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Research Degree Insiders

Welcoming you in to the secrets, techniques and taboos around succeeding in a Research Higher Degree

  • Who are the insiders?
  • Thesis Boot Camp
  • How to buy my books
    • Writing Trouble book
    • Your PhD Survival Guide
    • Level Up your Essays: How to Get Better Grades at University
  • Reading Lists
    • The Greatest Hits
    • Blogs to read
    • 7 articles to help you do a mixed-methods thesis

Yet another book? Yes, but the last one for a while, I promise!

Just popping into the blog to say that Level Up your Essays, the new book with Inger and Shaun, is…

academic writing, publications, publishing, Writing

How not to be your own micromanager

A couple of weeks ago, I actually did that thing on a Monday where you look at all your emails,…

academic culture, academic writing, planning, productivity, Writing

Bento box Boundaries

So often people talk about ‘boundaries’ like they are unfortunate, negative, limitations. ‘Having boundaries’ is all about saying ‘no’ and…

planning, productivity, rest, time management

Should you love your PhD?

You might love your PhD. Or you might have been told you are supposed to love your PhD. And love is weird, and complicated. PhDs are messy and complicated. Let’s talk about feelings.

emotions, motivation, PhD

3 breathing exercises before you start writing

Want to feel calm, get fired up, or find a balance? Give yourself 2 minutes and some mind control of your lungs, you can do it!

academic writing, emotions, self care, stress, Writing

Looking back as Research Insiders reaches 200 posts

I started this blog (under another name) about nine years and over 200 posts ago… that’s a long time on…

blogging, reflection

How do you co-author 3 books in a year and not lose the plot?

In 2019-20 I was writing 3 books with other people (publication ranged from Nov 2019 to March 2021, but this does not reflect the writing or editing period of the books.) The books took between 9 months and 3 years to finish, and all of them overlapped in a great crash.

academic writing, authorship, collaboration, Writing

Is 2021 the year you finish your thesis?

Look, the true answer is ‘probably not’. I’m not being discouraging here, I’m talking about cold hard maths. Here are 10…

completion, PhD, planning, Thesis, time management

Not forgetting everything you did last year

So I love a good plan, and a good schedule, and a good daily resumé/done list. I keep track of…

planning, time management

The 5 stretches that kept me going during my recent final book edit

This year was the year of so much editing for me. Having two books coming out a few months apart meant that I had barely submitted responses to one set of edits than the edits for the other book would arrive in my inbox (sometimes I could count the breathing space in hours). It was tough for my brain to stay focussed, but it was also tough on my body.

Editing, self care, stress

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