Wikipedia, Dictionaries, Encyclopaedias and “pre-research”

We all know academic writing “shouldn’t quote Wikipedia”… but what we often get wrong is why it’s not ‘the done … More

How to edit book manuscript final proofs

So How to Fix your Academic Writing Trouble has just arrived in the publisher’s warehouse, which means it’s nearly ready to send … More

A thesis has shape as a tree has shape: Imperial Gardens, legitimacy and editing

This is a reflection on the form of a writing genre and what that means. I started thinking about it … More

An early draft is a fragile flower

By the time your academic writing is ready to be published, it’s a tough nut, a rose hip, a thick-skinned … More

Who is this article for? Finding your audience.

For every article (or book chapter), you need to understand who you are writing for to write a strong abstract, … More

Ten things I’ve learned about learning a new skill (especially if you are rubbish at it to start with)

  When you start a PhD, you are doing something you’ve been practicing for a long time, studying, and you’ve … More

How many drafts should you write?

There are no right answers here, but the true answer to the question ‘how many drafts should I expect to … More

5 situations when ‘Planning by Chatting’ is an effective technique

I’m currently setting up a Learning Hub for La Trobe to bring together all the learning support across 6 campuses, … More

Talking across disciplines

Is your work ‘interdisciplinary’? (Or maybe it is ‘cross-disciplinary’ or ‘multi-disciplinary’.) Or is the purpose of your work to take … More

Writing a PhD in your second language: 7 reasons you’re doing great and 5 ways to do even better

Students who don’t speak English as their first language are often very worried about writing an 80-100,000 word thesis. And … More