Part of the fun of being Thesis Whisperer is the emails I get from all around the world. Many of them outline classic PhD student dilemmas, which are excellent blog fodder, such as this one, from Laura S: Have you, or have you considered anything along the lines of *actually finishing* writing? I can produce … Continue reading A 5 step program for finishing your PhD (finally!)
Surviving the conference marathon
This post is by Dr Imogen Wegman, a project officer at the University of Tasmania. Her research is cross-disciplinary, and she might attend a digital humanities conference, a history seminar and a GIS symposium within a month. Imogen is also a co-founder and organiser of Hobart's monthly public history event 'A Pint of History'. As a dedicated … Continue reading Surviving the conference marathon
Some new books on writing
There's a LOT of books out there on how to do a thesis/dissertation (some of them written by me). I've managed to plough through a couple of new books on the subject recently and this post is a compilation of my reviews plus one reader review from Jasmine Jenson at the end. There's still a … Continue reading Some new books on writing
Learning from Eminem?
Dr Bronwyn Eager spent nearly a decade running her own creative business before completing a PhD in entrepreneurship and joining the ranks of academia. She is motivated by a desire to improve the lives of entrepreneurs and through integrating enterprise skills across the Academy. In her spare time (!?) she aims to foster research outputs … Continue reading Learning from Eminem?
The artisanal PhD
I'll admit it: I'm a sucker for anything 'artisanal'. I love homeware shops full of hand crafted ceramic bowls, grocery stores with local honey and cafes with stripped brick walls and special regional coffees. I am nearly 50 (I know, I can hardly believe it either) so as soon as I become aware that a … Continue reading The artisanal PhD
The #PhDweekend
This post is by Laura Wynne, a PhD student at the University of Tasmania. She has worked for six years as a researcher at the University of Technology Sydney. She researches housing policy and urban sustainability. She just submitted her PhD - only 10 days after her scholarship ran out. How did she keep to time … Continue reading The #PhDweekend
New book! Becoming an academic
I have a new book out! Actually, that's not entirely accurate... My book 'How to be an Academic' has been re-published in the US by Johns Hopkins University press as 'Becoming an Academic: How to get through Grad School and Beyond', which means it is now easily available in Europe and the UK as well … Continue reading New book! Becoming an academic
A PhD in 2 years… or less?
This post is by Dr Carmen Blyth, who completed her PhD in 2015 on ethics in international schools at the University of Cape Town and was a postdoctoral fellow with the Decolonizing Early Childhood Discourses research project at the same university. She has worked with international schools and universities in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East … Continue reading A PhD in 2 years… or less?
How to harness the power of semantic gravity in your writing
A month or two ago, I wrote a post called 'The Uneven U' which outlined ideas about paragraph structure from Eric Hayot's book “The elements of academic style: writing for the humanities”. Briefly, Hayot claims that there are five levels of abstraction in sentence structure: Level five: Abstract; general, oriented toward a solution or conclusion … Continue reading How to harness the power of semantic gravity in your writing
In praise of professional naggers
This post is by Dr Vanessa Corcoran, who earned her Ph.D. in medieval history in 2017 at The Catholic University of America. Her research interests include the medieval cult of the Virgin Mary, the intersection of gender and popular religious practices, and the textual representations of medieval women’s voices. Currently, Vanessa is an Academic Counselor … Continue reading In praise of professional naggers
