July 5, 2023

On neurodiversity in the PhD – the silence is deafening?

Hey, before I start this post, I’ve got a couple more events coming up at Cambridge if you are around: On 11 July we are holding a forum for ThinkLab at Cambridge for PhDs and PostDocs who are interested in accessing the non-academic research job market (no online option, sorry). You can book for freecontinue reading.

May 26, 2023

Mind the gap (in the literature)

Hey – Before I start, here are some upcoming events I’m doing at Cambridge University, which are open to the public: A lecture at Wolfson College, Cambridge on Tuesday 6 June at 5:30pm, which touches on themes from my new book with Simon Clews ‘Be visible or Vanish’. There’s an in-person option if you cancontinue reading.

May 2, 2023

Using ChatGPT (ChattieG) to write good

I’m on sabbatical for the next three months and have committed to doing a literature review on neurodiversity and PhD study. Ugh. I hate doing literature reviews. I’m just going to say it: most academic writing is BORING and doing a big review means reading lots of it. The thought of reading more than 200continue reading.

April 1, 2023

Zombie projects and the ‘forever homework’ of academic life

Like many academics, I have too many things on. By ‘things’ I mean projects of all shapes and sizes, from ‘write a book on neurodiversity and the PhD’, to ‘Fix up the Bootcamp page on the ANU website’. Exhibit A: I’m going on Sabbatical in the UK from May to August. To minimise disruption tocontinue reading.

March 1, 2023

Preparing for a binge writing session

It’s been a busy month here at Thesis Whisperer HQ… I am doing #LazyPost this month by recycling a bit of my teaching content. This post is about organising yourself for a ‘binge writing’ session. While ‘snack writing’ (writing small amounts, consistently) is good practice, there comes a time when deadlines require the strict applicationcontinue reading.

February 1, 2023

Building a second brain for writing – with Obsidian

Writing a thesis or book is an enormous task that takes years and involves reading hundreds, sometimes thousands, of books, papers and articles. At the same time, you must produce your own words and make sure you don’t accidentally plagiarise other people. People end up with all kinds of home-brew solutions to solve this epiccontinue reading.

January 5, 2023

New year, new Bullet Journal!

Happy new year friends! They say how you spend NYE night sets the tone for the year. If that’s the case, I’ll be eating Indian takeaway with my girlfriends and going to bed at 9:30pm. I’m VERY ok with this plan after the eventful couple of years we’ve had. I followed up the quiet startcontinue reading.

October 2, 2022

Building a second brain – for academic writing

** Apologies to email subscribers – I accidentally sent a draft version of this post on Saturday. The fully edited piece is below. Thanks for your patience and understanding.** —————————– Before I start, big news! Long time readers will know that I have been working for years with a team here at ANU on PostAc:continue reading.

September 7, 2022

Why are we all so tired?

A little content warning first: I talk about depression and anxiety in this post. If that’s not for you today, click away friend. I’ll see you another time. I have been trying to work out how to write this without sounding like a privileged white lady, but I can’t, so I’ll just say it: Icontinue reading.

August 3, 2022

How PhD busy work is like vegan junk food

Hello dear reader! It’s been a busy winter and I am suffering a bit of post-election exhaustion. Last month, For the first time in 12 years, I did not get around to doing a Thesis Whisperer post. While I felt bad about breaking such a long streak of self-imposed discipline, I consoled myself that thecontinue reading.

%d bloggers like this: