managing readers’ and reviewers’ and examiners’ expectations
I started thinking about the question of managing expectations during a recent trip to France. We stayed for some time in Aix-en-Provence. We’d chosen to be there because it seemed relatively central....
View Articlemaking authoritative claims
Compared to – let’s say journalists for argument’s sake – we academics are generally a lot less prepared to say anything for absolute certain. Why do we do this? Do we simply love complexity and being...
View Articlethe literature review – how old are the sources?
I recently had an email from a colleague asking me what I would do if I was examining a thesis and the vast majority of the literatures were over ten years old. Would this be a problem? What would I …...
View Articlequotations – handle with care
Quotations are dangerous. The way that you use quotations can give away whether you think you are still writing as a student, or writing as an expert scholar in your own right. Student assignments are...
View Articlewho wants to read about my place?
I’ve recently been in Iceland working on an academic writing course. The participants were doctoral researchers. They came with data that they wanted to turn into a peer reviewed paper. The majority of...
View Articlethree reasons why editing a book is a good idea
Is it worth editing a book? I’ve been asked this question a couple of times recently. It’s actually not an easy question, as you might guess. That’s because the answer depends on all kinds of things,...
View Articlepreparing for the PhD oral exam
As a supervisor it is part of my job to help doctoral researchers prepare for their viva. I’ve not done one myself, as Australian PhDs are typically examined by means of a long report from two or three...
View Articlewriting course – common problems in the Results/Discussion Section
It’s always as well to know what can go wrong when writing a journal article. And there are multiple areas in any paper to think about. Just because there seem to be fewer conventions for the...
View Articlethesis knowhow – “the contribution” can create coherence
My Nordic colleagues often say that the thesis has to have a red thread, a line of argument that holds things together. So what’s this red thread? Think of the red thread as a sturdy rope that guides...
View Articlea thesis (often) needs A Big Idea
Everyone knows that the thesis has to make a contribution. No probs. Well yes, there are actually probs. At the end of the research it can be hard to find one. Contribution, where is it? You’re...
View Articleplanning a paper
Last week I was in Norway running a three part workshop on planning a journal article. The workshop was based around a Tiny Text abstract. As a planner myself, I use Tiny Texts for sorting out the...
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“discussion” – it’s about moving forward
Discussion. It’s a word that immediately comes to mind when we think about communicating research. First we report the results, and then we discuss them. Discussion might be a separate thesis chapter...
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writing for publication – finding an angle and an argument
This is a story, a my story, which leads to eight pointers about writing for publication. I’m currently writing a paper. Well, yes, always writing something. But right now it’s a paper. A paper...
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why journal articles get rejected – #3
Every journal article is expected to make a contribution. The writer has to say something that adds to the conversation about the particular topic in the target journal. And through this addition,...
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five focusing questions to kick off some writing
So you’re about to write a paper. Or a chapter. You’ve gathered together all of the stuff you think you need – analysed data, a short list of references to cite, some early jottings. Now you begin to...
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writing conclusions – getting the stuff sorted
Conclusions are hard. It might seem that all you have to do is go back to your research question and simply provide an answer. But the reality is that much more is needed. Much more. And that much...
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