Links

August 2019

From @DocwritingSIG, a thoughtful list of ways in which skill in research writing gained during the doctorate can be valuable in non-academic careers.

From @ThomsonPat, a helpful breakdown of thesis writing into three overlapping spheres of activity.

From @StephenBHeard, a guest post from @Dr_KatieG1 on how to handle the very real challenges of academic writing as a graduate student.

From @thesiswhisperer, a guest post on the value of the writing centre for doctoral writers.

From @AcademicToolkit, free tools to help plan and conceptualize your research.

May 2019

From @NigelESL, an insightful critique of Pinker’s writing ‘rules’ and the assumption that there can ever be decontextualized rules for writing.

From @StephenBHeard, thinking about how to foster voice in the academic writing of other people.

From @ThomsonPat, decoding supervisory comments on academic writing.

From @supervisingPhDs, a guest post on what good supervision looks like.

From @DocwritingSIG, the many things that doctoral supervisors may worry about.

From @researchwhisper, @katrinafee offers helpful ideas about co-authoring.

From @ProfessorIsIn, a guest post by Andrea Hernandez Holm on the value of academic writing groups for women of colour.

April 2019

From @StephenBHeard, reasons why scientific writing may be becoming increasingly lifeless.

From @GradHacker, @CarolynTrietsch on using writing as a way of deciding what to read.

From @insidehighered, the value of participating in a graduate student or postdoc professional development organization.

From @ThomsonPat, strategies for overcoming our inevitable challenges in proofreading our own work.

From @DocwritingSIG, helpful reminders that academic presentations need to be based on a sound appreciation of effective research communication.

From @StephenBHeard, debating voice in academic writing.

From @scholarlykitchn, an argument against mandatory online publishing of dissertations.

From @ThomsonPat, reflections on Pinker’s ideas about establishing significance in academic writing.

March 2019

From @nytimes, the psychological roots of procrastination and strategies to tackle the problem.

From @DocwritingSIG, a review of the pros and cons of choosing a publication-based thesis structure.

From @ThomsonPat, how to handle a revise and resubmit when major rethinking is required.

From @StephenBHeard, managing the tensions between the gate-keeping and manuscript-improvement functions of peer review.

From @researchwhisper, a lovely guest post from @SarahHResearch on care-giving and priority-setting in academic life.

From @thesiswhisperer, research into the challenges of looking for non-academic work with a PhD.

From @LSEImpactBlog, an argument that doctoral study is the ideal time to learn to communicate your research to the broader world.

From @rogergraves, a new podcast discussing the three things that graduate student supervisors most want to know.

From @DocwritingSIG, advice on refining a research question in the early stages of doctoral writing.

From @LSEImpactBlog, drawing on a new survey of 593 academics, this post offers six key insights into productive academic behaviours.

From @LSEImpactBlog, exploring the ethics of self-plagiarism and asking when it’s appropriate to reproduce social research.

February 2019

From @thesiswhisperer, a great explanation of @ehayot’s uneven U paragraph style.

From @katrinafee, some of the things we might want to try in the moments immediately before writing.

From @ThomsonPat, the power of crafting tiny texts to prepare for writing.

From @DocwritingSIG, reflections on how to know when a doctoral thesis is ready to submit.

From @LSEImpactBlog, a positive review of Taking Control of Writing Your Thesis: A Guide to Get You to the End by Kay Guccione and Jerry Wellington.

From @thesiswhisperer, a guest post from @balloonleap and @AcademicLisa on the power of making bold requests while in graduate school.

From @DocwritingSIG, a guest post from Anthony Paré on crafting a civil and generous academic rhetoric.

From @insidehighered, @Golde_Stanford offers a way of thinking about inevitable career transitions.

January 2019

From @thesiswhisperer, lovely and affirming words about care in academia.

From @HookandEyeBlog, @digiwonk on saying yes and no to increase joy in our academic lives.

From @ProfessorIsIn, why we should be talking about #RealAc instead of #AltAc or #PostAc.

From @LSEImpactBlog, a round-up of their top posts featuring advice on academic writing and presentations.

December 2018

From @ThomsonPat, advice on avoiding the common pitfalls of writing about theory, with a helpful admonition to be patient with yourself during the difficult process of learning how to write theoretically.

From @thesiswhisperer, great post on the shades of perfectionism and how it can manifest in academics.

From @Inframethod, reflections on teaching writing by enabling practice rather than just instructing.

November 2018

From @DocwritingSIG, metaphors to capture the experience of academic writing.

From @ProfessorIsIn, interesting reflections on what is considered free within academia and how this affects attitudes to #postac and #altac careers.

From @LSEImpactBlog, a call to shift focus away from research product towards an emphasis on research process.

From @ThomsonPat, thinking about how and when to establish a theoretical framework.

From @TenureSheWrote, a powerful piece on negotiating grad school and pregnancy as a black woman.

From @StephenBHeard, a guest post on the necessity of learning to be an academic writer through practice and training.

From @DocwritingSIG, a guest post on the value of using innovative and playful strategies to help doctoral writers.

From @superwhisperer, the benefits of cohort supervision.

From @UVenus, advice and reflections on academic writing for #AcWriMo.

From @katrinafee, an evocative description of the different shapes of different thesis genres.

From @UVenus, @mary_churchill on starting a writing accountability group.

October 2018

From @insidehighered, @VRCinDC offers advice to new graduate students.

From @GradHacker, a review of @ProfessorIsIn’s guide to finding an academic job.

From @insidehighered, @meldalgleish on the value of auditing your own time use.

From @StephenBHeard, advice on writing your way through the chasm of despair.

From @DocwritingSIG, five common myths about doctoral writing.

From @raulpacheco, good advice on writing topic sentences and crafting paragraphs.

From @LSEImpactBlog, an update on research investigating the tools and systems academics from all career stages use to keep writing and publishing.

From @ThomsonPat, advice on tackling the first round of revisions on a thesis chapter.

From @LSEImpactBlog, how team-based PhDs might address isolation during doctoral study and improve the efficiency, quality, and impact of research.

From @StanCarey, the benefits of removing the word process from our writing.

From @ThomsonPat, how the notion of code words can help academic writers create reader-friendly texts.

From @rogergraves, a helpful podcast episode for supervisors who work with graduate writers on a variety of documents from research articles to dissertations.

September 2018

From @GradHacker, the type of pre-planning that makes it harder to avoid dissertation writing.

From @LSEImpactBlog, a consideration of what is at stake in the panic over predatory publishing, including a helpful reminder about @thinkchecksub.

From @DocwritingSIG, the importance of understanding what needs to happen in a thesis conclusion.

From @TenureSheWrote, an apt critique of cynical and corrosive grad school advice.

From @scholarlykitchn, telling everyone to write daily and the dangers of dogmatic writing advice.

From @chronicle, @LCassuto on the value of reframing doctoral supervision as an institutional rather than personal relationship.

From @insidehighered, advice on setting yourself up for a successful thesis defence.

From @insidehighered, ideas for getting your writing back on track, even if the term is already starting to get away from you.

From @DrHelenKara, thoughtful reflections on the role that fear of success may play in the completion of writing projects.

From @DocwritingSIG, a perceptive account of how supervisory feedback may shift (in tone, in focus, in scope) during the thesis writing process.

From @LSEImpactBlog, appreciating the human dimension and the humane potential of peer review.

From @DocwritingSIG, a guest post on providing generic thesis writing instruction.

From @LSEImpactBlog, creating a community of writing practice in the classroom.

From @thesiswhisperer, questioning the potential of using a self-help framework for understanding the graduate writing process.

August 2018

From @scholarlykitchn, an interview with @NewBooksNetwork founder @marshallpoe about their podcasts of university press author interviews.

From @thesiswhisperer, a guest post on finding your own way to balance parenting with the PhD.

From @chronicle, @CoreyRobin on the power dynamics in the Avital Ronell case.

From @ThomsonPat, a great strategy to help make the most of free writing without getting overwhelmed by the process.

From @LSEImpactBlog, two early career researchers reflect on their experience with a PhD by publication.

From @ResearchEx, why you should create a style guide early in the thesis writing process to ensure editorial consistency.

From @DocwritingSIG, a guest post from Ian Brailsford on laying the groundwork for successful supervisory relationships.

May 2018

From @mellel_wp, a video showing how their word processing software can be used to create a reverse outline.

From @thesiswhisperer, reconciling essential reading strategies with our idealized conception of scholarly activity.

From @raulpacheco, a helpful summary of reading notes on a range of books about the thesis writing process.

From @LSEImpactBlog, pointers on creating a strong academic poster presentation.

From @DocwritingSIG, using thesis reading as a way to help with thesis writing.

From @Editage, a great list of forty academic blogs for researchers and PhD students.

From @LSEImpactBlog, shifting attitudes towards copyright and open access among publishers and academics.

From @ResearchEx, a shift in mindset that might be helpful for graduate students dealing with introversion in academia.

From @ProfHacker, suggestions for creating an end-of-term routine to support your future self.

From @LSEImpactBlog, a study into the experience of frustration for academic writers.

April 2018

From @LSEImpactBlog, a review of a new book on academic working conditions, Publish or Perish by Imad A. Moosa.

From @ResearchEx, an interesting way to blend the advice to “write no matter what” and “write when inspired”.

From @LSEImpactBlog, potential benefits of collective supervision for first-year PhD students.

From @scholarlykitchn, a new form of predatory publishing, the fraudulent acceptance letter.

From @UVenus, important reflections on parenting in academia.

From @DrHelenKara, a review of six books on academic productivity.

From @raulpacheco, building a sustained writing practice through small attainable goals.

From @LSEImpactBlog, research into the relationship between revision and impact in research articles.

From @chronicle, Geoffrey Pullum on why we don’t need a blanket prohibition on expletive constructions.

From @StephenBHeard, a thoughtful response to a perennial question about writing methods sections in a way that avoids self-plagiarism.

From @LSEImpactBlog, reflections on positionality and PhD researchers researching academia.

March 2018

From @GradHacker, an interesting conversation on how grad students can navigate using names and titles in academia.

From @ProfHacker, why blogs are still a great space for researchers.

From @LSEImpactBlog, how talking about the ethics of care influences our understanding of gender in academia.

From @ThomsonPat, envisioning the authorial voice as that of a master of ceremony.

From @DocwritingSIG, advice for doctoral writers on managing supervisors.

From @insidehighered, @joshmkim offers an argument for making academic conferences better for families.

From @LSEImpactBlog, a re-post of my recent piece on the hazards of treating writing challenges as writer’s block.

From @ProfessorIsIn, a guest post from @MainelyHistory on why #quitlit is a problematic term.

From @DocwritingSIG, an interesting account of the exercise of counting how long it takes to write a doctoral thesis.

From @StephenBHeard, ideas about making academic conferences more enjoyable for introverts.

From @GradHacker, some alternatives to feeling bad about not writing.

From @DocwritingSIG, how precise diction can strengthen academic writing and increase formality.

From @ArrantPedantry, an interesting take on the power dynamics of identifying a term as skunked.

From @LSEImpactBlog, a summary of interviews with academics identifying what makes them productive writers.

From @chronicle, Anne Curzan on using administrative influence to deliberately change house style.

From @katrinafee, the particular challenges and rewards of interdisciplinary research.

From @chronicle, @katiefitzpat on the power of friendship in graduate school.

From @NigelESL, helpful thoughts about why teaching genre in an EAP context may be more valuable than calls for critical thinking.

From @LSEImpactBlog, using the concept of cruel optimism to understand the post-PhD period for those outside the tenure track.

From @DocwritingSIG, the emotional and ethical dimensions of doctoral research.

February 2018

From @ProfHacker, a profile of @vcheplygina’s work on failure in academic life.

From @serenissimaj, searching for the metaphor that reflects your dissertation writing experience.

From @ProfHacker, an introduction to @evalantsoght’s interviews on how people work in academia.

From @thesiswhisperer, her expert answers to common dissertation worries.

From @thesiswhisperer, @katrinafee on ways to streamline your academic writing.

From @ThomsonPat, using illustrations effectively in a thesis.

From @ProfHacker, an introduction to @EllieMackin’s interviews on planning in academic work.

From @DocwritingSIG, a toolkit for establishing and maintaining research writing groups.

From @ThomsonPat, detailing all the elements of the academic writing process to explain why it is so hard.

From @StephenBHeard, using the prospect of writing a method section to check the desirability of that method.

January 2018

From @DocwritingSIG, concrete description of the organization of a graduate writing camp.

From @ThomsonPat, how to ensure that a thesis conclusion does the necessary work.

From @LSEImpactBlog, the role of scholarly publishing in processing and interpreting new research.

From @NYTimes, how to establish momentum by creating and meeting really small goals.

From @chroniclevitae, some insights to make the dissertation writing process more transparent.