, PhD, phd defence, supervision, supervisor, viva | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

that bleeding thesis…

No. I’m not cussing. Let me explain why. My colleague Brigitte Nerlich sent me an email the other day. She said: I was talking to a PhD student (not one of mine) and this student repeatedly used a metaphor which … Continue reading

Posted in Brigitte Nerlich, feedback, supervision, supervisor, thesis | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

co–writing with your supervisor – the authorship question

A doctoral researcher recently told me, and several others who were in the room at the same time, that he wanted to write a journal article. Good eh. No. Not really. The trouble was that his supervisor insisted on being … Continue reading

Posted in authorship, co-writing, supervisor, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments

supervision and feedback

So this week there’s a bit of tweet humour about how US grad students might interpret feedback from faculty trained in the UK. If you haven’t seen it here’s a taste. They say “With the greatest respect”, the grad student … Continue reading

Posted in academic writing, doctoral pedagogies, feedback, supervision | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

troubleshooting research supervision

This is a guest post by Catherine Flynn and Kerry Brydon, both social work academics at Monash University, Australia. We read with interest Rebecca Coles’ recent account of the challenges of research supervision, from the perspective of a PhD student. … Continue reading

Posted in Flynn and Brydon, Kardushin, social work, supervision | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments