Author: Thesis Whisperer

Our first PhD student piece – professional brain?

Inger finds herself at home and highly medicated

When I was hunting through my reader request pile I found this email from @thetokenlefty asking about writing for different  audiences: I had a quick question for you about this 5,000 word literature review I have to write for my methods course.  It is going to be read and marked by people like yourself — …continue reading.

This one is about a complex supervisor / student relationship issue: what happens if you think your thesis is ready to submit but your supervisor doesn’t?

The thesis whisperer is on a short vacation: returning on the 15th of July. Any topic suggestions can be left in comments or direct message on twitter @thesiswhisperer.

So you want to tell Aunt Betty what your thesis is about? Here’s how.

One way a humble whiteboard can help you think more clearly about your research

On the tram this afternoon a friend commented that learning is a very inefficient process. I think this is especially true for PhD students, partly because it is so easy to get distracted. When I was doing my PhD I suspended my facebook account –  but the fridge was still a great source of distraction. …continue reading.

A PhD thesis or dissertation is supposed to make a “significant and original contribution to knowledge”. This can create a lot of angst amongst research students, partly because originality is often defined, but rarely talked about in actionable ways. In “How to get a PhD”, Phillips and Pugh set out 16 ways to be original …continue reading.

Apple are geniuses at showing us how technology can be used in novel ways within our everyday lives. The latest and greatest of all these gadgets is, of course, the iPad. I have heard all sorts of uses they have been put to: as an ebook reader, as a toy for the kids, as a …continue reading.