Be your own best critic

Now my real research is in literary studies, where what I do is called ‘literary criticism’. In my field ‘critique’ … More

Your imposter syndrome is irrelevant

Okaaaay, so this is pretty provocative as a title, but it’s also true and can be massively liberating. I hope … More

Getting your head in the game: the pause before you start work

When I started going to the gym (see Exercising Like a Girl parts 1 and 2), one of the things … More

Planning vs. panic: 5 strategies for success

Someone whose work I really appreciate is Jo Van Every (@JoVanEvery). She has written a lot of blog posts (for … More

How do you get from “pre-research” to search, and then research?

Last time I posted about “pre-research”, I talked about moving from pre-research into searching and then researching for a literature review. I … More

Start making Done lists instead of To-do lists

I’ve mentioned ‘done lists‘ before, but as it’s the beginning of the year, I thought it was time to remind … More

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 start conversations without offending/excluding anyone: Top tips from 4 decades of Very Polite Conversations across 4 continents

Back in September, I did a thread on Twitter that a lot of people found helpful about how to start … 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