Category: Getting things done

I’m working on the second edition of ‘How to fix your academic writing trouble’ with Katherine Firth at the moment. We’re doing a new chapter on writing process, specifically how to think with generative AI tools. For inspiration, I am thinking about Artist Studios and how they support making work. Artist studios are filled with …continue reading.

In May 2023, Eirini Tzouma asked me participate in a panel on Neurodiversity at the Durham Centre for Academic Development post graduate research conference. Sadly, I had prior commitments, but we did arrange to meet afterwards so Eirini could share what happened with me. I don’t publish guest posts regularly anymore, but after this discussion …continue reading.

Happy new year everyone! It’s summer here in Australia, where we take a long break. I want to talk about Tidying in this post, but first – some news: ‘How to fix your academic writing trouble’ continues to be a strong seller after 5 years, but Large Language Models (LLM) like Chattie G (Chat GPT) …continue reading.

It is a truth almost never acknowledged, that university communities are absolutely, totally, tragically addicted to gossip. I was reminded of this truth when the identity of the new ANU VC was announced last week. It was goodbye to the much celebrated and respected Brian Schmidt and hello to the much celebrated and respected Genevieve …continue reading.

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 free …continue reading.

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 can …continue reading.

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 200 …continue reading.

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 to …continue reading.

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 application …continue reading.

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 epic …continue reading.