Category: PhDchat

Should supervisors be training PhD students to achieve impact?

In addition to thesis writing, PhD candidates in SHAPE subjects are expected to be able to communicate their research to diverse audiences and also be prepared for careers outside of Higher Education. Should PhD supervision cover these areas, or does impact training sit more naturally elsewhere in the university ecosystem? In this post, Katherine Parker-Hay, … Continued

“But I’m not ready!” Common barriers to writing and how to overcome them

Writing a thesis can feel overwhelming. In this post, Hugh Kearns and Maria Gardiner are here to help. They detail the common reasons why PhD students tend to avoid writing and counter them with strategies to counter procrastination and perfectionism. Your thesis is probably the biggest writing task you will ever undertake. It can feel … Continued

How do we know that our research is ‘inclusive’?

COVID-19 has led to new ways of working which have transformed research practices. This has created opportunities for research cultures to be more inclusive and accessible- especially to those for whom the university is a barrier. However, post-pandemic, research cultures also need to change. In this post, Stuart Read, Anne Parfitt and Tanvir Bush outline … Continued

How the pandemic has transformed research methods and ethics: 3 lessons from 33 rapid responses

This is the fourth post in a six-week series: Rapid or Rushed? exploring rapid response publishing in covid times. As part of the series, there will be a virtual roundtable on Friday 6th November, 1.30pm featuring Professor Joshua Gans (Economics in the Age of COVID-19, MIT Press and Richard Horton (The COVID-19 Catastrophe, Polity Press and Editor of The … Continued

Writing Women in Solitary: Shifting Narratives to Make Research Count by Shanthini Naidoo

This post originally appeared on LSE Review of Books. If you would like to contribute to the series, please contact the managing editor of LSE Review of Books, Dr Rosemary Deller, at lsereviewofbooks@lse.ac.uk Author Shanthini Naidoo reflects on her decision to change the focus of her Master’s dissertation in order to uncover the narratives of anti-apartheid women activists in … Continued

Writing advice – How to tell the good from the bad

A simple search for academic writing advice, or a trawl through social media hashtags, such as #AcWri, will produce a huge amount of information about how to undertake academic writing. In this repost, Pat Thomson, presents a simple rubric to help researchers pick out the advice that is most relevant to their research. Advice. Loads … Continued

Book Review: Writing a Watertight Thesis: A Guide to Successful Structure and Defence by Mike Bottery and Nigel Wright

In Writing a Watertight Thesis: A Guide to Successful Structure and Defence, Mike Bottery and Nigel Wright provide a framework by which research students will be able to structure both their thesis project and the journey required to carry a candidate to a successful endpoint. While the book offers useful and valuable advice to researchers at any stage in their PhD studies, Courteney O’Connor particularly recommends it […]

2018 in review: top posts of the year

How to design an award-winning conference poster A good academic conference poster serves a dual purpose: it is both an effective networking tool and a means by which to articulately communicate your research. But many academics fail to produce a truly visually arresting conference poster and so opportunities to garner interest and make connections are lost. Tullio Rossi offers guidance on how to […]

PhD theses – drawing attention to the often overlooked articles in open access repositories

Earlier this Open Access Week, university library staff throughout the UK celebrated #ThesisThursday, a day of focused attention on the less talked-about articles in open access repositories, PhD theses. Camilla Griffiths and Nancy Graham describe the work the LSE Library has led to digitise the theses of the School’s doctoral alumni, outlining the benefits of greater visibility, widespread indexing, and […]