Time management tips for PhD students Here’s a situation you might find familiar. You feel like you’re not getting enough done, so you decide you need to get organised and manage your time better. You sit down and make a timeline with key deadlines, then you set yourself a timetable for the week, perhaps even planning to wake up earlier to achieve something early. This always feels good… it gives you the reassuring feeling you’re in control… and maybe it works for a day or two if you’re lucky… but then you fall behind. The routine and the deadlines start to slip, and that detailed plan starts ..read more

What makes a good PhD research project? The typical answer would be something about finding a gap in the literature or making a significant contribution to the body of knowledge. This is kinda true, but it’s incomplete and it’s a bit vague. Of course the exact requirements will differ depending on your field and there will be a lot of different aspects of research design that will be different depending on the project aims and the techniques you’re using, but there are some universal principles we can follow. So in this video I’m going to share what I think are 4 crucial factors that need to c ..read more

Fundamentals of academic writing #7: developing ideas and arguments In this video, I’d like to talk about developing ideas or an argument through writing, by applying some of the ideas I talked about in the last video. So if you haven’t seen that one, or you need a reminder, go and watch that one and then come back. Now there’s this common idea that if you just write then the argument will somehow emerge, but there are actually specific techniques you can use to develop new or deeper insights or to build an argument. As I mentioned last time, we can frame almost all the information you presen ..read more

Fundamentals of academic writing #6: Linking ideas One of the key skills in any kind of writing is knowing how to link ideas and lead the reader from one point to the next. And although there are countless ways you could do it, there are some guiding principles you can use. And if you understand these principles, you can make decisions as you go, saving a huge amount of time and effort. Provide a setup or context The secret is that it’s not just about presenting information… it’s about providing a setup or a context for that information that leads the reader in that direction. For example, in ..read more

Fundamentals of academic writing #5: Problem-solving What do you do when you face a block in your writing? Last time, I mentioned how I always try to keep working on a section of writing until it’s done. I don’t switch to working on something else if I face a problem, I stick with it until I find a solution. And by doing this consistently, I’ve learned how to solve most problems that arise. I don’t need to write as fast as I can. I don’t need to produce endless drafts. I can figure it out in the moment, and my first drafts are usually pretty good. So in this video I’m going to introduce some ..read more

Fundamentals of academic writing #4: Decision-making Last time, I mentioned that making clear, confident decisions is one of the keys to success in academic writing. But a lot of PhD students are scared to make decisions. You might be afraid that you’ll make the wrong choice, or miss something the examiner wants to see, so you might be tempted to delay making decisions by just putting everything on the page. But if you don’t make decisions, it’ll be unclear what you want to say, and then the reader will have to try to figure it out. PhD thesis examiners want you to make decisions in your writ ..read more

Fundamentals of academic writing #3: Confidence At the end of my last video, I mentioned the importance of confidence in overcoming indecision and perfectionism. For many students, a PhD is the first time they’ve really struggled academically, and it’s also the first time when there isn’t clear syllabus or universal process to follow, and there’s no guarantee of success. And the mere possibility of failure can be deeply disturbing, because it can feel like a threat to your very sense of identity and self-worth, and this is often the root of excessive perfectionism, of indecision or of procras ..read more

Fundamentals of academic writing #2: Productivity vs Perfectionism In my last video I talked about the importance of slowing down when you’re trying to write and giving yourself time to calmly engage with and think about the problems that arise. But what if you end up over-thinking? What if you find yourself being overly perfectionist, writing and deleting and rewriting and deleting every sentence over and over and over again? This is one of the reasons why people say you should “just write, just get words down on the page as fast as you can and sort it out later” But although “just writing ..read more

Fundamentals of academic writing #1: Calm focus Academic writing is difficult, but just because something is difficult that doesn’t mean you have to suffer. The challenge of writing can actually be quite enjoyable, if you approach it the right way. Why is academic writing so difficult? One of the reasons why academic writing is so difficult is because it’s a combination of many different types of problem solving at the same time. So you have to think about the big picture and your overall argument, while at the same time thinking about how that fits into the broader academic and real world co ..read more

Networking tips for PhD students A PhD isn’t just about developing your technical knowledge and getting research experience. There are also a few important soft skills that can help you both during and after your PhD. One of the most important, but most often overlooked soft skills is networking. Once you graduate and start looking for jobs, your network is almost as important as your publication record, because if you know people in your field you’re more likely to hear about jobs, and you’re at a huge advantage in your job applications if people already know you. It might not seem fair, but ..read more